I am a playwright and screenwriter creating politically charged, sometimes historical, character-driven narratives rooted in Theater of Absurd, protest art, and film noir. My work interrogates power, despair, art-making, and moral responsibility through heightened language, visual iconography, monologue, satire, and tragic form. I draw from Chekhov, Rod Serling, August Wilson, Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud, Samuel Beckett, and the Black Arts Movement, writing for actors and audiences as witnesses—where presence, risk, and ethical confrontation complete the work. With over 30 years of professional experience across theater and film, my work has been presented Off-Broadway, internationally, and in institutional and community-based venues. I founded the Kangalee Arts Ensemble, a 501(c)(3) repertory company dedicated to classical forms fused with radical social engagement. I remain committed to creating work that challenges power, centers moral responsibility, and invites audiences to bear witness to urgent questions in art and life.

Dennis Leroy Kangalee

PRO

I am a playwright and screenwriter creating politically charged, sometimes historical, character-driven narratives rooted in Theater of Absurd, protest art, and film noir. My work interrogates power, despair, art-making, and moral responsibility through heightened language, visual iconography, monologue, satire, and tragic form. I draw from Chekhov, Rod Serling, August Wilson, Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud, Samuel Beckett, and the Black Arts Movement, writing for actors and audiences as witnesses—where presence, risk, and ethical confrontation complete the work. With over 30 years of professional experience across theater and film, my work has been presented Off-Broadway, internationally, and in institutional and community-based venues. I founded the Kangalee Arts Ensemble, a 501(c)(3) repertory company dedicated to classical forms fused with radical social engagement. I remain committed to creating work that challenges power, centers moral responsibility, and invites audiences to bear witness to urgent questions in art and life.

Available to hire

I am a playwright and screenwriter creating politically charged, sometimes historical, character-driven narratives rooted in Theater of Absurd, protest art, and film noir. My work interrogates power, despair, art-making, and moral responsibility through heightened language, visual iconography, monologue, satire, and tragic form. I draw from Chekhov, Rod Serling, August Wilson, Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud, Samuel Beckett, and the Black Arts Movement, writing for actors and audiences as witnesses—where presence, risk, and ethical confrontation complete the work.

With over 30 years of professional experience across theater and film, my work has been presented Off-Broadway, internationally, and in institutional and community-based venues. I founded the Kangalee Arts Ensemble, a 501©(3) repertory company dedicated to classical forms fused with radical social engagement. I remain committed to creating work that challenges power, centers moral responsibility, and invites audiences to bear witness to urgent questions in art and life.

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Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Artistic Director at Kangalee Arts Ensemble
January 1, 2022 - Present
Founder and artistic director guiding a repertory company that fuses classical forms with radical social engagement; directs premieres and revivals, cultivates political and ethical performance practices.
Founder & Director at Dionysus 2000 Theatre Lab
January 1, 1997 - December 31, 1999
Experimental repertory company reinterpreting African American classics and European political theater.
Writer/Director at As an Act of Protest (Feature Film)
January 1, 2001 - Present
Writer and director of a feature addressing racism and police brutality; adapted from Ed Bullins’ Goin’ a Buffalo.
Screenwriter at Goin’ a Buffalo (Screen Adaptation)
January 1, 1999 - Present
Co-written with Ed Bullins; adaptation of the play for screen.
Screenwriter (Contracted) at New Poet Cinema / Speller St. Film
January 1, 2011 - January 1, 2021
Contracted writer for film projects (2011–2021).
Director at Krapp’s Last Tape & Rockaby
January 1, 2022 - December 31, 2025
Directed premieres and revivals in NYC, CA, and touring venues (2022–2025).
Director at My Dying City, Vol. II
January 1, 2026 - Present
Directed the social-justice cycle exploring political despair and artistic responsibility; premieres at venues including American Theater of Actors (world premiere noted for 2026).
Writer/Director at Smile: A Clown’s Ascension (Solo Piece)
October 1, 2025 - October 31, 2025
Solo performance commissioned by Henry Miller Memorial Library; a late-career monologue about failure, comedy, madness, and artistic survival.

Education

Drama at The Juilliard School
January 11, 2030 - April 13, 2026
Roots of the Stanislavski System at Moscow Art Theatre
January 11, 2030 - April 13, 2026
Sanford Meisner Theater (Additional Training) at Sanford Meisner Theater
January 11, 2030 - April 13, 2026
LaGuardia High School of Music & Art at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art
January 11, 2030 - April 13, 2026

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.

Industry Experience

Media & Entertainment, Education, Non-Profit Organization, Professional Services, Other