Sheldon Epps Sets A New Path For Himself With ‘My Own Directions’

Moving on from your dreams is the mindset that many creatives have after being disappointed in their career. But for industry veteran Sheldon Epps, he is still making strides towards making every project shows positive images for the Black community, despite not being recognized for it for quite some time.

After initially getting his start at Carnegie Mellon University, Epps was met with a new reality from being the majority in his neighborhood to the minority in his classes. Despite his upbringing in Los Angeles, he did not let this stop him from pursuing a career in acting and casting his net further to different cities.

This eventually led to him working at the Pasadena Playhouse for the span of 20 years serving as an artistic director.  This also opened up the door for him to direct on Broadway. He was awarded with three Tony nominations for directing Duke Ellington’s musical, Play On! and his own musical called Blues In The Night which was also nominated for a Tony for “Best Musical of the Year”. He even helped contribute to the long-term reputation of highly esteemed productions and diversity within the theater for productions both in and out of Broadway.

Epps made it a point to always ensure diversity was a priority within his work. Whether it be the cast or the production crew, he wanted to make sure that stories were being conveyed from a unique perspective that wouldn’t have otherwise been shared. His transition from theater to television was no different. By directing episodes for hit tv shows like Girlfriends, and Sister Sister,  he was able to help actors grow in their storytelling skills which in some ways contributed to the success of these productions.

Prioritizing diversity, he was intentional about ensuring that he directed more than just plays by Black playwrights. This was to ensure that he was not only keeping himself well versed, but out of a box that others may have wanted to put him in. This helped him to be able to have the same freedoms as other directors that were not a minority.  He helped to implement diverse hiring and production types within Pasadena Playhouse which has transcended into other spaces. Now that he has been able to reflect on his 20+ years of experience, he has decided to share his own story rather than someone else’s.

My Own Directions: A Black Man’s Journey in the American Theatre is a story that signifies just how far we all have come as a society and the importance of representation. Epps’ transparency in his experience as a Black director in a field that was predominantly white at the time can speak to the experience that some may face today when it comes to people of color and the entertainment industry.

“I hope my story will encourage people to believe that they can go as far as they want to go. That they can dream big and be ambitious and if they work hard and have passion about what they’re doing that they can achieve anything and everything that they want to achieve, even if the world is telling them don’t dream too big ,” Epps expressed after being asked what he wants readers to receive from reading his book. While Epps has provided a platform for minority artists around him, he has still been able to set the stage for future directors after him to be just as impactful.

Even with his experience, he still has gone through some of the challenges that some artists face with feeling stagnant or having “writer’s block”. “It’s perfectly okay to say ‘I don’t know today’ or ‘I don’t have an answer for you today. Sometimes we can get ourselves into trouble by pretending that you have an answer or try to force an answer.”  Epps encourages the next generation of actors, directors and producers to take his memoir title seriously and follow their own directions in life. He also emphasized the importance of studying the art that is acting or writing.

His most recent project, Christmas Party Crashers, was released on November 17, 2022 and was  his first movie directorial debut which can now be streamed on BET+. Epps can also be found in his role as Senior Artistic Advisor for Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. 

To purchase the book and learn more about the theater industry from the eyes on a trailblazer, it is available for purchase here.

Sherdell Baker is a senior journalism major student at Hampton University. She seeks to bring the quintessential views of contemporary college culture to the masses. Check out more from her here.

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