Kaneza Schaal

Kaneza Schaal works in theater, opera and film. Her work has shown in divergent contexts, from NYC galleries to courtyards in Vietnam, East African amphitheaters to European opera houses, USA public housing to rural auditoriums in the UAE. By creating art that speaks many formal, cultural, historical, aesthetic, and experiential languages, she seeks expansive audiences. Schaal has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, Herb Alpert Award in Theatre, United States Artists Fellowship, SOROS Art Migration and Public Space Fellowship, and a Ford Foundation Art For Justice Bearing Witness Award. She directed the 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Omar. Schaal is an arts-in-education advocate; most recently she taught a course on theater and social practice at Harvard University and served as the Denzel Washington Endowed Chair in Theatre at Fordham University. In her commitment to artist-centered institutions, Schaal co-founded Gihanga Institute for Contemporary Art in Kigali, Rwanda; served on the board of PS122/PSNY; on the Leadership Council for Creatives Rebuild New York, an artists employment and guaranteed income initiative; on the Artistic Leadership Committee for New Victory Theater; and was co-Director of Under The Radar Festival, NYC from 2024 to 2026.