POET ELIZABETH ALEXANDER AND PLAYWRIGHT BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS TO SPEAK AT LWT’S SUNDAY SYMPOSIUM DECEMBER 15
NEW HAVEN – Poet Elizabeth Alexander
and playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins will hold a wide ranging conversation inspired
by August Wilson’s
Fences as part of Long Wharf
Theatre’s Sunday Symposium series.
The event will take place Sunday, December
15 after the matinee performance of August Wilson’s Fences. The performance begins at 2 pm and runs
approximately two hours. The symposium is free and open to the public. The
Sunday Symposium series is funded by Connecticut Humanities.
Dr. Alexander, the Thomas E. Donnelley
Professor of African American Studies & Professor American Studies &
English, was selected by
President Barack Obama to compose and read a poem for his inauguration.
She is the author of four books of poems, The
Venus Hottentot (1990), Body of
Life (1996), Antebellum Dream
Book (2001), and American
Sublime (2005), which was one of the American
Library Association’s 25 Notable Books of the Year as well as one of
three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. Her collection of essays on African
American literature, painting, and popular culture, The Black Interior, was
published in 2004. Her verse play, "Diva Studies," was produced at
the Yale School of Drama in May 1996. Alexander has taught at the University of Chicago,
where she won the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, New York University’s
Graduate Creative Writing Program, and Smith
College, where she was Grace Hazard
Conkling Poet-in-Residence, first director of the Poetry
Center at Smith College,
and member of the founding editorial collective for the feminist journal
Meridians. Professor Alexander is an inaugural recipient of the Alphonse
Fletcher, Sr. Fellowship for work that “contributes to improving race
relations in American society and furthers the broad social goals of the U.S.
Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.” She
teaches courses on African American poetry, drama, and 20th century literature,
as well as the survey introduction to African American Studies. She has Ph.D.
in English from the University of Pennsylvania, a B.A. degree from Yale, and an M.A.
from Boston University.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a Brooklyn-based
playwright and dramaturg. His newest play, Appropriate,
premieres at the Humana Festival in March 2013, and his play Neighbors will receive its UK
Premiere at the Hightide Festival in May 2013. His work has been seen at The
Public Theater, PS122, Soho Rep, The Matrix Theatre in Los
Angeles, Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis,
CompanyOne in Boston, Theater Bielefeld in Bielefeld, Germany
and the National Theatre in London.
He is a Usual Suspect and a former New York Theatre Workshop Playwriting
fellow, an alum of the Soho Rep Writers/Directors Lab, the Public Theater
Emerging Writers Group, and Ars Nova Playgroup. His honors include a Princess
Grace Award, the Dorothy Strelsin Playwriting Fellowship, the Paula Vogel
Award, two residencies with the Sundance Theatre Lab, and a fellowship in
playwriting from the New York Foundation for the Arts. He holds an M.A. in
Performance Studies from NYU and is working on commissions from Lincoln Center
Theater/LCT3 and Yale Repertory Theater.
Connecticut Humanities is a non-profit
affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities that funds, creates and
collaborates on hundreds of cultural programs across Connecticut each year. These programs bring
together people of all ages and backgrounds to express, share and explore ideas
in thoughtful and productive ways. From local discussion groups to major
exhibitions on important historical events, CTH programs engage, enlighten and
educate. Learn more by visiting www.cthumanities.org.
For more information about Fences and Long Wharf Theatre’s
2013-14 season, visit www.longwharf.org or call
203-787-4282.
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