Gerrad Alex Taylor (he/him/his) is an award-winning director and actor based out of the Greater Baltimore region. In 2021 he was named one of Baltimore's "40 Under 40" by the Washington Business Journal. After a 5-year tenure as an Associate Artistic Director of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in Baltimore, Gerrad shifted to a faculty position in the Theatre Arts & Studies department of his alma mater, The Johns Hopkins University. Gerrad continues to lead Chesapeake Shakespeare's Black Classical Acting Ensemble, an affinity space for black actors interested in training and exposure of the "classics" and what an expansion of the classical canon may look like today. He holds a BA in Neuroscience from Hopkins and an MFA in Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has worked with theatres and educational institutions across the country including the Great River Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Delaware Shakespeare, Pacific Conservatory Theatre-PCPA, The Children's Theatre of Annapolis, Everyman Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, Mosaic Theatre Company, and Washington Stage Guild. He is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association and the Society of American Fight Directors.