Debbie Allen To Direct Maya Angelou Play ‘Phenomenal Woman’

Debbie Allen will direct the first, and only, stage play authorized by Maya Angelou’s estate.

Renowned performing arts icon Debbie Allen has been tapped to direct the upcoming play based on Maya Angelou’s life and legacy.

Announced on Nov. 10, Allen will direct Phenomenal Woman, Maya Angelou by Angelica Chéri, aiming for a 2028 world premiere, Playbill reports. This marks the first, and currently only, stage production authorized by Angelou’s estate.

Details on the play remain limited, though press notes indicate it will explore and expand on “the legend and legacy of Dr. Angelou’s immeasurable impact on the world.” After developmental runs at North Carolina’s Black Repertory Company and Houston’s The Ensemble Theatre, Allen expressed excitement and pride in directing the play about the iconic figure, whom she knew personally.

“Like Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Dr. Maya Angelou was the impactful genius of her time,” Allen said in a statement. “The poetry that she delivered radiated a folk spirit of African American people that became classic and traditional. This production will dramatize and sing the soul and the essence of her being from child to legend. The audience will discover so many wonderful, unknown events in her life that catapulted her to RISE. I am beyond humbled, excited, and honored to helm this production as director. I had a very personal relationship with Dr. Maya Angelou, and know her legacy resonates with thousands and thousands of young people in the performing arts today.”

This project adds to Allen’s distinguished Broadway career, which includes performances in Purlie, Raisin, and Ain’t Misbehavin’; the lead role of Anita in the 1980 revival of West Side Story; and starring in the 1986 run of Sweet Charity, Bob Fosse’s final directing credit—both earning her Tony nominations. Allen rose to fame in the musical film Fame, later reprising and choreographing the TV adaptation. She also choreographed the short-lived 1980 Broadway musical Carrie, directed a 2008 revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and is currently directing a Broadway revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.