Director and choreographer George Faison is currently in Laos, Nigeria, developing a new musical called In Search of Queen Amina based on the historical figure of the same name. Amina will have a four week run in Nigeria. The possibility of a Kennedy Center run has been mentioned for next season. A noted choreographer, Faison won a Tony Award for The Wiz. Director Faison's other Broadway credits include Tony nominated work for Porgy and Bess, Don't Bother, I Can't Cope, and Timon of Athens.

Faison's most recent project was a 25th anniversary production of Ntozake Shange's colored girls/when the rainbow is enuf at the American Place Theatre in New York. That show closed Aug. 20 after losing its investment. Faison also directed the next most recent production of Shange's play, a five-performance run at the Langston Hughes Theatre of the Schomberg Center in Harlem which closed on March 18. As reported earlier, Faison also helmed colored girls at Baltimore's Center Stage Theatre.

-- By Murdoch McBride