The CFA Repertory Theatre

The CFA Repertory Theatre is a collective of theater practitioners of color dedicated to spotlighting and presenting theater aimed at young audiences. Guided by AFRICAN DIASPORIC values, we champion culture, community, purpose, creativity, and collective effort. Our unique enclave welcomes adult theater professionals of color who champion youth empowerment through representation, offering pre-professional training, community enrichment, and mentorship all within a nurturing environment. Productions from the CFA Repertory Theatre echo these principles through the vast scope of creative storytelling, honoring African Diasporic culture while advocating for social equity.

CFA Rep has performed at over 70 schools, festivals, and organizations and on premiere stages including: The National Theatre, The John F. Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Discovery Theater, Children’s Museum of Manhattan, Zimmer Children’s Museum, IATI TEATRO, Duke Ellington Theatre, Atlas Performing Arts Center, Reginald F. Lewis Museum, The Publick Playhouse

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Meet the Company

ChelseaDee Harrison

ChelseaDee Harrison is a theater-maker, artivist, and public arts integration specialist. She has facilitated community-based arts experiences with The Kennedy Center, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Carnegie Hall, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and for survivors of human trafficking and their families. She is a tenured Teaching Artist with the New Victory Theater, a 2024 Emerging Leader Fellow with TYA/USA, a 2024 Teaching Artists Guild National Advisory Committee Member, and an inaugural cohort member of the ARTIVISM Fellowship with the Tony-award winning Broadway Advocacy Coalition. Her inspiration is crafting multi-platform public engagement experiences that highlight history, challenge dominant narratives and ensure that art is a tool in the hands of the people.

Brandon Johnson

Brandon Johnson a naive of DC , is a Duke Ellington School of the Arts alumni Theater major. He received a BFA for Theater Arts Acting from Howard University. He also has a MA in Media Studies From The New School in NYC. Brandon can be seen as a regional Performer/ Teaching Artist with Callaloo kid's crew, Alexandria Children’s Theatre & Canady Foundation of the Arts.

Janae Thompson

Janae Thompson is a Graduate of Governor's School for the Arts Theatre Department and American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Recent performances include: Zeiders' “Refraction of Light (Nettie), The Studio of Key West The Dinne, Emmy Award Winning - The In[HEIR]itance Project's Exodus: Homecoming (Foxtrot/Foxy), VMT’s Little Mermaid (Arista), and Evita (Ensemble). Janae serves as Communications Coordinator for ROŪGE: Theater Reinvented, Repertory Member for the Canady Foundation for the Arts and collaborator of The Underground Performing Arts Collective. Janaethompson.com @_prettylifee

Jacqueline Youm

Jacqueline Youm is a Senegalese American actor, lawyer, and French, English, Spanish, Mediation, Negotiation, and Acting teacher. She is passionate and insatiable when it comes to the arts. Some of her favorite credits include Laurel Mill Playhouse: MISS EVERS in Miss Evers’ Boys; Round House Theatre: ADENIKEH in Nollywood Dreams (HELEN HAYES nom); Dominion Stage: STOOL PIGEON in King Hedley II (WATCH award); Chesapeake Shakespeare Co: HELENA in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Best Medicine Rep: JO ANNE in The Trip (HELEN HAYES nom); Laurel Mill Playhouse: CLARICE LYLE in Consecrated Ground; Silver Spring Stage: NORA in A Doll’s House Part II; Strand Theatre Company: MERCUTIO/Q in Romeo/Juliet; Sisters Freehold: Yinghe in The Sleepover. She would like to thank her family, friends, and her community for their wondrous support! She gives her everything to her ancestors and maman. You can find many of her virtual productions on Youtube (Cestjackie): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvd4LWK9h1msuj9oeFXHtng | Instagram: @jy_artiste | Facebook: Jacqueline Elisabeth “La langue est un théâtre dont les mots sont les acteurs.” Ferdinand Brunetière

Hillary Jones

Hillary is from D.C. and currently based out of L.A. She started her journey as an artist at Duke Ellington School of the Arts and went on to graduate from SUNY Purchase where she earned her B.F.A. as an actor. Since then she has worked on-camera and on-stage in projects ranging from national commercials to her work on the off-broadway hit Syncing Ink at the Apollo Theater. Her skill set is diverse in that she also works as a movement choreographer, fight coordinator, poet, creative director, and activist. Her next strides will be in creating tv and film with a focus on working with artists who share a kindred artistic perspective.

Nessa Amherst

Nessa Amherst is an actor and writer based in the Washington, DC, area, with credits in theatre, film, and voiceover. Some of her favorite credits include The Survival (National Queer Theater & Lincoln Center), #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence (1st Stage), As You Like It (The Theatre Lab School of Dramatic Arts), Apologies to Lorraine Hansberry (Voices Festival Productions), Fiveplay (Greenbelt Arts Center), Runtime Error (Transformation Theatre), and Julia Caesar (Barefoot Shakespeare Company). Nessa knows firsthand the importance of how much of an impact the arts make when she sees children of all races come to Imagination Stage to see shows as a patron services associate, and wants to continue the mission of educating children, particularly children of color, through the arts and how much of a difference it can make on their lives.

Marcel Worrell Miller

Marcel Worrell Miller, a native of Washington, D.C., nurtured his love of the arts early having graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts. He went on to earn his Bachelor of Music in Voice from the Cleveland Institute of Music; as well as his Master of Music Degree from the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University. He has performed in several productions at Anacostia Playhouse. Mr. Miller has experience working with children from six weeks to eighteen years of age; he has also worked with children with developmental disabilities.