about darius.
Darius M. Buckley is an award-winning dramatist, published author, musician, and emerging tv writer/screenwriter. He has a Bachelor of Applied Arts from Central Michigan University where he studied Broadcast and Cinematic Arts and recently earned a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting from Columbia University where he studied under the tutelage of 2-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Lynn Nottage and Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang. Darius was selected as a finalist for the Atlanta Opera’s 96-Hour Opera Project as a librettist and will premiere a new mini opera with composer, Jake Landau. He's currently developing a new musical with Brandon Jackson Baird in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. In his time at CMU, he wrote and directed the original Detroit hip hop musical, The Fly & Incredibly Dope Adventures of Tyrone Jenkins. He was also awarded the Robert Newby Fund to Support Student Diversity Efforts at the Student Research and Creative Endeavors Exhibition for his essay, Feeling Myself: Rewriting the Narrative of the Black Feminist. He was honored to serve as David Lindsay Abaire’s writing associate for the 2024 National Tour of a reimagined Shrek the Musical and the librettist assistant for the revival of David Henry Hwang’s opera, Dream of the Red Chamber at the San Francisco Opera.
He performed new songs from his musical at the Detroit Fringe Festival, wrote and directed the film, 5: A Visual Poem, American Thriller and Making Tyrone: A 1VK1 Mini Documentary. He also published three books, Wonder Boy: A Science Fiction Short, Only The Golden Sky Knows, and his first novella, HAZE: Book One. He had his New York playwriting debut with the premiere of his science fiction play The Bridge and a workshop of his play with music structured as a requiem mass, Leo’s Requiem, with a score by his trusted collaborator Stephen Berkemeier. His play in verse, 18, won the 48th Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival and was published and licensed by Concord Theatricals. He’s a proud member of The Dramatists Guild of America.
Photo by Revon Yousif