“With directing, it's all out there, in the moment and in real-time. Th...” — Mara Brock Akil Quote

“With directing, it's all out there, in the moment and in real-time. The pressure and all of the eyes are on you, and you've gotta do it. That is the place that made me nervous.”

“I was nurtured by Ralph Farquhar and then, later, by Sara Finney-Johnson and Vida Spears, two black women. So, I actually was nurtured by my culture, in a safe environment that allowed me to build my confidence. And Debbie Allen was one of my mentors, along with Stan Lathan.”

“One of the most powerful things we have is to tell our story.”

“Every now and then I have to teach directing. The thing about the theatre is that the most important thing you can do as a director is to make sure that everybody is in the same world - you have to create the world and make sure everyone buys into it.”

“I did a lot of small black-box theater in New York when I was starting out. I'd get a group of actors together to do workshops and readings. And I ended up directing three or four productions.”

“I did software development for a while, and I also spent several years directing a nonprofit in San Francisco that did computer education for the poor. I also did a lot of work in fast food.”