1.17 Caleen Sinnette Jennings: Crafting Theatre of Empowerment and Transformation

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S1. E17. "I wanted to write the roles that I wish somebody would write for me."
Thembi talks with Caleen Sinnette Jennings about her journey as an actor, director, playwright, educator, and arts leader, including her memories of being introduced to Shakespeare in an international school in Nigeria, her motivation for becoming a playwright, her creative process, and why she believes she is "an everlasting learner."

Caleen Sinnette Jennings has had seven plays published by Dramatic Publishing Company, and her play Classyass appears in 7 play anthologies. She has been nominated for 5 Helen Hayes Awards and has won awards from The Actors’ Theatre of Louisville and the Kennedy Center. Plays in her Queens Girl Trilogy have been produced nationally and her children’s play, Darius & Twig did a Kennedy Center national tour in 2017. She is Professor of Theatre Emerita at American University where she taught theatre for 31 years. Jennings has been commissioned to write for The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Imagination Stage, Roundhouse Theatre, Everyman Theatre, and South Bend Civic Theatre. She has been a faculty member of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Teaching Shakespeare Institute since 1994, and she is Senior Consultant to the Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

KeyBARD is produced, written, and hosted by Thembi Duncan.
Theme music by Sycho Sid.

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