Dale Ricardo Shields is an African American actor, director, producer, and educator. He is one of ten teachers nationwide who received the 2017 The Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award, and also received the 2017 AUDELCO/"VIV" Special Achievement Award.

Early life
Shields is the youngest of two sons of Claude Lee and Fannie Lousie Shields. His grandfather and father were founding members of the Shields Brother Gospel Quartet of Ohio and his mother was a member of the Turner Gospel Singers directed by the gospel artist, Arthur Turner. Don King is Shields' oldest living relative (cousin). King's mother and Shields' grandmother were sisters. Dale graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in 1970 and holds BFA (1975) and MFA (1995) summa cum laude degrees from Ohio University.

He is an Inductee of the Phi Kappa Phi (Honor Society Fraternity), In Honor of Ancestral Sacrifices award (Ohio University), The Certificate of Merit (The National Exchange Club of Cleveland), and The George E, Mills Hall of Excellence (John F. Kennedy High School).

Career
Shields' professional credits as a director, stage manager, and actor (Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and Regional) include projects and assignments at Lincoln Center (State Theatre), The Henry Street Settlement House (New Federal Theatre), The Negro Ensemble Company, The Joseph Papp Public Theatre (New York Shakespeare Festival) and Karamu House. Shields is on the board of directors of AUDELCO.

Shields studied at The Negro Ensemble Company and The Henry Street Settlement House with Harold Scott (director) and Dick Anthony Williams.

Shields was the assistant director to Lloyd Richards for the New Federal Theatre premiere production of Ossie Davis' play A Last Dance With Sybil starring Ruby Dee and Earl Hyman. His TV acting credits include The Cosby Show, Another World, Guiding Light, Saturday Night Live, and the ITV television series Special Needs. In 2001, Shields directed and choreographed a production of the Ntozake Shange play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf which featured the young Danai Gurira, then a senior at Macalester College. In 2015, Shields directed the staged reading of HOME by Samm-Art Williams at the Karamu House Jelliffe Theatre. The production featured James Pickens, Jr., Nina Domingue and Mariama Whyte.

Shields appeared as Martin in the New York City revival of Stephen Sondheim's Any One Can Whistle at the York Theatre Company, directed by Fran Soeder and in the Lincoln Center world premiere of Lily based on Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King. directed by Tom O' Horgan at Lincoln Center (State Theatre). Shields has also appeared in various commercials and film.

For theatrical director/producer Joseph Papp, he conducted workshops at The Public Theatre (New York Shakespeare Festival) with the Playwriting in the Schools Program (PITS) for six seasons.

During his six-year teaching tenure at The Public Theatre, he represented the United States of America at the ASSITEJ Theatre Festival in London, England in 1988.

In recognition of his outstanding career, Shields received the Special Achievement Award at the 45th Annual Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Recognition Awards event in 2017. In 2020 and 2021, Dale received the Actors Fund / Encore Award. In September, 2022, Shields received the Ebony Bobcat Network (EBN) Legend Award from Ohio University.

In April 2023, Shields was named the recipient of the 2021 Paul Robeson Award by the Actors’ Equity Association and the Actors’ Equity Foundation. The selection and announcement of the 2021 and 2022 awardees had been delayed due to COVID.

Educator
As a University Professor, Shields has received two Outstanding Professor Awards and three Educational Program of the Year awards. In 2015, Shields was nominated for the inaugural "Excellence in Theatre Education Award". This award is a collaboration between the Tony Award and Carnegie Mellon University. The award recognizes a K-12 theatre educator "who has demonstrated monumental impact on the lives of students and who embodies the highest standards of the profession."

Shields has taught at Ohio University, The College of Wooster, Denison University, Macalester College, Susquehanna University artist-in-residence, and SUNY Potsdam. He teaches courses in acting, directing, Black theatre history, and stage management.

In 2009, Shields created the Black history website iforcolor.org.

References

External links
 IMDB - Dale Shields
 https://news.ohio.edu/news/2022/09/school-theater-graduate-dale-shields-imparts-wisdom-students-during-black-alumni
 AboutTheArtist
 Broadway World
 iforcolor.org
 TV.com
 MTDPA

1952 births
Living people
American male television actors
African-American male actors
American male stage actors
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
21st-century African-American educators
21st-century American educators
Ohio University alumni
20th-century African-American educators
20th-century American educators