India Nicole Burton

India Nicole Burton is a Chicago-based director, playwright, deviser, and producer. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2022. India’s work has been recognized nationally through programs such as the National New Play Network (NNPN) Producer in Residence program, which she completed over two years at Cleveland Public Theatre, and the NNPN Bridge Program grant in 2021.

One of her most celebrated works is the choreopoem Panther Women: An Army for the Liberation, which received a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. The production earned critical acclaim and was nominated for two Jeff Awards in 2024, as well as two Chicago Black Excellence Awards.

India was selected for The New Harmony Project’s prestigious playwright residency in 2024...

India Nicole Burton is a Chicago-based director, playwright, deviser, and producer. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2022. India’s work has been recognized nationally through programs such as the National New Play Network (NNPN) Producer in Residence program, which she completed over two years at Cleveland Public Theatre, and the NNPN Bridge Program grant in 2021.

One of her most celebrated works is the choreopoem Panther Women: An Army for the Liberation, which received a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. The production earned critical acclaim and was nominated for two Jeff Awards in 2024, as well as two Chicago Black Excellence Awards.

India was selected for The New Harmony Project’s prestigious playwright residency in 2024, located in New Harmony, Indiana.

As a performer, India was part of American Dreams, which received a Drama League Award nomination in 2021. She was named Best Local Playwright by Cleveland Scene Magazine in 2023 and was The Chicago Reader’s 1st Runner-Up for Best Playwright in 2024. India is a 2024/25 participant in the Theatre Communications Group Rising Leaders of Color program and was a semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award in 2023.

In the summer of 2025, her trilogy The Ascension Plays was featured in the National New Play Network’s New Play Showcase. She currently serves as a Board Member of the National New Play Network.

India has directed for The Karamu House Inc., Company One, Cleveland Public Theatre, Dobama Theatre, The Playwrights’ Center, and more. She is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Chicago State University, Associate Producer of New Work at Pegasus Theatre Chicago, and a teaching artist at Court Theatre.

Through her work, India strives to empower African American communities by providing platforms to control and shape their own narratives, fostering authentic representation and cultural resonance within the theatrical landscape.

Scripts

The Witching Hour

by India Nicole Burton

Synopsis

The Witching Hour, it the first play of a Trilogy that chronicles the linage of o an African American family with supernatural powers entitled: The Ascension Plays. On a dark, stormy 1940 night, Sipsy arrives at her Aunt Pepsi’s storefront beaten and battered and near death. Her arrival brews trouble bringing family secrets to light and Pepsi is forced to reveal that the family possesses supernatural gifts....

The Witching Hour, it the first play of a Trilogy that chronicles the linage of o an African American family with supernatural powers entitled: The Ascension Plays. On a dark, stormy 1940 night, Sipsy arrives at her Aunt Pepsi’s storefront beaten and battered and near death. Her arrival brews trouble bringing family secrets to light and Pepsi is forced to reveal that the family possesses supernatural gifts. What will the family do with their inherited gifts?

Safronia's Daughter

by India Nicole Burton

Synopsis

Safronia’s Daughter is the second piece of work in a trilogy of plays about the linage of an African American family that possess supernatural powers. This family’s ancestry voyaged over to America as kidnappee’s, through Middle Passage Slave Trade, in1840. Set on the Rufus Plantation in the Antebellum South, IN 1890, Safronia’s Daughter is viewed through the vantage point of Safronia, who is conjured up from...

Safronia’s Daughter is the second piece of work in a trilogy of plays about the linage of an African American family that possess supernatural powers. This family’s ancestry voyaged over to America as kidnappee’s, through Middle Passage Slave Trade, in1840. Set on the Rufus Plantation in the Antebellum South, IN 1890, Safronia’s Daughter is viewed through the vantage point of Safronia, who is conjured up from the dead by her eccentric, over the top, queer, son, “Jinx’. Jinx has the power to see the dead. Safronia narrates the play as we watch her eldest daughter Bee, try to keep the family secret of possessing supernatural gifts, while working as sharecroppers so closely to the Rufus family. However, trouble stirs when her fraternal twin brothers “Fool Boy” affair with the lily, white, Mistress of the plantation, Madam Edwina, may or may not lead to her being impregnated by him.

The Light Post

by India Nicole Burton

Synopsis

The Light Post follows the story of the McClain Family through the vantage point of Randi McClain.
A lesbian Black woman, who is questioning her identity as Queer women in the world and her
relationships with predominately white women. At the same time, she Is dealing with the patriarch of
the family, Kevin McClain, who is losing his mind and the family bar, in an attempt to get him to sell
his bar to white...

The Light Post follows the story of the McClain Family through the vantage point of Randi McClain.
A lesbian Black woman, who is questioning her identity as Queer women in the world and her
relationships with predominately white women. At the same time, she Is dealing with the patriarch of
the family, Kevin McClain, who is losing his mind and the family bar, in an attempt to get him to sell
his bar to white businessowners. Mr. McClain cannot seem to part ways with the bar primarily
because he believes his dead grandson (Cecile), who was murdered by police, spirit lives in the
jukebox he inherited from his father. Things start to climax when a mysterious white woman wanders
into The Light Post (Bar), on one of the biggest snowstorms in Riverdale Michigan’s history.

Panther Women: An Army for the Liberation

by India Nicole Burton

Synopsis

Panther Women, An Army for the Liberation, Through the lens of an African American women who has decided to take a journey to understand herself more, the play uses the stories of 3 prominent Women, who were apart of the Black Panther Party and Liberation movement of the 60’s and 70’s. The play uses their stories as a catalyst to explore the dilemma’s, obstacles and joy of the African American woman in general...

Panther Women, An Army for the Liberation, Through the lens of an African American women who has decided to take a journey to understand herself more, the play uses the stories of 3 prominent Women, who were apart of the Black Panther Party and Liberation movement of the 60’s and 70’s. The play uses their stories as a catalyst to explore the dilemma’s, obstacles and joy of the African American woman in general. The play is an high energy, movement piece with poetry, monologues, dance and song.