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Broadway World & Sasha talk PRIMARY TRUST
A Pulitzer Prize-winning play is now onstage at Dallas Theater Center! Eboni Booth's Primary Trust -a story of friendship, healing, and small chances- is now in performances at Bryant Hall. At the helm is Sasha Maya Ada, who just checked in with BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge to tell us all about the production.
Best of FW Theater | Marjorie Prime
“Directed by Sasha Maya Ada, Stage West’s Marjorie Prime was moving and creative…the staging was deftly executed, the acting top notch, and the imaginative finale was moving.”
A Lifelong Exploration | Arts & Culture Texas
“Listen to how she says “pecans,” and you’ll know immediately that Sasha is not a native Texan. But the Bronx-born and South Carolina-raised director, actor, educator, and SMU graduate is nonetheless deeply committed to making the Dallas-Fort Worth theater industry better than it was when she moved here in 2012.”
Coming Out & Creating | Dallas Voice
“I came out over the pandemic. I identify as a queer, Black, Afro-Latina woman, and that inherently impacts how I work. I didn’t know that my queerness impacted my steps along the way, but I can see that in the main character. She’s also having this rebirth in the center of a disaster….”
Production Reviews
the word around town
‘Primary Trust’ at Dallas Theater Center & Stage West
“Critical to the success of this show are the astute direction by one of the Dallas area's finest directors, Sasha Maya Ada, and the uniformly excellent four person cast.”
‘hang’ at Second Thought Theatre
“Directed with explosive concentration, the 90-minute play gives voice to people caught up in a justice system too mechanical to encompass the flesh and blood human suffering it was designed to alleviate.”
‘Cloud Tectonics’ @ Teatro Dallas
“Teatro Dallas’ surreal ‘Cloud Tectonics’ is a standout. Infused with that kind of ironic humor, accompanied by despair, melancholy and the uncanny, Teatro Dallas’ understated rendering of Rivera’s Twilight Zone-like script from 1995 is one of the best productions of the 2023-24 North Texas theater season.”
‘Marjorie Prime’ @ Stage West
“Jordan Harrison’s 2014 Marjorie Prime at Stage West (set in the year 2053) is directed with a tender lightness in the company’s reconfigurable “Evie” theater space—for this show arranged as theater-in-the-round. Director Ada uses the impressive revolving stage exquisitely, even thematically. Marjorie Prime is beautifully produced, and it’s fun to see a lovely, positive use of much-maligned AI presented so entertainingly and thoughtfully. “
‘Pass Over’ @ Second Thought Theatre
“Pass Over captures the anguish of [Kitch and Moses]. Nwandu uses poetry, humor, drama, and surrealism in a unique blend to tell this story. Director Ada’s vision honors Nwandu’s play and makes it into an evening of riveting theater.”
‘Cabaret’ @ Arts Mission Oak Cliff
“It starts with a bang and a drum roll…everybody in the sold-out house whistles and shouts. We’re off and cheering at the gaudy, gritty, and immersive show, jointly produced by The Lost Boy Presents and AMOC, and directed by Sasha Maya Ada with a daring realism.”
Relevant, rigorous, & restorative work
beyond the bio
Sasha Maya Ada is a director, actor, educator, and *most recently* the Founding Artistic Director of Altar’d Playhouse (woot woot!). Passionate about allowing the intersection of restorative practices and artistic technique guide her story-telling, Sasha’s theatre-making approach spans from some of Dallas Fort-Worth’s largest performance houses to the heart of the juvenile justice system.
After completing her artist-in-residency at Arts Mission Oak Cliff last spring, Sasha launched Altar’d Playhouse as a training ground for professional theatre artists to continue the development of their technique and reimagine the traditional rehearsal/performance model. She also coaches young artists as they prepare for their next educational steps and serves as the co coordinator and lead teaching artist for the Dallas Region of the Next Narrative Monologue Competition and August Wilson New Voices.
A TCG: Alan Schneider Director Award Nominee (‘22), Sasha is excited to serve as a directing mentor for Teatro Dallas’ inaugural Nuevo Mundo New Director’s Festival. As she continues to investigate her own relationship to creating, she is grateful to be able support the development of her fellow creatives in the community that nourished her young artistry.
She, of course, could not end this blurb without mentioning the incredible impact her mother, friends & family, and mentors B and Anne have had in her journey. She is a proud recipient of their belief and support.