Theater & Performance Faculty

Professor Bolden hails from Los Angeles. Being a native Los Angeles, he wanted to see what this vast country had to offer. His first stop was Fresno State University where he first discovered the stage and where several instructors noticed his potential and flare for the dramatic. He was encouraged to continue his training in graduate school and obtained a Master’s of Fine Arts degree from the University of Illinois.

Upon graduation, Bolden migrated eastward with stints in St. Louis, Missouri; Richmond, Virginia; and Washington, D.C. He was also an assistant professor of theater at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. However, all of these places were mere pit stops along the way to the place that was beckoning him – New York City.
 
As soon as Bolden arrived in New York, he beat the streets. He decided to map out agents’ offices and dropped off his head shot and resume with the hope of possibly securing several on-the-spot meet and greets. This was a terrific way to acclimate himself to the city -- by hoofing it and not taking the train or buses like so many artists before him. In his first month in the city, he signed with an agent, obtained his Actors Equity union card and booked two indie features.

Bolden spent five years in New York and was out of town for six months every year touring and/or working in regional theater. Before accepting the position of assistant professor of drama and dance at Spelman, Bolden returned to Los Angeles and cut his teeth in the LA theater scene. He was nominated for NAACP and Ovation awards and won numerous others, including LA Drama Critics Circle, Stage Scene LA and a LA Webfest Best Actor Award.

Bolden also taught at California State University, Los Angeles and TVI Actors Studio.

Demo Reel 2019

SDRA 102 - Principles of Acting
SDRA102A - Acting for Non-Majors
SDRA 208 - Breath, Voice and Movement
SDRA 306 - Styles of Acting
SDRA 400 - Voice and Speech
SDRA 400 – Acting for the Camera
FYE - First Year Experience
IBQC - Sound and Film-Exploration of Soundscape

Theater Experience
"Fetch Clay, Make Man" (by faculty member Will Power and produced by the Dallas Theatre Center); Directing a production of "Two Trains Running" by August Wilson at Triad Stage in Greensboro, NC; “Gem of the Ocean” (Rubicon Theatre Company); “Dreamgirls” (DOMA Theatre Company), “A Raisin in the Sun” (Center Theatre Group, Hartford Stage and Cape Fear Regional Theatre); “House of Gold,” “Mlle. God” (Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA); “Neighbors” (Matrix Theatre Company); “Blood and Thunder” (Moving Arts Theatre Company); “Fences” (directed by Ben Bradley); “Gem of the Ocean” (Fountain Theatre); “Atlanta” (Geffen Playhouse); “The Last Seder” (Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA); “Take Me Out” (Human Race Theatre); “Blue” (Penumbra Theatre); “Owed to My First Love” (Premiere Stages); “Picking Up the Baby” (New York International Fringe Festival); “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (The Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis); “Civil War” (TheatreWorks/USA); “Ragtime” (CentreStage, PA).

St. Louis Black Repertory (Touring Company); LARK Development Center (NY), Member of the Director’s Lab at Lincoln Center, and Ensemble Studio Theatre/L.A. 

Film/TV Experience
"Mile 22" (film with Mark Wahlberg, John Malkovich); "The Bobby Brown Story" (BET); "The Haunting of Hill House" (Netflix); "Cobra Kai" (YouTube Premium); "Black Lightning" (CW Network); “S#!T My Dad Says!” (starring William Shatner); “The Young and the Restless,” “Repo Men” (starring Forrest Whittaker and Jude Law); “Semi-Dead” (currently running at www.semi-dead.com); “Foreign Body” (webseries); “More Than a Woman,” “Latter-Day Fake,” “Federal Underdog,” and “The Coldest Winter.”