Broadway

The Lion King                        Shenzi                                      New Amsterdam Theater

Smokey Joe’s Café               US/Cover                                 Virginia Theater

Off Broadway

On Strivers Row                Louise                                        Metropolitan Playhouse

National Tours

The Civil War                        Slave Wife/Bessie                    Networks

Ain’t Misbehavin’                Charlaine                                   Niko Productions

Regional

Nunsense Sister Mary Hubert New Harmony Theater

A….My Name Is Alice           Ida Mae/Honeypot                 Provincetown Playhouse-NYU

Little Shop of Horrors          Chiffon                                      Actors Theater of Louisville

Hair                                      The Tribe                                  North Shore Music Theater

Smokey Joes’s Café              Brenda                                      Gateway Playhouse

Training

New York University Steinhardt- MM Vocal Performance 2016

City University of New York, BS in Performing Arts-Magna Cum Laude

Howard University (attended) Theater and Classical Voice

Recognized actor/combatant by the SAFD, 2008-Present

Marlaina Powell (Previously Marlayna Syms)

Marlaina Powell is a recent recipient of a Master of Music degree from New York University’s Prestigious Steinhardt School and is a 20 year member of Actors Equity Association.  Marlaina’s favorite stage credits include Disney’s The Lion King (Broadway), and Smokey Joe’s Café (Broadway ), The Civil War (National Tour), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (National Tour) Hair, Little Shop of Horrors, and A My Name Is Alice. Most recently, Marlaina appeared in Abram Hill’s On Strivers Row, at the Obie Award winning Metropolitan Playhouse. Look for Marlaina in the upcoming independent film MIDNIGHTS by film veterans Mark Tenn and Alvaro Donado. You can follow Marlaina on Twitter, @MarlainaP and on Instagram marlainapowell.

Actress, singer, creator,  art lover, wine and coffee connoisseur, wife, mother, friend. Child of God.