Erika Dickerson-Despenza: Keynote Remarks on Ntozake Shange Social Justice Theater Residency

Recorded on October 13, 2022 at Barnard College

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director and Patrick Willingham, Executive Director), the Barnard Center for Research on Women (Premilla Nadasen, Claire Tow Professor of History, and Janet Jakobsen, Claire Tow Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Co-Directors), and the Ntozake Shange Literary Trust have announced the establishment of The Ntozake Shange Social Justice Theater Residency. Conceived by inaugural playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza, this rotating two-year playwriting residency is named in honor of Public Theater artist and Barnard alumna (Class of 1970) Ntozake Shange, one of the world’s most revered writers and a fierce advocate for women and the dignity of humankind. Awarded to a distinguished woman, femme, trans, or non-binary playwright of the African Diaspora, the residency will provide a salary with benefits and full support to pursue their creative work as a playwright.

“Despite the many debuts of Shange’s works at The Public Theater, there was nothing named for her; there was no enduring evidence of her legacy within the institution. Part of the work of my work, a la Toni Cade Bambara, is ancestral elevation and reverence. Ntozake Shange is my literary mother and creating the Ntozake Shange Social Justice Playwriting Residency allows me to cement her legacy in the cultural memory of The Public Theater, NYC, and the American Theater at large while also building my own,” said playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza.

Dickerson-Despenza continued, “I have crafted a residency that will outlast me; one that will enable women, femmes, and non-binary scholar-playwrights of the African Diaspora who help shape the future by writing about and beyond the crises of their time to have a comfortable salary, healthcare, and access to the most prestigious and resourced Off-Broadway theaters and Barnard College, home of Shange’s archives and the groundbreaking Barnard Center for Research on Women.”

Literary Trustee Donald S. Sutton said, “Establishment of the Ntozake Shange Social Justice Playwright Residency realizes the often-articulated dream of Ntozake Shange that her work would serve as an inspiration and a platform for the creativity and talent of other women of color.”

For more information visit:
https://bcrw.barnard.edu/the-public-t...