Chisa Hutchinson is an American playwright. Her plays have won multiple awards including the 2010 GLAAD Award, a Lilly Award in 2010, as well as a Lanford Wilson Award in 2015. She was a Lark Fellow as well as a Dramatist Guild Fellow in 2010–11. She was also a cast member of the Neo-Futurists in New York. Hutchinson was a staff writer for the Blue Man Group. She has been a member of New Dramatists for four years. Currently she is a Humanitas Fellow and the Tow Foundation Fellow at Second Stage.[1] Hutchinson teaches creative writing at the University of Delaware.[2] Most recently her play Somebody's Daughter was included on the 2017 Kilroys List which includes un-produced plays by female and trans playwrights.[3]
Chisa Hutchinson | |
|---|---|
 Hutchinson on HowlRound in 2020 | |
| Born | 1980 Queens, New York, US |
| Occupation | Playwright, Performer |
| Alma mater | BA Vassar College MFA New York University |
| Notable awards | GLAAD Award (2010), Lilly Award (2010), Lanford Wilson Award (2015) |
Early life
editChisa Hutchinson was born in Queens, New York in 1980. At the age of four she was unofficially adopted by a family in Newark, New Jersey. At the age of 14 Hutchinson relocated to the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey to attend Kent Place School.[4] It is here that she was exposed to theatre for the first time. While attending high school, her drama teacher took her to attend a debate between August Wilson and Robert Brustein which inspired her to write African American centric theatre.[5]
Education
editHutchinson attended Vassar College where she received a B.A. in Dramatic Arts. She would later go to earn her M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from Tisch School of the Arts.[2]
At Vassar College, Hutchinson was the only Black drama major. Because her education was not exploring theatre by Black writers, Hutchinson felt compelled to create her own work.[4]
Themes
editHutchinson's work centers around responding to social issues, although she states that, "the best way to write a play about a social issue is to not make it about a social issue." Her plays tell stories of people that are rarely seen on stage, such as transgender stories or stories of people of color.[5]
In interview she stated[6]
I’m not a politician. I’m not a lawyer, an economist. I don’t know how to fix big stuff. I feel like someone handed me a shoelace and said, “Okay, build a rocket ship.” Words, that’s what I got, words. It’s what I have. But if change doesn’t happen it won’t be for my lack of trying, even if all I have to offer is words. I’m going to try every which way to wield those words to see what they can produce, what ripples they can make.
Plays
edit- Amerikin (59E59)
- Surely Goodness and Mercy (New Jersey Performing Arts Center)
- She Likes Girls (Lark Play Development Center, Working Man's Clothes)
- Mama's Gonna Buy You (Inge Center for the Arts)
- This is not the Play (Mad Dog Theatre Company, Cleveland Public Theater)
- Sex on Sunday (Lark Play Development Center, the BE Company)
- Tunde's Trumpet (Summer Stage, BOOM Arts)
- The Subject (Atlantic Theatre Company, Playwrights' Foundation, Victory Gardens Theater, Partial Comfort, and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater)
- Somebody's Daughter (Cherry Lane Theatre, Second Stage)
- Alondra Was Here (the Wild Project)
- The Wedding Gift (Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Forward Flux)
- Dead & Breathing (Lark Play Development Center, National Black Theater)[7]
Awards
edit- GLAAD Award (2010)
- Lilly Award (2010)
- New York Innovative Theatre Award (2012)
- Paul Green Award (2013)
- Helen Merrill Award (2013)
- Lanford Wilson Award (2015)
Personal life
editAfter the opening of her play She Likes Girls in 2008 Hutchinson's sexuality was put into the spotlight because the play centers around a young lesbian woman. Hutchinson however self identifies as bisexual.[4]
Critical reception
editHutchinson's play She Likes Girls centers around a young lesbian couple at an inter-city high school. This play and the topics it deals with would lead her to receive a GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Award. Not only did the play win this award but it received positive reviews throughout its run in New York City.[8]
In 2022, Chisa Hutchinson was included in the book 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre, profiled in a chapter written by theatre scholar La Donna L. Forsgren.[9]
References
edit- ^ "Chisa Hutchinson Bio" http://www.chisahutchinson.com/, accessed November 5th, 2017
- ^ a b "Chisa Hutchinson" Archived 2018-04-18 at the Wayback Machine http://www.english.udel.edu/people/Pages/bio.aspx?i=301 , accessed November 5th, 2017
- ^ "The List 2017 | The Kilroys". 2017-05-12. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
- ^ a b c "SistersTalk: Interview with Playwright Chisa Hutchinson" Archived 2016-08-12 at the Wayback Machine http://sisterstalk.net/chisahutchinson.html , accessed November 5th, 2017
- ^ a b Myers, Victoria. "The Interval: An interview with Chisa Hutchinson" http://theintervalny.com/interviews/2015/02/an-interview-with-chisa-hutchinson/, accessed November 5th, 2017
- ^ Hutchinson, Chisa; Gilbert, Rodney (2017). "Shoestrings: A Conversation with Chisa Hutchinson and Rodney Gilbert". Theatre Topics. 27 (2): 163–168. doi:10.1353/tt.2017.0027. ISSN 1086-3346. S2CID 192929058.
- ^ "Chisa Hutchinson Author Bio" http://howlround.com/authors/chisa-hutchinson, accessed November 5th, 2017
- ^ "She Likes Girls" https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/she-like-girls, accessed November 5th, 2017
- ^ Forsgren, La Donna L. (2022). "Chisa Hutchinson". In Noriega and Schildcrout (ed.). 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre. Routledge. pp. 99–102. ISBN 978-1032067964.