Lisa B Thompson

Lisa B. Thompson’s satirical comedies, poignant dramas and engaging scholarship examines stereotypes about Black life in the US, particularly the experiences of the Black middle class. The artist/scholar is the author of four books: Beyond the Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class (University of Illinois Press, 2009), Single Black Female (Samuel French, 2012), Underground, Monroe, and The Mamalogues: Three Plays (Northwestern University Press, 2020), and The Mamalogues (Samuel French, 2021). Her articles and reviews examining performances of race, gender, sexuality in theatre, film and popular culture have been published by Theatre Journal, Journal of American Drama, Theatre Survey, NPR, Criterion Collection, Clutch, Huffington Post and The Washington Post. Thompson’s plays have been produced Off-Broadway, throughout the US, and internationally by Crossroads Theatre, Theatre Rhinoceros, the Vortex, The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Soul Rep Theatre Company, Austin Playhouse, Ensemble Theatre, Chiswick Playhouse, and The National Black Theatre Festival among others. Her work has been recognized with an Austin Critics Circle David Mark Cohen New Play Award, a Broadway World Regional Awards Best Writing of an Original Work, a LA Weekly Theatre Award for Best Comedy nomination, and an Irma P. Hall Black Theatre Best Play Award. Thompson’s work has been supported by a number of institutions including the American Council of Learned Societies, Hedgebrook, MacDowell, Millay Arts, National Performance Network, Michele R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research; the Five Colleges; the University of California’s Office of the President; Stanford University’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, and the W. E. B. DuBois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center. She also co-hosts and co-produces Black Austin Matters, a podcast and radio segment on KUT: Austin’s NPR station that explores Black life, culture, and politics in Central Texas. Lisa B. Thompson is currently the Bobby and Sherri Patton Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies, Department of Theatre & Dance and the College of Liberal Arts’ Advisor to the Dean for Faculty Mentoring and Support at the University of Texas at Austin.