Ernest McCarty, Jr. is a native of Chicago, who has authored and co-authored more than 27 produced plays and musicals, and has been associated with ETA in Chicago and Quaigh Theatre in New York City before becoming Artistic Director of New Horizon Theatre in 1994. His first production, I Dreamt I Dwelt In Bloomingdales was presented at the Provincetown Playhouse in New York City in 1970. Other theatrical works produced in New York City include Dinah! Queen of the Blues, presented at the Westside Arts Theatre starring Sasha Dalton and When the Spirit Moves, starring Tony Award-winner Trazana Beverly, The Exchange and The Separate Vacation. Among his plays and musicals produced in Chicago are Madame Hortense, the tone poem A Cosmic Night, Recollection Rag, Love Spirit! And Brazilian Rendezvous.
Eleven of his plays and musicals have been produced in Pittsburgh, including Madame Hortense, The Exchange, A Window To Home, Closing Notice, The Hex, A Cosmic Night, Life After Coma, Give Us Another Tune, The Region (An American Opera), Outrun the Rain, Journey of the Spirits as well as his musical review Love Spirit! His play Recollection Rag aired on WQED-TV and his score The Martin Luther King Suite, which aired on NBC-TV, received an Emmy. Ernest's directing credits include Humbug Man, Brazilian Rendezvous, A Cosmic Night, The Separate Vacation, Madame Hortense, Recollection Rag, The Exchange, Samm-Art Williams' Home, A Window to Home, Life After Coma, The Tap Dance Kid, GIve Us Another Time, The Region, Rain and Rivers, Outrun the Rain, Kim El's and KL's The Poet's Corner, Deadwood Dick and Cheryl West's Jar The Floor.
Ernest is a member of the Dramatists Guild. He was named Prolific Playwright of 1998 by In Pittsburgh. His play Recollection Rag (The Exchange) received the Hoyt W. Fuller Once-Act Play Festival Award and his play Madame Hortense received a Joseph Jefferson Award.