Our mission is to cultivate compelling global narratives derived from the African Diaspora. We seek to share our work with the culturally diverse audience of Greater Los Angeles. Dedicated to excellence, risk-taking, and community-building, we champion an environment of authentic belonging and commitment to the arts. We believe in the indelible power of theater to disrupt narratives, reveal truth, and heal connections within ourselves and to each other.

Updated 2024

Lower Depth Theatre’s vision is to be a driving force behind topical projects that uplift and honor cultural, racial, and gender differences, forging pathways to greater understanding.  

Updated 2024

Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that much of what we know of the U.S. today has been made possible by the labor of enslaved Africans who suffered trans-Atlantic trafficking, chattel slavery, violence, and Jim Crow; and continue to suffer anti-Blackness. We are thankful for and honor their sacrifices. We acknowledge the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of the land we now call Los Angeles. We acknowledge our presence on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples; and pay our respects to their ancestors, elders, and relations, past, present, and emerging. We acknowledge the first to be documented as the people were called Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and Gabrieleno/Tongva of San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians.

Our History and Commitment 

Lower Depth Theatre was founded in 2008 by four BIPOC artists of Asian, African American, and Caribbean descent. Their mission was to build a home where they could produce stories through the lens of the artist of color and shake up the canon of Los Angeles theatre. Despite the 100+ theatre companies in Los Angeles at Lower Depth’s inception, the four founders (Gregg T. Daniel, Veralyn Jones, Jason Delane Lee, and Yvonne Huff Lee) perceived a lack of diverse casts and stories that spoke to the beautifully ethnic, cultural, economic, and intergenerational experiences of the Black community in Los Angeles. 

Throughout the history of our company, Lower Depth Theatre has become a social change activator through the art of theatre who produces and develops work around issues uniquely affecting communities of color. Through commissions of various sizes and artist-centric programming, Lower Depth also provides an artistic home for BIPOC and women-identifying playwrights from around the country to generate new work that speaks to their own experiences and empowers a new wave of diverse voices in the American theatre. Our company is committed to bringing together people of diverse perspectives and experiences and providing a safe home for artists of color to have their voices heard and work amplified. Our commitment extends from the programming we produce and our cultivated approach to developing new work to the hiring, casting, and leadership within our organization.

Our Initiatives

As a company of color, we are committed to widening the lens of diversity through our artistic endeavors. As such, there are practices and policies we’ve put in place to ensure we are maintaining equity, diversity and inclusion within our programs and greater organizational systems. 

• Our artistic mission and vision are rooted in presenting BIPOC stories, and we employ BIPOC artists to bring those stories to life.

• Continue to produce diverse programming with 100% of our season by Black, Indigenous, and playwrights of color and/or women-identifying playwrights. In the past two years alone:

  • Lower Depth has served 20+ BIPOC and women-identifying playwrights through short and full-length commissions in the last two years.

  • 75% of our annual Commission Fellowship Program participants so far are women-identifying and 75% are BIPOC.

  • 100% of our five year “Cycle of Violence” Commission Series are women-identifying and 66% are BIPOC.

  • Of the 23 writers featured on our Writers Revealed podcast so far, nearly 74% identify as a woman or nonbinary and 82% are writers of color.

  • Commissioned and featured writers' diverse racial & cultural identities include black, African American, indigenous, Columbian, Lao, Japanese, and multiracial. 

• Commit to producing plays that feature at least one BIPOC character at the center of the story and at least 50% of all roles be for actors of color. 

• Expand our commission series beyond Los Angeles to welcome playwrights from around the country and remove the barrier of location or connections as a requirement for the opportunity to be commissioned. 

• Hire culturally specific experts for plays that don't have cultural representation by Lower Depth or the playwright.  

• Pledge to increase visibility of Indigenous people by publicly acknowledging that we are on the traditional territory of the Tongva peoples. 

• Include community voices in the evaluation and selection of our programming and commissioned projects to ensure relevance and impact for the cultural communities we portray.

• To reduce economic barriers, the majority of our artistic programming is admission-free, and we offer generous group discounts for local groups.

• Continue to provide compensation for ALL of our commissions, fellowships, and programming.

• As a nomadic company, we rent venues across Los Angeles County, bringing our work directly into the communities we are seeking to serve.

Leadership & Staff 

At Lower Depth Theatre, we believe that meaningful and long-lasting change begins and persists with a strong leadership team whose racial, ethnic, and gender identities accurately reflect the communities we are uplifting. We are led by a BIPOC Artistic Director, and our Artistic Associates are 50% women-identifying and 100% BIPOC. A BIPOC woman-identifying Board President helms our board. Additionally, our Company Manager, a BIPOC woman-identifying staff member, plays a crucial role in our operations. Our leadership team and staff are racially and ethnically diverse, which creates an environment where most of the communities we serve are represented in decision-making processes. We are also a multigenerational company, which allows us to continuously challenge our current values and invite emerging perspectives into our company’s programming initiatives.

