Nikki Toombs is a notable American playwright, director, actress, and producer who hails from the “Magic City” of Birmingham, Alabama. This commissioned playwright has authored ten+ plays, has directed over 40 productions, and is a nationally commissioned presenter and curriculum specialist. As a talented and passionate arts educator, performer, and enthusiast she has completely immersed herself in the world of the arts. Her innovative approach, artistic impact, and undeniable connection with youth in the arts have earned her national recognition in American Theatre Magazine for being one of the “Top 20 People to Watch” in the industry. Toombs’ creative talents are limitless as she continues to solidify her position on the list of luminaries who are transforming the world – both on and off the stage.

Throughout her impressive career, this virtuoso has held many titles from playwright, to actress, to commissioner and more. She also served as the Director of Education for I’m Ready Foundation, the Aurora Theatre, and Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company. While at True Colors, she had the pleasure of working with and for Tony Award-winning Broadway Director Kenny Leon, as both the producer and director of the Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition. She has experience in teacher training, master class instruction, professional development, curriculum design, and more.

As an Arts Educator, Toombs has created and licensed programming for True Colors (Next Narrative Monologue Competition, Act Like a Lady and Page to the Stage), for East Metro Health (S.T.A.R. Arts Camps), for the August Wilson House (August in the Schools and August Wilson Experience). She is the co-creator of the Four Directions Apprentice Program. In an effort to bring more arts education initiatives to the city of Snellville, a Gwinnett County suburb, she was appointed arts commissioner in 2017, serving a two-year term. Also in Gwinnett, she serves on six advisory boards for the Gwinnett County Public School system and assists on the programming council for Theatre Communications Group- one of the largest non-profit professional theatre organizations. In 2018, she was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts and International Thespian Conference to be one of 12 teaching artists, nationally, to create, and publish a Model Curriculum Framework for theatre. Most recently she served as adjunct professor of theatre at Emory University and guest professor at Carnegie Mellon University. She is also the Executive Director of Toombstone Productions. Toombs facilitates professional development across the country for arts educators, moderates and contributes to industry-wide panels, participates in various speaker series, presents workshops for students of all ages, and coordinates a training program for potential teaching artists.

Prior to joining True Colors in 2015, Toombs, a certified educator, taught in the classroom for fourteen years. Her unrelenting commitment to providing quality instruction warranted her Teacher of the Year honors in both the Birmingham City School (speech arts) and Gwinnett County Public School systems. She taught a myriad of subjects, coached in multiple modalities, chaired several performance organizations, developed extracurricular programs that are still ongoing, and led both her debate team and theatre ensemble to regional and sub-regional wins. Overall, Toombs was revered for her unconventional approach to connect to all students and her evidenced impact on learning outcomes.

This creative is no stranger to the stage. She has directed over 40 productions and written over ten stage plays (Normal, B.L.A.C.K., Twisted Colors, Tell, Waiting til’ 3, Lemons, Hallways, The Elephant in the Room, The Neighbors, and Parallel). She has directed shows at Out Front Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre, True Colors Theatre Company, Emory Oxford, and Georgia Gwinnett College. She has served as assistant director at both Theatre Emory and Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company. In the fall of 2019, she was commissioned to write, direct, and produce the first children’s program Shout! Sing Out! for the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia. After the success of this collaboration, Toombs was further commissioned for 4 projects with the N.C.C.H.R., most recently: The Next King, for their Kidspiration program. She also recently partnered with the Leona Tate Foundation, run by civil rights pioneer and member of the New Orleans Four, Dr. Leona Tate, to present 18 Steps, a dramatization of the fight for school integration. She is a skilled actress and some of her noted performances were from the productions: Iron Moon; For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf; The Visit; Before It Hits Home; My Children, My Africa; and 365 Days of Plays.