Biography

Edwin Brown is a theatre artist and educator. He has served as a dialect coach at several prestigious theatres, including the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Adventure Theatre, and the New Victory Theatre on 42nd Street in New York City. Brown's directing credits include Thoughts of a Colored Man by Keenan M. Scott II at Oxford University and Red Plus by Patrick A. Jackson at the DC Black Theatre Festival. As an actor, Brown has performed in a Broadway Workshop, Off-Broadway productions, regional theatres, and on a national tour with The Acting Company. Recently, he starred in the first ever all-Black cast at the Folger Theatre in Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses (Helen Hayes nominated for Best Ensemble of a Play). Other highlights include his performance in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's production of Ricardo Khan’s Fly, which celebrated the Tuskegee Airmen. He originated the role of Rochefort in Kirsten Child’s adaptation of The Three Musketeers at Queens Theatre. He also portrayed Venus in Tarell Alvin McCraney’s newly adapted version of Wig Out! at Studio Theatre.

Brown has collaborated with accomplished directors such as Taye Diggs, Kent Gash, Ricardo Khan, the late Al Freeman Jr., George Faison, Eric Ruffin, Danielle Drakes, Liesl Tommy, Psalmayene 24, Seth Panitch, Aaron Posner, Joshua Kahan Brody, Megan Sandberg-Zakian, and Leah C. Gardiner. He has graced stages at various venues, including 59E59, Royal Family, Ford’s Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, NJPAC, State Theatre in New Brunswick, Coterie Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Columbia Theatre in Washington, Lakewood Cultural Center, Admiral Theatre, Warren Miller PAC, Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, Popejoy Hall, and the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to his performance work, Brown serves as a lead instructor at the Duke Ellington Theatre Arts Program Summer Intensive and provides audition coaching for theatre performance majors. Brown is especially proud of co-teaching Duke high school students with Howard University Professor Emerita, Vera J. Katz. Brown is a teaching artist at Anacostia High School in Washington, DC. He co-produces several children’s theatre productions and programs at Anacostia Playhouse. 

Prior to returning to his alma mater, Brown taught Voice for the Stage courses as a Graduate Teaching Assistant/Researcher at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) and taught English Literature in public schools in Brooklyn, NY. He remains committed to professional development, participating in various seminars and conferences as a member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA). Brown was awarded a grant-funded research project at the August Wilson Archives at the University of Pittsburgh, where he presented new performance-based lesson plans focusing on character studies from the play Seven Guitars at the 2025 August Wilson Society Biennial Colloquium. He also works with playwrights associated with the National Black Theatre, National Queer Theatre, and Tectonic Theatre Project by co-producing staged readings of new works, predominantly in collaboration with the Howard Players and the Howard University LGBTQIA+ Resource Center. 

Education: Brown earned his BFA in Acting from Howard University and his MFA in Acting and Directing from UMKC. He also participated in the British-American Dramatic Academy Midsummer in Oxford program and completed the Susan Batson Film Acting Workshop with master teachers Carl Ford and Susan Batson.