This episode of Beltline to Broadway features a thoughtful conversation with director and artist N.J. Agwuna, exploring her journey through Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theater, including her work on Moulin Rouge, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and the Pulitzer Prize–winning play Primary Trust. Agwuna reflects on lessons in leadership, collaboration, and community, particularly the importance of honoring individuality within established productions and creating welcoming spaces for artists. She discusses the inequities faced by Black women in theater, the value of mentorship and peer networks, and how community sustains artists and audiences.

NJ Agwuna is a director and theater artist whose work spans Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional stages, with a focus on collaborative storytelling, emotional clarity, and ensemble-driven work. She has served as an assistant director on productions including Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Broadway and national tour, as well as the current off-Broadway revival of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Working with companies such as Third Rail Productions and Punch Drunk has given her new insight into how to affect audiences in ways that make them ask tough questions, connect with characters in new ways, and grow, shift, and change their ideas about what theatre is and their experience of it. She approaches theatre with curiosity and wonder, believing that theatre can not only heal us, but also show us all the possibilities of the world that we inhabit. She has worked on a national and international scale, continuing to explore classic texts, develop new plays, and devise and investigate new ways to explore trauma and mental illness through theatre.