Fatima Quander
AEA/SAG-AFTRA
Actor, Director, Educator, Theatremaker,
Washington, DC
Photo by Carmen Torruella.
Theatre, Acting
Theater Alliance | Covenant by York Walker |
Directed by Autumn Angelettie
Mama
Voices Festival Productions | Letters to Kamala/Dandelion Peace by Rachel Lynett |
Directed by A. Lorraine Robinson
Charlene Mitchell/Zuri
Rep Stage | Home by Samm-Art Williams | Directed by Duane Boutte
Woman 2
Rep Stage | Las Meninas by Lynn Nottage | Directed by Eve Muson
Louise Marie-Therese
Everyman Theatre | A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry | Directed by Jennifer L. Nelson
Beneatha
Theater of the First Amendment | 24, 7, 365 by Jennifer L. Nelson | Directed by Juanita Rockwell
Shavondra
The Kennedy Center | Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson | Directed by Jennifer L. Nelson
Miss Edna, Lili, et al
The Folger Elizabethan Theatre | Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare | Directed by Timothy Douglas
Margaret
The Kennedy Center (National Tour) | Color Me Dark: A Story of the Great Migration North by Jerome Hairston |
Directed by Ricardo Khan
Nellie Lee
Imagination Stage | Junebug and the Reverend by Martha King DeSilva | Directed by Kathryn Chase Bryer
Ms. Williams
Discovery Theater | African Roots/Latino Soul by Karen Zacarías | Directed by Roberta Gasbarre
Mamá, et al
Atlas Performing Arts Center | Coming Home by David Emerson Toney | Directed by Mary Hall Surface
Young Lilly
Discovery Theater | Retratos by Karen Zacarías and Young Playwrights' Theater | Directed by Roberta Gasbarre
Jasmín
"Fatima Quander as Mama commands each of her scenes with jaw-dropping, fear-inducing certitude. Yet she allows her pain to leak through."
-DC Theater Arts on Covenant at Theater Alliance
"The versatility and the malleable willingness of Quander and [Felicia] Curry to dive into the wide range of fully realized characters – all with different accents – are a memorable, smorgasbord display of talent that one rarely gets to see from individuals in a single production."
-DC Metro Theatre Arts on Home at Rep Stage
"...a good deal of humor flows from the show's panoply of eccentric and witty characters -- roles brilliantly juggled by Quander and [G. Alverez] Reid, with the aid of simple costume changes. (You can barely spot the same actress in Miss Edna and in the babyish, raspberry-blowing, pink-ribboned Lili.)"
-The Washington Post on Locomotion at
The Kennedy Center
"The performances are all first-rate. Quander is particularly impressive. At the outset, Shavondra seems a bit of a lightweight – a dimbulb who misuses words. But Quander allows her character’s quickness and wit to light up the stage, and eventually Shavondra establishes herself as an equal to the others."
-DC Theatre Scene on 24, 7, 365 at Theater
of the First Amendment
Some Quotables...
Areas of Expertise
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Stanislavski Method-based training
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Full body, mind, and vocal preparations
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Creating characters and building roles
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Theatre curriculum development
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Hip Hop Theatre
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Devised Theatre
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Dialects and use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
Training
The Uta Hagen Institute Hagen Teacher’s
Lab (Upcoming 2025), HB Studio |
New York, New York
Directing in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
(Upcoming 2025), The Studio at
Shakespeare’s Globe | London, UK
Certificate in Directing (2023) Yale
University | New Haven, Connecticut
MFA, Actors Studio Drama School,
New School University | New York, NY
BA, Beloit College | Beloit, WI
Commercials
Theatre, Directing
Toyota | National spot | 2018
Principal
Under Armour/Dick's Sporting Goods | National spot | 2014
Supporting
CareFirst BlueCross Blue Shield | Regional spot | 2015
Principal
DC Health Link | Regional spot | 2014
Principal
Honors and Awards
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Uta Hagen Award, the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, the American College Theatre Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (KCACTF), and the HB Studio 2025
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Inspiring Adjunct Faculty Recognition,
Howard Community College 2020-2021
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Best Supporting Actress Nomination for Home
by Samm-Art Williams at Rep Stage,
Maryland Theatre Guide 2013
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Beloit College Young Alumni Award 2011
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MFA Thesis Performance, Girl Bully by Carla Ching, featured in “Best of Repertory” Season/Director’s
Showcase,
Actors Studio Drama School 2005
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Cum Laude and Theatre Departmental Honors,
Beloit College 2001
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Mortar Board (National Senior Honor Society) 2001
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McNair Scholar (National Graduate School TRIO Program) 2001
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Beloit College Dean's List (several years)
for colored girls who have committed suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (co-directed with Ama Law)
University of Maryland's School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS),
February 2025
A Bicycle Country by Nilo Cruz
UMD TDPS, November 2023
The Book Club Play by Karen Zacarías
UMD TDPS, February-March 2023
I Love Luci: A Devised Play (co-directed with Jenny Male)
Howard Community College Department of Theatre, April 2021
Disruptions of the Body Saros by Pharyne Stephney Gremore
Transformation Theatre,
September 2020
The Burn by Philip Dawkins
Howard Community College Department of Theatre, January 2020
HERstory: Love Forever, Hip Hop written and directed by Goldie Patrick
Associate Director, Fatima Quander
The Kennedy Center Family Theater,
June 2019
Feminine Folklore: The 53% (co-directed with Goldie Patrick) devised by the directors and cast
FRESHH Inc Theatre Company,
January 2017
Recurrent Collaborators
Folger Shakespeare Library
https://www.folger.edu/events/not-just-another-day-off-2021
FRESHH Inc Theatre Company
Young Playwrights' Theater
https://theatereducates.wordpress.com/2019/11/06/a-moment-in-time-with-fatima-quander/
Interviews
KeyBARD podcast hosted by Thembi Duncan, 2025
Shaping Theatre Through Black Women's Stories
https://youtu.be/JFZEiHDZSmg?si=oB9ROOGD2DFQnxEu
I Love Luci: A Devised Play
Howard Community College, 2021
https://www.howardcc.edu/discover/arts-culture/horowitz-center/student-theatre/2020-21/i-love-luci/
Behind the scenes at FRESHH Inc Theatre Company. Photo by Bryanda Minix.