Nickolas Vaughan is a multidisciplinary artist, director, and producer working across theater, film, and immersive experiences.

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He is the co-founder of Show:UP!, an immersive theatrical dining experience that was among the first Black-led creative teams working in interactive theater, and an early adopter of integrating social media and technology into live performance.

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As an actor, Nickolas has performed on prominent stages across Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, and Iceland. He has also produced and written three original one-person shows, 'Til You Make It, Project: Nick Vaughan, and Let Me Check In The Back, presented at venues including The Flea Theater in New York, the TAG Solo Festival in Los Angeles, and the WACO Theater Center's 2024 Artistic Program, We the People.

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His producing work extends to television, including HBO Max's Emmy-winning series We're Here and the docuseries Swiping America.

 

His work has been recognized with grants and fellowships, including the Franklin Furnace Grant for Performance Art.

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Nickolas most recently served as Creative Director for Still Here: The Live Experience at Tina Knowles' WACO Theater Center, a site-specific performance and gallery exhibition on Black women and HIV/AIDS staged inside hair salon environments across Los Angeles, Baton Rouge, and Atlanta. In this role, he assembled and led a team of more than 70 artists, and created original video, animation, and musical score for the project, supported by Gilead Sciences.

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A graduate of Howard University's Department of Theatre Arts, Nickolas continues to build work that moves fluidly between performance, film, and immersive design.