Q. Smith

Q. originated the role of Hannah and others in the Tony Award winning musical (for Best Director) Come From Away. She has toured with the North American Broadway show A Night With Janis Joplin, playing the roles of Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone. Before Come From Away, Q. closed the Broadway production of Mary Poppins. She was the first African American to have a leading role in the history of Mary Poppins. Also on Broadway, Q. was in the 1st revival of Les Miserables and Off-Broadway she performed the role of Mabel Washington and recorded the soundtrack for Fame: On 42nd Street. Other noted credits include Abyssinia: A Gospel Celebration with Wynton Marsalis at the Lincoln Center, Showboat in concert at the renowned Carnegie Hall, guest soloist for Hillary Clinton’s Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards at the Kennedy Center, and guest soloist Barack Obama’s inaugural ceremonies. She has shared the stage with Gladys Knight, Rita Coolidge, and Gary U.S. Bonds in Smokey Joe’s Café, as well as Ledesi and Loretta Devine, and has traveled the world with various productions including Central America, Germany, and the entire USA. One of her favorite places to perform is in Sonoma, California at the Transcendence Theatre Company (where she recorded the song Live). Not only is she an entertainer, but a passionate educator. She has been developing a curriculum entitled Rehabilitative and Restorative Art Conditioning which helps children with behavioral problems and learning disabilities retain their curriculum through the arts. Her goals are to build a performing arts school integrated with the juvenile system, open a bed and breakfast in Hawaii, travel the world, continue her concert work and voice-over career, and publish her book Queens of the Theatre.