Erika Dickerson-Despenza: Ten Questions
Photo of Erika Dickerson-Despenza
Erika Dickerson-Despenza - photo by Joey Stocks for The Dramatist

1What was your most memorable theatrical experience as a child?

The Black Baptist Church on the first Sunday of the month (communion Sunday). It’s the way the folks would be possessed by the Holy Spirit. The way bodies innately respond to spirit, to the drum, to the right note on a Hammond B3 organ. It’s still one of the most transformative theatrical experiences I get to witness and engage.

 

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Erika Dickerson-Despenza
Erika Dickerson-Despenza

is a Blk, queer feminist poet-playwright & cultural-memory worker from Chicago, Illinois. Awards: Susan Blackburn Prize (2021), Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award (2020), Thom Thomas Award (2020), Lilly Award (2020), Barrie and Bernice Stavis Award (2020), Steinberg Playwright Award (2020), Princess Grace Playwriting Award (2019). Select stage plays include: cullud wattah, shadow/land, and [hieroglyph].