Our Team

Artistic Director

Gregg T. Daniel

Gregg T. Daniel (he/him/his) is the Artistic Director and founding member of Lower Depth Theatre. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Gregg has an established history as a theatre director and has received multiple nominations and awards. Credits include the reimagined production of Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 at the Mark Taper Forum, the West Coast Premiere of Can I Touch It by Francesca Di Silviera at the Rogue Machine Theatre, the development and world premiere of In The Upper Room by Beaufield Berry at Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the West Coast premieres of Her Portmanteau by Mfoniso Udofia at Boston Court Theatre, Br’er Cotton by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm at Lower Depth Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry’s Les Blancs with Rogue Machine Theatre, (Ovation nominated-Best Director), the L.A. premiere of Honky by Greg Kalleres, A Raisin in the Sun at A Noise Within (Ovation nominated- Best Director, Best Production), and August Wilson’s, Radio Golf, Seven Guitars, and Gem of the Ocean at A Noise Within (Ovation nominated-Best Production). Gregg is a recipient of the NAACP’s Best Director award for the International City Theatre’s production of Fences by August Wilson (nominated, L.A. Drama Critics Circle, Ovation and StageScene LA awards). He is a member of the Artistic Directors of Color Alliance (ADOC, adcalliance.org), SDC, and currently a Professor at USC’s School of Dramatic Arts.

Artistic Associate

Jason Delane Lee

Jason Delane Lee is an Artistic Associate at Lower Depth Theatre. He is also CO-CEO of the Lagralane Group – an award winning film finance and development company. Founded alongside his wife, Yvonne Huff Lee, in 2015, The Lagralane Group is committed to producing and creating personal and intimate films told through uncommon and unique perspectives. At Lagralane, Jason has Co-Executive Produced the 2018 Academy Award winning documentary, Icarus. His producing credits also include the 2019 Berlinale world premiere and TIFF North American premiere The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open; the 2018 Sundance premieres Night Comes On and This is Home; the 2017 SXSW premieres Served Like a Girl, The Blood is at the Doorstep, and Lucky, starring the late Harry Dean Stanton; the upcoming Lisa Cole short film, Bienvenidos a Los Angeles; and the upcoming Lisa Cortes documentary The Empire of Ebony. On screen he acted in and executive produced the indie film Givers of Death (G.O.D.), written and directed by Addison Henderson, distributed by Buffalo 8. As a filmmaker, Jason recently completed the short film Lifeline, which he wrote, co-directed and starred in.

Artistic Associate

Veralyn Jones

A native of Carriacou, Grenada, West Indies, Ms. Jones Is an Artistic Associate and founding member of Lower Depth Theatre. She was recently recognized by the office of LA's Mayor, Karen Bass, as “an artist whose work on stage and behind the scenes reflect a core of credibility and dignity.” Veralyn was recently honored with The Integrity Award for her extensive work within the Los Angeles theatrical community as an actor and producer from the Los Angeles Women’s Theater Festival. She is a current board member and resident artist at the acclaimed A Noise Within Classical Theatre Company, which she considers one of her artistic homes. She was a long time company member of The Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company, where she performed such notable roles as Bottom (A MidSummer Night's Dream; LA Weekly Theater Award - Supporting Actress), Malvolio (Twelfth Night), Queen Elizabeth (Richard the III; La Weekly Theater Award - Lead Actress ), and Antonio (Merchant of Venice), to name a few. Other theatrical awards include Stage Raw, StageSceneLA, and the Scenie Award. Other company memberships include the Antaeus Theatre Company and the famed Actors Studio, where she has helped develop new works through their playwriting unit. Other theatre credits: Gertrude (Hamlet), Louise (Seven Guitars), Aunt Ester (Gem Of the Ocean), Hera (Argonautika), and Alma (Three Sisters After Chekhov with Lower Depth Theatre). Veralyn has worked regionally at The Old Globe, The MarkTaper Forum, The Kirk Douglas Theatre, South Coast Repertory, and The Denver Center. Internationally: La Scala Theatre, Stockholm, Sweden. Some of Veralyn’s recent TV credits include recurring roles on The Equalizer, The Girls On the Bus, The Lady in the Lake, and City of Angels. As a producer, she’s brought, to broad acclaim to LA Audiences, the works of playwrights Nathan Allen Davis (Dontrell Who Kiss The Sea), Terrance Arvelle Chisholm (Br’er Cotton), Tira Palmquist (Safe Harbor) and Mustafa Matura (Three Sisters After Chekhov).

Artistic Associate

Yvonne Huff Lee

Yvonne Huff Lee is a founding member of Lower Depth Theatre and Board President. She is also co-CEO of The Lagralane Group, a film development and finance company, and has produced multiple films and documentaries. Fearless in her pursuit of authentic and original works, she is passionate about the power of storytelling to both entertain and foment social change. Her theatre credits include: Safe Harbor (Lower Depth Theatre) Br’er Cotton (Lower Depth Theatre), Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (Lower Depth/Skylight), Knock Me a Kiss and Voice of Good Hope (Victory Gardens), The Gift Horse (Goodman Theatre), and They All Fall Down (Lookingglass Theatre).

Drina is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

–Barack Obama