For several years, he appeared as guitarist and actor, including as Gorman in Dark of the Moon, with James Earl Jones in 1959 at Equity Library Theatre in Manhattan.
He was billed as Robert Hill II when he appeared as Ketch and guitarist in the 1962 production of Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, at East 11th Street Theater in New York City which starred James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson.
By intentionally auditioning for plays with no roles for African Americans, Kya-Hill sought to broaden casting directors' preconceptions and thereby increase employment for blacks.
[2] His role as Jericho in Slaves, produced by Theatre Guild Films in 1969 and released by Walter Reade was praised as "excellent" by the Boston Herald.
He reveals "a peculiar and magnificent fire, an unleashed freedom of acting 'attack' that breaks the conventions of characteristic posing too often committed by other performers.
When cast as a last-minute replacement for Stephen Kumalo, the lead in Lost in the Stars, he learned the entire role and music in only three days before opening night.
Writing in the Journal-Herald, Hubert Meeker expressed feeling "the excitement of the submerged Negro culture surfacing in new artistic shape, with the implication in this beginning trickle of a tremendous underground vitality that could break through and revolutionize the American stage.
Its performance by Theatre West at the Lincoln Center Community/Street Festival in August 1972 prompted Mel Gussow in his favorable New York Times review to observe, "Although not individually credited in the program, Clarence Young, 3, a playwright, is apparently the man most responsible for the success of The System.
Kya-Hill's oratorio, The Gospel According to John and …, was premiered in a special performance at Rutgers Presbyterian Church, New York City, on May 19, 1968, with Elizabeth Mosher and Edmond Karlsrud among the soloists.
"[10] In 1974-75 at the McCree Theatre & Fine Arts Centre in Flint, Michigan, he directed The Revelation of Jesus Christ…for the Time is at Hand, which he also wrote, composed music for, and narrated.
From 1983-99 he taught drama subjects, English and music in New York City's junior and senior high schools, as well as private acting and guitar.