Ameenah Kaplan

Ameenah Kaplan holds a BFA in directing from the Academy of Art University Film School. She also attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for acting. Currently she is Resident Director for the North American tour of Disney’s The Lion King. And appears on the ABC+ show Encore! as a choreographer and director. She spent her early career working as an actor, choreographer, drummer. Her acting credits include Avengers: Infinity War, guest star and recurring roles on The Office and Grey’s Anatomy, and she was in the original American cast of Stomp. She’s been a drum coach with Blue Man Group for 18 years and has played drums for Rihanna, Macy Gray, Adam Lambert, and Rod Stewart. Other directing credits include The Wiz for First Stage Milwaukee, Our Country’s Good at American Players Theatre, Meet Vera Stark at Purdue U., How to Break for the Village Theater Seattle, The Royale at ACT Theatre Seattle, and Bash’d for LA’s Celebration Theatre. She directed Molodi: Up Close and Personal for Las Vegas’ premiere body percussion group and consults for Antics Hip Hop Theater Company in LA. She has twice directed for Noah Wylie’s Young Playwright’s Festival. Her short film, Man with a Movie Camera premiered at Hollyshorts Film Festival in 2014. She directed a short, The American Failure, to multiple film festivals and awards. She has choreographed more than two-dozen shows for stage and TV, including Dancing with the Stars. She originated the choreography for The Royale at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in LA and for The Dancing Granny by Ashley Bryan at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. Ameenah is the recipient of Gregory, Ovation, Sherwood, Queen of Angels, and multiple NAACP and LA Weekly awards for choreography, fight choreography, and directing.