Director/Scholar

Dr. Hodges Persley is a director, scholar, and content creator with credits in theater, film, television, and social media. She is a member of SAG/AFTRA, AEA Eligible, SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society), and the NTC (National Theatre Conference). Notable directing credits include Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Kristoffer Diaz’s Welcome to Arroyo's, Angelina W. Grimke’s Rachel, Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman, Dominique Morisseau’s Sunset Baby, and Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro. Hodges Persley creates intentional bridges between the entertainment industry and academia as an artist-scholar. Her critically acclaimed short film Epiphany (2020) has been an official selection of the DC Black Film Festival. The Denton Black Film Festival, The Free State Festival, and the Short Film Factory International Film Festival. She is the co-founder of Create Ensemble, a social platform for creatives of the global majority. Her new short film, Abishai, was shot with an iPhone 8 in 2 days based on an experimental script by Lewis Morrow, a frequent collaborator. The film featured non-actors in all principal roles.

She is the Artistic Director of the KC Melting Pot Theater, Kansas City’s premier African American Theater company.

Dr. Hodges Persley is Professor of American Studies and African and African American Studies. She is a seasoned administrator with over 15 years of leadership experience in academe and non-profits.