Pamela
Nice is an independent filmmaker and theater director
currently living in Washington,DC, whose recent
documentaries have focused on increasing understanding
between Americans and Arabs living abroad. In Letters
from Cairo (2003), which won the Worldfest Houston
Bronze Award for international documentaries, she
interviewed Egyptian artists and intellectuals about their
views of the U.S. and their own culture. Dreaming in
Morocco (2007) interviewed Moroccans aged 18-30 about
their hopes and dreams. Both were intended for American
audiences, and have been shown at film festivals in
Montreal, Toronto, Washington, DC, Houston and Orlando,
among others; at educational conferences such as the Middle
Eastern Studies Association (MESA); and on American and
Australian television. Nice also writes and directs
multimedia dance/theatre/film productions and has extensive
experience in theatre. Her work has been funded by
Fulbright and Jerome Fellowships, Minnesota State Arts and
Metropolitan Regional grants, and the National Endowment
for the Arts. She has lived in Morocco and Egypt, has been
a film critic for Al Jadid Magazine—a review of Arab arts
and literature-- and has taught theater, Arab film, and
Arab literature at the University of St. Thomas in
Minnesota.
“It’s What We Do,” a play Nice both wrote and
directed, twice won the Best Drama Award at the DC Capital
Fringe Festival (2015, 2017).
Awards
and Fellowships
• Best Drama Audience Award, 2015
and 2017, Capital Fringe Festival, Washington, DC
for "It's
What We Do": A Play about the Occupation
(playwright/director)
• Fulbright Specialist Award to Lebanon (2012) to train
university faculty in critical thinking and active learning
techniques
• Artist Initiative Grant,
Minnesota State Arts Board (from NEA), 2008, for filming
of Desert
in the Coffeehouse
•
Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board (from
NEA), 2006, for post-production on Dreaming in
Morocco
• Fulbright Scholar to Morocco (2004-05) to teach at the
national theatre institute (ISADAC) and shoot the
documentary, Dreaming in
Morocco
• Minnesota
State Arts Board Career Opportunity Grant (2003) to
complete filming of Letters from
Cairo in
Egypt
• IFP Access Grant (July, 2002) to edit Letters from
Cairo
• Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant to Egypt, to
research film (2000)
• Malone Fellowship to Syria (Summer, 2000)
• UMAIE Travel Grant to Egypt (January-February, 1998) for
study of contemporary Egyptian arts
• Metropolitan Regional Arts Council grant recipient (1994,
1995, 1996 and 1997) for productions for Theatre Lagniappe
• First place winner of Minnesota One-Act Play Festival
(1991 and 1993)
• Best Director Award MN One-Act Play Festival (1991)
• Fulbright Fellowship to study acting at the London
Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Selected Filmography (Screenwriting, Directed Films and
Videos-- also directed all of the works below)
•
Dreaming in Morocco (2007) Filmed, directed and
content-edited this 26:40-minute documentary about the
dreams of young Moroccans. Was optioned for broadcast by
MNTV for the 2007-08 season. Selected for 2007 Middle
Eastern Studies Association (MESA) Film Festival in
Montréal. Also selected for Bridge Fest (2008),The Global
Peace Film Festival, and the Bayou City Inspirational Film
Festival, in Houston (2008).
• Letters from Cairo (2003) Filmed, directed and
content-edited this 35-minute documentary. Filmed in
2002-03 in Cairo, Egypt. It was finished with the help of a
Minnesota State Arts Board Grant, a Jerome Foundation
Travel Grant and IFP/Mpls.-St. Paul Access Grant. It was
first shown at the film festival of the Middle Eastern
Studies Association (MESA) conference in November, 2002.
Because of this showing, the documentary was requested for
two national Middle East Resource Centers: one housed with
MESA at the University of Arizona, and the other at Chapel
Hill, NC. Also shown as part of the Intermedia Arts series,
“Warriors and Peacemakers” (2003) in Minneapolis.
•
Let Her (2001) Wrote, directed, filmed and
edited this short independent film, which depicts three
different views of a woman’s response to a letter her lover
has written to her. Shown at Low Voltage Film Festival (St.
Paul, 2002) and Indie Film Fest (Mpls., 2002).
• La
Virtud Negra (2000) —Wrote stage and video script, and
co-directed production, which was a film noir adaptation of
the 16th
century Spanish
play, La
Celestina.
Collaboration with Zorongo Flamenco Dance Company.
•
Frida Kahlo (1996 )—Wrote and directed a
twenty-minute video that was part of stage
production, Sadja, by Zorongo Flamenco Dance
Company, in which a talk show host interviews a psychotic
woman who thinks she is Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Theatre Directing Experience
--Collaborated on the direction
and script development of The Opposite
Program, a
play by Moroccan playwright Zakaria Lahlou, and presented
at the Institut Superior d’Art Dramatique et Animation
Culturelle (ISADAC--Rabat, Morocco--June, 2005) during
Fulbright Fellowship. Also collaborated on English
translation of the play, published in December, 2005, by
the Moroccan Cultural Studies Center.
--20
years professional experience in Twin Cities theatres,
including the Guthrie Theater, Minnesota Opera, and History
Theater; director and writer for theatre/dance/film works
with three local dance companies: Kathak Indian Dance
Company (Sister
India—2003), Zorongo Flamenco (several
productions--1993-2000) and Jawaahir Middle Eastern Dance
Company (Umm
Kalthoum—2004).
Theatre
Lagniappe (St.
Paul, MN): Artistic Director (1993-98)
I was the co-founder and Artistic Director of this
professional theatre company. Our mission was to present
contemporary international plays, and to work with local
human rights groups when possible. Always Together
(Anca
Visdei)—Romanian—1997; Love and Anger
(George
Walker)—Canadian—1995; Death and the
Maiden (Ariel Dorfman)--Chilean
–1994. Death and the
Maiden was
cited as “The Best of 1994” in year-end reviews in the Star
Tribune and Twin Cities Reader.
Education: London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (on
Fulbright Fellowship); Ph.D. in Theatre Arts (University of
Minnesota) with dissertation on Tom Stoppard
Critical
Commentary on Nice’s film and
theatrical productions: