‘An exciting challenge’: Meet American Stage’s Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj

He won’t sit behind the desk, officially, until Oct. 1, but Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj has already become a familiar – and most welcome – presence behind the scenes at American Stage.

He is the first BIPOC producing artistic director, at a major regional theater, in all of Florida.

“I wish I was the one hundred and first,” Maharaj says. “I know that as Florida is changing and shaping, these things matter. And it matters because of my credentials, and my character, my vision.

“But it also matters because there’s going to be a little Brown or Black kid sitting in the cheap seats of the theater, like I did growing up, who will dream of someday maybe having a life in the theater, or even writing for theater. And because I was here, it becomes even more real.”

Of Indo-Afro-Caribbean heritage, Maharaj has a Master of Fine Arts in Theatrical Directing, and a BA in Communication Arts.

He is a director, producer, playwright and activist who’s held administrative roles at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Rebel Theater Company (which he co-founded), Syracuse Stage and New Freedom Theatre. He has directed on Broadway, Off Broadway, and in regional theaters across America.

He already knew there was groundbreaking professional theater on this coast of Florida (Sarasota’s Asolo has a worldwide reputation), and he’d heard of St. Petersburg (somewhere or other), but Maharaj’s introduction to American Stage, he admits, was revelatory.

“I love that they’ve done bold plays that are provocative, and I also love that they do new work,” he says. “I love the diversity in what we do with our programming, and that there’s room to build on with us being able to be more of a national player with other co-productions, with other regionals. And to start to raise our national profile, that’s an exciting challenge being the new producing artistic director.”

Maharaj talks in bold terms about taking American Stage’s programming to the “next level,” in keeping with the pervasive social climate in the country.

“After Black Lives Matter, the We See You movement and the pandemic, people want to come back to the theater and be inspired. And enlightened. And be challenged,” he says.

“That’s the thing I love about American Stage, and about folks here in St. Pete – I’ve realized, time and time again, they want art that’s going to challenge them. Art that has something to say about the world.

“And that really inspires me. They don’t want just the revivals and the safe stuff.”

He’s quick to clarify that he’s talking about universality.

“For me, it’s not even about Black and white,” Maharaj explains. “It’s about the American experience. The American experience is indigenous, it’s Latinx, it’s Asian. It’s Caucasian, it’s African American. It’s Queer. It’s all these different experiences that make up the fabric and the tapestry of our country.

“And so I want to be able to tell these stories at American Stage that are very American. Obviously classic plays, your O’Neills and your Tennessee Williams, I love those plays. But can we look at them through a new lens? Can we look at a new lens of casting? Giving a person of color designer an opportunity, or a choreographer or actor or director?

“So there’s all sorts of ways that this kind of activism and this consciousness that we are all, thank God, moving closer towards the dream of the true American democracy. And it doesn’t fall short on me that I work, every day, in a theater that’s called American Stage. I’m just so proud to be part of that legacy, and build on it.”

This week, Maharaj begins a new project in New York City – he’s assistant director of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the first totally African American-written and produced work at the Metropolitan Opera House. Terence Blanchard wrote the music.

“Going from that to being here, where there’s more history being made, it’s really a time of abundance and joy,” he enthuses. “And I’m truly happy that my ancestors’ energy is being used to help inspire those generations yet unborn to know that it’s possible.”