Here's five Black Women Playwrights changing the landscape of theatre
Celebrate these five black playwrights
While 2020 has been a challenging year to say the least, it has been awesome to witness black playwrights, actors and artists of all mediums take center stage and make their voices heard. Age old institutions and the gatekeepers that ensure those institutions' survival have been forced to confront their biases head on, amongst a sea of public criticism. Directly in the center of that has been theatre. The industry has long been criticised for it's racist ways, and this year, it's become a national topic. Meanwhile, Gritty Vibes has always been about black excellence in the arts, and we thought this is as good of a time as any to put you on 5 amazing black playwrights.
Iyvon Edebiri
Iyvon Edebiri wears many hats in the industry and has established herself as an acclaimed producer, company manager, creative producer and dramaturg. While she is not a Playwright, her work as the Artistic Director and host of The Parsnip Ship enables many under-produced playwrights, musicians, and composers to showcase their work online, live. In 2019, Iyvon was awarded The Mark O'Donnell Prize for emerging theater artists and entrepreneurs. She's done work at Primary Stages, Sundance Institute Theatre Program, The Public Theater and more. We can't wait to see what she does next.
Charly Evon Simpson
We had the honor of watching the world premiere of Charly's Evon Simpson's Form of a Girl Unknown in Salt Lake City, Utah, and were truly blown away. Everything from the subject matter to the witty dialogue was captivating, and as Front Row Reviewers remarked, "Positively magical". Her work also includes Jump, Behind the Sheet, it’s not a trip it’s a journey, and more. In addition to her groundbreaking stories as a playwright, Charly is also a TV writer, working on shows for Showtime and HBO.
Erika Dickerson-Despenza
Erika Dickerson-Despenza is a Chicago based poet-turned-playwright, educator and grassroots organizer. Her plays have been at The Lark, New York Stage and Film, Jackalope Theatre and more. We became aware of her work through her play [hieroglyph] . The story takes place post Hurricane Katrina, focusing on a young woman who was involutarily displaced in a new community, whilst dealing with PTSD from an assault at the Superdome. Her next play "cullud wattah" will take on Flint as it's backdrop "Diving deep into the poisonous choices of the outside world, the contamination within, and how we make the best choices for our families’ future when there are no real, present options."
Tori Sampson
The Boston native has wasted no time telling impactful stories in her signature style, which focuses on creating comedies on the stage. The "Art and Power" of comedy, that Tori's mother first instilled in her, has been on display in her work, which has been developed at at Great Plains Theatre Conference, Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s The Ground Floor residency program, Victory Garden’s IGNITION Festival of New Plays, Playwrights Foundation, Ubuntu Festival and Vineyard Theater. Her play If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must be a Muhfucka (Playwrights Horizons, 2019) is based on African Folktales, also pulling inspiration from Disney movies, subverting some of their problematic princess standards on it's head. The play explores the question of "What does it mean to be black and want to embrace your body but live in a culture that doesn't embrace it". Her other work includes This Land Was Made (Vineyard Theatre, 2018), and Cadillac Crew (Yale Repertory Theater, 2019).
Jocelyn Bioh
If there's one play that has stuck with us over the past few years, it's Jocelyn Bioh's "School Girls; Or The African Mean Girls". It focuses on students at Ghana's most exclusive boarding school, who have their sights set on the Miss Universe pageant. The play had us laughing throughout, but in the end, it forced us to realize the larger issues at hand that teenage girls universally face. Jocelyn is a also an actress who has starred in numerous Off Broadway productions. Her play Nollywood Dreams was selected for the Kilroy’s List in 2015 and she's also the mind behind the play GODDESS, a comedy/folktale based in Kenya.
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