Erika Dickerson-Despenza News

The 2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has been awarded to U.S. playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza for her play about the Flint, Michigan water crisis, cullud wattah. Awarded annually since 1977, The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is the largest and oldest international prize honoring Women+ playwrights.

The Public Theater will debut the world premiere audio play SHADOW/LAND, written by Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence Erika Dickerson-Despenza, on Tuesday, April 13. Directed by Lilly Award winner Candis C. Jones, SHADOW/LAND will be available for free on-demand streaming through April 13, 2022.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize will present a virtual presentation to announce the 2021 winner of one of the most prestigious playwriting awards, and the oldest and largest prize awarded to women+ playwrights, today, April 7, 2021 at 3pm EST/ 8pm BST. Tune in right here at BroadwayWorld to watch the presentation, hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning Playwright and Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner (1983) Marsha Norman.

Ahead of the announcement of the 2021 The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner, BroadwayWorld is excited to spotlight each of this year's finalists. Learn more about Erika Dickerson-Despenza and read an excerpt form her play, cullud wattah.

Less than two weeks remain to stream Erika Dickerson-Despenza's [hieroglyph], co-produced by San Francisco Playhouse  and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre.

At the start of the global pandemic, En Garde Arts invited twelve women playwrights to share their pandemic dreams. Now, these dreams will be brought to powerful life with A Dozen Dreams, an immersive installation of sets, lights, video, and sound.

BWW Review: [HIEROGLYPH] at SF Playhouse

[hieroglyph] traverses the intersection of environmental racism, sexual violence, and displacement, examining the psychological effects of a state-sanctioned man-made disaster on the most vulnerable members of the Katrina diaspora. This work is part of award-winning playwright Dickerson-Despenza’s planned 10-play Katrina Cycle of plays focused on the effects of Hurricane Katrina in and beyond New Orleans.

Broadway might be dark, but that doesn't mean that theatre isn't happening everywhere! Below, check out where you can get your daily fix of Broadway this weekend, March 13-14, 2021.

When Lorraine Hansberry Theatre announced last September that Bay Area theatre luminary Margo Hall had been appointed as its first female Artistic Director, it felt like a promise of good things to come. Six months later, the venerable company is back up and running full steam ahead with its first staged production since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s [hieroglyph], available to stream on-demand March 13th through April 3rd. Hall directed this as a co-production with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre’s long-time collaborator San Francisco Playhouse, and would seem to be the perfect director to bring it to life. Dickerson-Despenza is a Tow Playwright-in-Residence at New York’s Public Theater who centers her writings on Black women’s land legacies and distinct experiences of environmental racism. Telling the raw, honest story of a 13-year-old girl struggling Post-Hurricane Katrina, wrestling with being displaced to a new city while secretly coping with the PTSD of an assault at the Superdome, [hieroglyph] is part of Dickerson-Despenza’s 10-play Katrina cycle focused on the effects of Hurricane Katrina and its state-sanctioned, man-made disaster rippling in & beyond New Orleans. Hall describes the play as “tragically beautiful.” Patrons may support the organization of their choice by purchasing tickets from Lorraine Hansberry Theatre at lhtsf.org or from San Francisco Playhouse at sfplayhouse.org. BroadwayWorld spoke with Hall last week, just as she was preparing to meet her cast in person for the first time after weeks of Zoom rehearsals. Speaking to her, I got the distinct impression of someone who is exactly where she needs to be right now. This may be her first stint as an artistic director, but in so many ways she has been preparing for this role her entire life. Her decades of experience as an actor, director, playwright, professor and activist all coalesce to serve her in her new role. We talked about her hopes to expand Hansberry’s purview, the need to create culturally-specific theatre, and the exigencies of producing theatre and TV (she is also acting in the new “Blindspotting” series!) during Covid times. Throughout our conversation, I was struck by the sheer joy she exudes for making theatre and for finding herself in a place where she can create new opportunities for Black theatre artists.

Climate Change Theatre Action will return in 2021 for its fourth iteration. A worldwide series of readings and performances of short plays about the climate crisis, CCTA 2021 will take place from September 19 to December 18 to coincide with the United Nations 26th Conference of the Parties (COP 26).

[hieroglyph] will be fully produced and filmed on stage at San Francisco Playhouse, presented as an on-demand video stream from March 13th through April 3rd, 2021.

The Public Theater announced that the world premiere audio play, SHADOW/LAND, written by Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence Erika Dickerson-Despenza has been added to The Public’s spring digital season. Directed by Lilly Award winner Candis C. Jones, SHADOW/LAND will premiere on Tuesday, April 13 and be available for free on-demand streaming.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for 2021 for its prestigious playwriting award, the oldest and largest prize awarded to women+ playwrights.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust today announced the names of the 20 outstanding early-to-mid-career playwrights who will be celebrated with 2020 Steinberg Playwright Awards in the amount of $10,000 each

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust today announced the names of the 20 outstanding early-to-mid-career playwrights who will be celebrated with 2020 Steinberg Playwright Awards in the amount of $10,000 each. As previously announced, these awards are being given in response to this extremely difficult year, and in an effort to better meet the immediate and pressing needs of playwrights.

Building on over 40 years of producing powerful contemporary theatre, Studio Theatre is pleased to announce its largest class ever of commissioned artists to Studio R&D, its incubator to support the creation of new work. Studio will award grants to 10 artists-playwrights, directors, and multidisciplinary creators-investing in its future while supporting theatre-makers and expanding the idea of what it means to be a generative artist. For the first time, Studio R&D commissions are being awarded to support the creation of audio plays, as Studio explores alternate modes of theatrical storytelling in response to the present moment.

The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation announced its 2019 grants in The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation's Women Playwrights Commissioning Program. These grants fund commissions for emerging female playwrights at selected theaters nationwide.

Last night, the 2018-2019 class of Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellows presented excerpts of full length works at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center.

The Public Theater announced today the Public Forum and Public Shakespeare Initiative fall line-up that will explore the intersection of art, ideas, and action and illuminate the study and performance of Shakespeare's works.