Photo courtesy of Teresa Pigeon
For four decades, I’ve created plays, performance projects, and multi-media installations, as well as directing new works, classic plays, and developing community cultural programs. My works have been performed at venues including the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Abrons Arts Center/Henry Street Settlement Theatre (N.Y.), Spirit Square (N.C.), Equity Library Theatre (N.Y.), Popular Theatre (Cal.), Burning Coal Theatre (N.C.), Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre (N.C.), AS220 (R.I.), North Carolina Museum of Art – and beamed to the Space Station!

AWARDS/GRANTS

Awards and support include the 2022 Raleigh Medal of Arts, 2023 United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County Artist Support Grant, Creative Forces Community Engagement National Endowment for the Arts grant (through The Joel Fund) to teach creative writing at Walter Reed Hospital, the Silver Medal-Pinter Drama Review Prize, North Carolina Arts Council Literature Fellowship, North Carolina Arts Council Interdisciplinary Grant, Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre New Plays winner, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Artist Residency, North Carolina Humanities Council grant, Hambidge Center for the Arts Writer-in-Residence, Writer-in-Residence at Wildacres Retreat, Writer-in-Residence at Azule Arts, Writer-in-Residence at Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, Artist-in-Residence at Rensing Center, United Arts Council of Raleigh & Wake County Regional Artist Grant, Piedmont Regional Artist Grant, Canadian Embassy Grant, University of the South Sewanee Writers’ Conference Tennessee Williams Scholar, Runner-Up for VCCA’s Tyrone Guthrie Center (Ireland) Writer’s Fellowship, and Second Place winner for the Judith Royer Award of Excellence in Playwriting.

COMMUNITY/LEADERSHIP

Commissions to develop large-scale, community cultural projects include DREAMS-OF-FLIGHT involving over a thousand children in North Carolina and Ohio creating art and poetry about the Wright Brothers’ historic flight; FOOD FOR THOUGHT, an oral history project about agricultural life in Rockingham County, N.C. resulting in a book of stories with accompanying old-time recipes; and the HOME PROJECT: PART I, a multi-arts collaborative installation in a Robeson County, N.C. railroad depot exploring race, home, and family in the South. Past leadership positions include National Endowment for the Arts Theatre Administration Fellows, Executive Director of Theatre Association of Pennsylvania, North Carolina Arts Council Theatre Arts Director, Artistic Director of the Women’s Ensemble Theatre (N.Y.), Executive Director of The Centre (Halifax Community College), and City of Raleigh Arts Commission Executive Director.

EDUCATION/TEACHING

My educational background includes a B.A. in Theatre and Political Science from S.U.N.Y. at Buffalo and a graduate degree in Theatre from City College of New York. I’ve held faculty positions at institutions including St. John’s University (N.Y.), North Carolina State University, St. Andrews Presbyterian College (N.C.), and Guilford Technical Community College (N.C.). Additionally, I’ve led numerous workshops and master classes at arts centers, theatres, and colleges throughout the U.S. I currently teach creative writing to military members and families through the auspices of The Joel Fund’s Operation Art Program, as well as leading creative writing classes for community organizations in North Carolina.

GIVING BACK

Serving on boards of various local, regional and national cultural organizations over the past four decades, I am a proud member of the Dramatists’ Guild of America, the Playwrights’ Center, North Carolina Writers Network, and the International Centre for Women Playwrights. From 2017-2022, I served as Program Coordinator for the Sally Buckner Emerging Writers’ Fellowship and am currently the Vice Chair for the North Carolina Writers Conference.

PLAYS/PUBLICATIONS

Plays include MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD, CONTAINMENTS: THE HOME PROJECT (Part II), IN GOLD WE TRUST (with Guy Nickson), ART TALES OF THADDEUS, WOMEN OF THE LIGHT (with Cynthia Mitchell), SPACE INTERLUDE, FINDING CLARA, ACROSS THE HOLY TELL, and ON THE DREAMHOUSE SEA. Works-in-progress include BIRDS OF A FEATHER: A COMEDY ABOUT DE-EXTINCTION, as well as LITTLE ♀.  My work has been published by North Carolina Literary Review, Playwrights’ Center (Monologues-Heinemann Press), Blackbird Press, Smith & Kraus, Red Clay Review, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, HowlRound, Murze, and Left Curve. Segments of my play FINDING CLARA are included in the documentary, Fading Fabric: Remembering Our Textile Heritage. Applause Books published selections from my play, BIRDS OF A FEATHER, and speeches from June’s new play, LITTLE ♀, are featured in the Smith & Kraus publication, The Best Women’s Stage Monologues of 2020 (released in 2021).