About
Marjuan Canady, a native Washingtonian with Trinidadian/African-American roots, is mom and an award-winning entrepreneur, writer, performer, director, educator, producer, and literacy advocate. She is currently a Co-Producer on the National Tour / Broadway revival production of The WIZ and the Broadway production of Alicia Key’s musical, Hell’s Kitchen. She most recently served as a Co-Producer on the Broadway production, Death of a Salesman. She was the 2021-2022 inaugural Front Row Productions Fellow / Adjunct Research Scholar at Columbia University Theatre Management and Producing Program. Marjuan is currently the Lead Producer and Co-Bookwriter of the new musical Tap In which is in development.
Canady’s work has been highlighted in international publications, such as The Washington Post, The Trinidad Guardian, Blavity, LA Times, Black Enterprise, Huffington Post, Madame Noire and Vice-ID. She has worked with notable institutions such as Kennedy Center, Sesame Street, The Smithsonian Institute, The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Ryan Seacrest Foundation, The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, Georgetown University, Catholic University of America, The Moscow Art Theater School and the Negro Ensemble Company. Canady is the founder and CEO of her multimedia production company, Sepia Works. She is the CEO / Author / Co-Creator of the children’s media brand, Callaloo. Originally conceived as a theatrical play, Marjuan has led her team in building Callaloo into a global brand consisting of books, puppet shows, digital content, animation, arts education programming and merchandise. Canady’s first children’s book, “Callaloo: A Jazz Folktale” was self-published in 2013 in which she received the First Time Author’s Award from the National Library of Trinidad and Tobago. Canady’s other children’s books include, “The Legend of the Golden Coqui”, “Did You Know Coloring Book”, “La Leyenda del Coqui Dorado” and “The Trickster and the Magic Quilt.“
An accomplished playwright and stage performer, her one-woman play, ”Girls! Girls? Girls.” has been featured Off-Broadway and at international festivals and theaters. Her play, “Callaloo: A Jazz Folktale “was a selected play at the 2013 Lincoln Center for Performing Arts Director’s Lab. Ms. Canady has held fellowships at the Matteo Ricci Society, The Schomburg Center for Black Research and Culture and the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute. Past grants and awards include, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Harlem Stage, Eileen Fisher Community Grant, Beacon DC Women’s Grant, Caribbeana Diversity Media Award and the DC TIVAA Award. Her diverse acting work includes plays, films, television, commercials and voice overs. Canady recently starred and co-produced the short film “The Resort “ shot in Trinidad and Tobago which had a successful international film festival run and currently streams on Issa Rae’s Youtube Channel. In 2019, she released her first short-documentary as director, “Girls! Girls? Girls. ” . In 2015, Canady established the Canady Foundation for the Arts , a 501c3 non-profit that serves youth of color and vulnerable populations.
Marjuan is a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts and holds a B.A. in Theater/African Studies from Fordham University and her M.A. in Arts Politics from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America, Actor’s Equity Association, Dramatist Guild, Washington Women in Film and Video, and the Parent Artist Advocacy League.
Marjuan’s work has been supported by:
New York Stage and Film, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Anacostia Arts Center, Beacon DC, Harlem Stage, John F. Kennedy Center, Atlantic Pacific Theater, Publick Playhouse
