Fatima Quander

With over 20 years of experience, Fatima Quander (she/her) is an accomplished professional actor, award-winning educator, theatremaker, and proud member of both Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). She has performed with Theater Alliance, Voices Festival Productions, FRESHH Inc. Theatre Company, DC Hip Hop Theatre Festival, Rep Stage, Everyman Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage Education, Theater of the First Amendment, the Folger Elizabethan Theatre, Imagination Stage, and Discovery Theater; she has also performed in house and on tour with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Additionally, she has appeared in a number of national and regional commercials including Toyota, Under Armour and Dick’s Sporting Goods, DC Health Link, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, and Navy Federal Credit Union (among others).

Quander is an Assistant Professor of Acting in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park and is the 2025 recipient of the Uta Hagen Award from the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, the American College Theatre Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (KCACTF) and the HB Studio. She previously taught at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Howard Community College; additionally, she serves as a guest instructor at Beloit College, her alma mater. As a director, she has directed productions with FRESHH Inc Theatre Company, Transformation Theatre, UMD, College Park, and Howard Community College. Quander was a company member with Young Playwrights' Theater (YPT) for many years and served as the Director of The Vanguard, FRESHH Inc. Theatre Company’s Black women’s acting ensemble, where she led master classes and workshops on theatre techniques, professions, and the business of acting. As a teaching artist, Quander works with a number of theatres and programs throughout the Washington, DC area including Signature Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Library’s McKee Fellows Program and Secondary School Shakespeare Festival, FRESHH Inc.’s Griot Girls, Everyman Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre and Strathmore’s Social Justice Fellows Program, Poetry Out Loud, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Sitar Arts Center, Jr. Discovery at Georgetown University, and YPT. She received her M.F.A. in Acting from Actors Studio Drama School at New School University in New York City and her B.A. in Theatre Arts, Acting Concentration from Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin.

Education/Training:

• M.F.A. in acting, Actors Studio Drama School, New School University
• B.A. in theatre arts, Acting Concentration, Beloit College 

Areas of Specialization/Interest:

• Acting
• Hip Hop Theatre
• Devised Theatre
• Black Theatre and Performance
• Live Digital Theatre
• Dialects and use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)        

Professional Affiliations:

• Actors’ Equity Association (AEA)
• Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)
•  Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)

Honors and Awards:

• “Shakespeare and Black Performing Women” year-long workshop, Folger Institute Scholarly Program at the Folger Shakespeare Library, 2025-2026
• Uta Hagen Award, The College of Fellows of the American Theatre, the American College Theatre Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the HB Studio, 2025
• Inspiring Adjunct Faculty Recognition, Howard Community College, 2020-2021
• Best Supporting Actress Nomination for Home  by Samm-Art Williams at Rep Stage, Maryland Theatre Guide, 2013
• Beloit College Young Alumni Award, 2011
• MFA Thesis Performance, Girl Bully by Carla Ching, featured in “Best of Repertory” Season/Director’s Showcase, Actors Studio Drama School, 2005