Ricardo M. Khan

Ricardo M. Khan is co-founder and artistic director of the nonprofit Crossroads Theatre Company in New Brunswick. Under his direction, Crossroads won the 1999 Tony award for Outstanding Regional Theater, making it one of the nation’s most acclaimed African-American theater companies. Khan conceived Black Eagles, about the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, for the Manhattan Theatre Club, Crossroads, and Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. He directed West Memphis Mojo at New York’s Negro Ensemble Company; Further Mo’, which played at Crossroads before its long run at the Village Gate in New York; and The Darker Face of the Earth by former poet laureate Rita Dove. Along with directing, Khan has also taught acting at Rutgers. In 1989, he was co-chair of the National Endowment for the Arts Theater Advisory Panel, and for four years was president of the Theatre Communications Group, a national organization of professional theaters. More recent projects include a musical about Nelson Mandela, which was developed in South Africa and premiered at Crossroads in 2004, and One Mo’ Time, which opened to positive reviews from Time magazine and the New York Post in 2006.