India Nicole Burton is an actress, director, playwright, and producer. She is a native of Akron, OH and graduated from The University of Akron in 2011 with a BA in Theatre Arts with an emphasis on performance. Upon graduating, India founded Ma’Sue Productions, an African American theatre company located in Akron,Ohio. She has directed, produced, and performed in several of Ma’Sue’s plays and was co-artistic director until 2015. Some of India’s acting credits include Julius Caesar (Portia), Bootycandy (Actor One), An Octoroon (Dido), and Orlando (Orlando). India just recently ended a Virtual National Tour of American Dreams by Leila Buck in 2020. Where she played the role of Biana Coffman. She originated this character when it had its World Premiere At Cleveland Public Theatre in 2018. India’s directing credits include for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (Heads Up Productions), The Laramie Project (Heads Up Productions), Daybreak’s Children (Ma’Sue Productions), A Happening on Imperial (Ma’Sue Productions), O Patria Mia (Ma’Sue Productions), Little Women (Hathaway Brown Theatre Institute), Fire on the Water (Cleveland Public Theatre, co-directed with Raymond Bobgan), Panther Women: An Army for the Liberation (in development at Cleveland Public Theatre), “inside out” by Francisca Da Silveira (Company One, as part of their C1: Inauguration project) and three short plays produced at Cleveland Public Theatre’s Station Hope: What we could have , Maya: The Poet, and We Call you George. India’s assistant directing credits include the 2014 production of The Color Purple at Karamu House, A brownsville song (b-side for tray) at Dobama Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre’s Barbecue and Good at Heart, featured in BorderLight International Theatre + Fringe Festival. India is a board member for New World Performance Lab and a two-year recipient of NNPN Producer in Residence program for Cleveland Public Theatre. She is currently receiving her MFA in writing from The University of Nebraska’s Creative writing program.
Plays
Panther Women: An Army for the Liberation centers 3 prominent Women who were part of the Black Panther and Liberation movement of the 60’s and 70’s. The play uses their stories as a catalyst to explore the dilemmas, obstacles, and joy of the African American woman in general. It is very high energy and involves movement, poetry, monologues, dance, and song.