Black Space Bonus Episode: Erika Dickerson-Despenza, playwright of CULLUD WATTAH

JCTC’S TALK SERIES “BLACK SPACE” WITH ASHLEY NICOLE BAPTISTE CONTINUES WITH THE INSPIRING & ENGAGING PLAYWRIGHT OF CULLUD WATTAH, ERIKA DICKERSON-DESPENZA ON WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8TH @4PM EST THROUGH ZOOM WEBINAR.

Baptiste, an actor, associate artistic director, activist, and a veteran youth theatre educator with the JCTC Youth Theatre and the Stories of Greenville initiative, was born in San Francisco. “I want to create an intentional safe space where Black artists from around the world can come together and have a human-to-human exchange about art, race and life,” she says. “This series is about expansion, and pushing past preconceived notions of Blackness.”Baptiste's next guest is Erika Dickerson-Despenza playwright of CULLUD WATTAH (Now playing through Dec.12 at The Public Theater)

ERIKA DICKERSON-DESPENZA she/her (Playwright) is a Blk, queer feminist poet-playwrightand cultural-memory worker from Chicago, Illinois. Awards: Susan Smith Blackburn Prize(2021), Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award (2020), Thom Thomas Award (2020), Lilly Award(2020), Barrie and Bernice Stavis Award (2020), Grist 50 Fixer (2020), Princess Grace Playwriting Award (2019). Select Residencies and Fellowships: Tow Playwright-in-Residence at The Public Theater (2019-2020), U.S. Water Alliance National Arts & Culture delegate (2019),New York Stage and Film Fellow-in-Residence (2019), New Harmony Project Writer in Residence (2019), Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow (2018-2019), The Lark Van Lier New Voices Fellow (2018). Communities: Ars Nova Play Group (2019-2021), Youngblood Collective (EST). Commissions: Climate Change Theatre Action, The Public Theater, Studio Theatre & Williamstown Theatre Festival. Productions: cullud wattah (Victory Gardens Theater, 2022),[hieroglyph] (San Francisco Playhouse/Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 2021). Currently, Dickerson-Despenza is developing a ten-play Katrina Cycle, including [hieroglyph] and shadow/land, focused on the effects of Hurricane Katrina and its state-sanctioned, man-made disaster rippling in and beyond New Orleans.

The conversation is taking place Wednesday, December 8th at 4pm EST on Zoom webinar

Webinar Link: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86224403292?pwd=U3NQU3owQlVBeUpyK3UrZHYrbGdqdz09
Meeting ID: 862 2440 3292  | Passcode: 590372

“As our city gentrifies while retaining its diversity, and indeed as the world is changing in fundamental ways, being right in the middle of these conversations is essential,” says JCTC’s artistic director, Olga Levina. “For us as a theatre company dedicated to sparking conversations that lead to deeper respect and understanding, we know we need to create a safe place to listen and learn and collaborate.”