Carl Hancock Rux (born March 24, in Harlem, New York City) is an award winning playwright, poet, novelist, essayist, performer, theater director and recording artist. He is the author of several publications including "Pagan Operetta" (poetry),  Asphalt (novel) and the OBIE award winning play Talk; as well as director of the Bessie Schonberg (New York Dance and Performance Awards, informally known as the Bessie Awards) award winning music theater work "Stained" by Lisa Jones and Alva Rogers. His archives are housed at the Billy Rose Theater Division of the New York Public Library, the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution as well as the Film and Video/Theater and Dance Library of the California Institute of the Arts. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Doris Duke Awards for New Works, the Doris Duke Charitable Fund, the New York Foundation for the Arts Prize and the Alpert Award in the Arts