in which I hypnotize Rachmaninoff. a play with music by Dave Malloy, directed by Rachel Chavkin at LCT3.

here’s a great The New Yorker photo and article.

as part of Adam Driver’s and Joanne Tucker’s Veterans Day benefit, got to hang with Jake Gyllenhaal and perform a monologue from Fences.

also participated in the historic audio recordings of the entire August Wilson Century Cycle. when Ruben Santiago-Hudson calls, you say yes. I played Mame in Radio Golf, opposite Rocky Carroll.

an evening of visual art, music and text at Symphony Space was another highlight of the fall. sharing the stage with BD Wong, Olympia Dukakis, John Guare and others in an evocation of the day before the assassination of JFK on November 22, 1963 was chilling and full of surprising insights. The New York Times reviewed it.

this tux was courtesy of designer Clint Ramos for our Encores! Off Center production of The Cradle Will Rock. it includes shoes that, though tasty looking, were not particularly stable. falling down in front of over a thousand people—that’s gotta be good for you, right?

sending smiles to you this hot summer.

by creating this musical, I brought all of the things I do—acting, singing, writing music, writing scenes—into one room. absolutely liberating.

director Liesl Tommy, actor-singers Darius de Haas, Dashiell Eaves, Nicole Lewis, band members Jon Spurney, Mark Vanderpoel, Sydney Driver, Nick Rolfe, and visual artist Steffani Jemison worked with me to make this piece wonderful. and it all happened because of Laura Kaminsky commissioning me at Symphony Space.

here’s a little video from a rehearsal…

I won an Obie. for Sustained Excellence in Performance. what.

just closed Luck of the Irish at LCT3. will miss the play and my character Lucy Taylor immensely.

here’s the Harlem Shake video our LOTI cast did…

Carrie Mae Weems. Geri Allen. Esperanza Spalding. Lizz Wright. Terri Lynne Carrington. Patrice Rushen. and me.

I am a recipient of the Alpert Award in Theatre, a distinction that has revived my optimism,  joy, and courage about playmaking. we had a fantastic time putting together the web feature for the award, which in many ways is a continuation and supplement of this site, and the conversations and experiences with the panelists, staff, and other awardees were unbelievably rich. I’m inspired, and hope you are too.

I’m previewing new songs from my musical-in-progress.

on Hart of Dixie with the lovely Rachel Bilson. she, and everyone on this show (Cress Williams, Jaime King, Scott Porter, Tim Matheson, and Wilson Bethel), are wonderful, warm people who made the set a real home. that’s why I’m smiling.

because you missed it, or you miss it, like me.

courtesy of Actors Equity Association. featuring Kim Brockington, Denise Burse, Eisa Davis, Ayesha Ngaujah, and Linda Powell, directed by Liesl Tommy. co-produced by Hip Hop Theater Festival and New Georges.

my godbrother Damani Baker (Still Bill) shot this in my old apartment. family business.

summering in LA has been a blast! doing a fantastic play with beautiful people, biking and surfing, catching up with dear friends. and the LA Times profiled me (in a good way) for last Sunday’s calendar section. click on the links below.

LA TIMES REVIEW

LA TIMES FEATURE ON EISA

we’re doing THIS again in LA at the Kirk Douglas Theater, in the company of Glenn Fitzgerald, Darren Pettie, Gilles Marini, Saffron Burrows, and director Daniel Aukin.

we shot this film in New Orleans right after the 2008 election. the director Jake Scott created a lovely energy on set that was still palpable by the end of the shoot, and working with the late Jim Gandolfini was an unforgettable honor. I’m in the beginning of the movie.

thanks to everyone who came out to hear the music at Joe’s Pub Memorial Day weekend. photos below by Nick Suttle and Kevin Yatarola.

yes it was! here’s the link. also got a nod in the Village Voice’s column for contributing to best theater of the decade.

The New York Times review

“On this mixtape, style will dictate, we bounce back and forth in time…”

Using the rhythms of music and memory, Angela’s Mixtape tells the story of Eisa’s radical upbringing on the dividing line between Oakland and Berkeley, California—in a family that includes her aunt, professor and activist Angela Davis.

Time shifts between the 70s, 80s, and 90s as smoothly as a DJ fading from song to song. Each track, each memory, has a built-in switch to the next, for theatrical momentum that keeps on building.

The music crosses styles and decades, but it’s hip-hop and a b-girl stance that keeps the piece bouncing in the present.

pictured below: the cast, and the cast paired with the people they play. I’m not playing Ellen Burstyn though. or Alicia Keys.

just closed THIS, acting, singing, and playing piano. the show, one of The New York Times’ bests of 2009, was an absolute dream to be a part of. shouts out to the visionary Melissa, Daniel Aukin on direction, Louis Cancelmi, Glenn Fitzgerald, Julianne Nicholson, and Darren Pettie on stage, and Peter Eldridge for his beautiful music. here’s an interview I did about the show as well as The New York Times review. Glenn also took some lovely photos of the cast during tech that were featured in the Times. another of his pictures is below. bye….

after an unbelievably reviewed theatrical premiere (100% on Rotten Tomatoes), Spike Lee’s film of Annie Dorsen’s and Stew’s and Heidi’s Passing Strange is now available on DVD and on demand. it’s exceedingly rare to have a record of what we do in the theatre—this brilliant film documents the ephemeral, ecstatic time we had on stage.

www.passingstrangethemovie.com.