KARL O’BRIAN WILLIAMS (Playwright, Not About Eve) is a Jamaican-born actor, creative writer, producer, director and educator. His acting career has taken him from stages in the Caribbean to those in New York, Toronto, and the United Kingdom. In 2019, he was co-writer on the short films Caribbean Queen and Winston, the latter receiving over 18 film festival selections including the Pan African Film Festival and the African American Film Festival. His play The Black That I Am was featured in HERE Arts Center Sublet Series and staged in Glasgow and Galloway for the National Theatre of Scotland, and at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. It also received The Jamaican Actor Boy Awards for Best Jamaican Play, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and Best Drama. Not About Eve received 3 AUDELCO nominations for Excellence in Black Theatre including Outstanding Ensemble Cast, Best Dramatic Production, and Best Playwright, and won him another Actor Boy Award for Best Jamaican Play. The Boys on the Hill was a selection in The Culture Project’s 2015 Summer Play Reading series at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre, and for Long Island University’s Kumble Theatre 2016 Pride Month Celebrations. The play is now being developed along with another one-act called Gully Queen as part of a trilogy on LGBTQ+ lives in Jamaica. Excerpts of his play What’s In A Name are in “Out & Allied Volume 2: An Anthology of Performance Pieces” by LGBTQ Youth & Allies. He has produced work for the Jamaica Performing Arts Center and the Skirball Performing Arts Center. His play, The Signs of Friendship is in “We Are Not Neutral-Reset Series 2020 Short Play Collection.” He’s narrated three audiobooks, and was nominated for an Audie Award for These Ghosts Are Family written by Maisy Card. When he is not writing or acting, he is teaching theatre at Randolph College, The Borough of Manhattan Community College (CUNY), and in NYU’s Program in Educational Theatre. Karl is also part of the Caribbean arts nonprofit – Braata Productions! He is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to further develop the play Not About Eve. Thanks Atlantic!
