Shawntai Genell Brown

Playwright - Poet - Literacy Advocate

Playwriting Workshop Thursdays Feb. 18-April 15

UPCOMING 2023 SHOWSSOFA STORIES (created by Andrew Morton) - Several playwrights, including Shawntai, will create monologues based on conversations with those affected by housing insecurity, especially in the LGBTQ+ community. Performance dates & process for performance requests to be announced summer 2023.2021 PAST PRODUCTIONS
HAPPY BORN DAY - Brandi has a sexy birthday surprise for her girlfriend, Carolyn, but it's too much for Carolyn's pet rabbit and past. Ran 2/6, The Purple Rose Theatre 10-Minute Play Festival.
ALIS AWAKE - Rapper Alis is over virtual school, isolation and fitting into the expectations of Woman of Promise Academy. When classmate and fellow wordsmith Mable offers a chance to cut class early by getting a free essay, Alis welcomes the shortcut, but the link to the free essay turns out to be anything but a path to freedom. Alis tumbles into an alternate world where the Queen of Hearts threatens to behead students already lost in a broken school system, Mable included. Education cases of the past prove to be ever present in keeping students like Alis small, but figures like Linda Brown of the Brown v. Board case won’t let Alis take on the Queen alone. Books and history come to life as Alis traverses an awakening adventure of self discovery and verbal warfare. [The Vagrancy] August 24 Premier (http://www.thevagrancymi.com/)2020 PRODUCTIONS
WHEN THE MOON YELLS – A blind woman shoots her shot as the person who passes her porch most nights. October Play Readings, Ann Arbor Civic TheatreCUT SHORT – A hairdresser calls her estranged friend on Juneteenth to ask for her wig back. Gay4Detroit One Act Festival, Show ran 10/23 8am through 10/25 virtualOUT OF BODY – A closeted teacher confronted with a student’s call for a QSA forgets to press mute on a video call. Hear Our Cry, Peppermint Creek Theatre, DRIVE IN SHOW, Lansing MI 7pm in person8:46 – Sean Paraventi, Angela King and Shawntai Brown mesh the voices of our community in an exploration of race and policing in the wake of George Floyd (and so many others)The Breath Project 10/24 7pm virtual

About

Shawntai Brown is a Detroit playwright, poet and literacy advocate with a Bachelor of Arts in English (Creative Writing emphasis) from Western Michigan University and a Master of Arts in Literacy Learning from Marygrove College. Her plays center oral testimony, queer identity and Black community. She serves on the education sub-committee for Extra Mile Playwrights Theater.She is the founder and writer of eLLe, an episodic play series following 6 lesbian, bi and queer women. eLLe was created in 2010 and has been in production since 2011.Over the decade, Brown has birthed more than 16 plays centering queer people of color."My work isn’t to fill in the gaps, it is made to create new spaces. My characters are not the best friend or brief anecdotes in a larger story. Queer characters of color are the center. Honoring diversity within queer characters (gender presentation, relationship structures, age, race, SES and career) has provided lgbtq+ actors more opportunities to play characters they intersect with, and provided an entry point for conversations and community building."You can find her poetry in Kaleidoscope, Cactus Heart, and Synaesthesia Magazine and Wayne Literary Review.Find Shawntai in the forthcoming 2021 Language Arts Journal of MichiganPlays Produced
“Church Hats,” New Play Workshop, Western Michigan University, 2008
“eLLe 1: The L Word continued,” Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, theatrical series, 2010.
“eLLe 2: The L Word continued,” Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, theatrical series, 2010.
“eLLe 3:,” PULSE Organic, Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, theatrical series, 2011.
“eLLe 4: Going the Distance,” Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, theatrical series, 2011.
“eLLe 5: You’ve Made Your Bed,” Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, theatrical series, 2011.
“eLLe 6: Shift,” Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, theatrical series, 2012.
“Breadcrumbs: Journey to Authenticity,” Kalamazoo Black Arts and Cultural Center, 2013
“eLLe 7: Can We Talk,” Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, 2013
“Ghost Town,” (author) Detroit, NY 10-minute Play Festival, The Dirty Blondes Theatre, New York, NY, 2014.
“eLLe 8: Every Door the Closes,” Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, theatrical series, 2015.
“A Detroit Carol,” (co-authors, acting) Extra Mile Playwrights Theatre, Light Up Livernois, 2016.
“eLLe 9: New Positions,” Queer Theatre Kalamazoo, theatrical series, 2018.
“We’re Here,” (co-author, acting) Extra Mile Playwrights Theatre, Light Up Livernois, Voices from the Neighborhood, 2018.
“We Own Everything,” 48 Hours Detroit, Alessee Hall, 2019.
“When the Moon Yells,” Detroit Fringe Festival, Jam Handy, 2019.
“eLLe 10: This Lane Open,” Face Off Theatre, Epic Center Kalamazoo, Mi, 2019.
“Don’t Break Up Over Text,” Violet Surprise: Lez Beaus, The Martin, Chicago, Il, Feb. 2020.
"8:46", (written in collaboration with Sean Paraventi, Angela King) The Breath Project, nationwide virtual screening, October 2020.
"Cut Short", Gay4Detroit One Act Festival, The Ringwald virtual, Detroit, MI, October 2020.
"Out of Body", Hear Our Cry, Peppermint Creek Theatre virtual, Lansing, Mi, October 2020.Staged Readings
“Covert: Voices from the Civil Rights Movement,” Douglas Center DYAC, Kalamazoo, 2013.
“Morgue,” staged reading, The Play’s the Thing, Ann Arbor Civic Theater, 2015.
“Hardyman,” Extra Mile Playwrights Theatre, Community Night, 2015.
“Bridge to Canada,” Extra Mile Playwrights Theatre, Community Night, 2015.
“67 Rebellion: A memoir play,” Extra Mile Playwrights Theatre, Northwestern Unitarian Universalist, 2018.
“Her Name Was A’laika,” The Plays The Thing, Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, Ann Arbor, Mi, Jan. 2020.
“Don’t Break Up Over Text,” The Plays The Thing, Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, Ann Arbor, Mi, Jan. 2020.
"Cut Short", Queer Theatre Kalamazoo virtual, Kalamazoo, Mi June 2020.
"The Aretha Project", (devised theatre written by EMPT playwrights) Extra Mile Playwrights Theatre, Detroit, Mi, September 2020.
"When The Moon Yells," Ann Arbor Civic Theater virtual, Ann Arbor, Mi, October 2020.SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & WORKSHOPS
Horizontal Hostility, Forging Justice: Creating Safe, Equal and Accountable Communities, 2013.
First Friday Poetry, feature poet, performance, Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, 2015.
Extra Mile Playwrights Theatre creation workshop, Brainstorm: Summer Institute, InsideOut Literary Arts Project, Detroit Public Library, 2019.
“Uncover Your Ears: When Youth Voice is the Loudest in the Room,” Luncheon speaker, MCTE Conference, Lansing, Mi, 2019.
“In Tune with Social Justice,” workshop, MCTE Conference, Lansing, Mi, 2019.
Once Spoken, A Voice Can Rise Again**, oral testimony playwriting workshop, Feb.18- April 15, 2021.