{{short description|American playwright}} {{Infobox writer | name = Aleshea Harris | image = | caption = Aleshea Harris, panelist for Theater Talks: Playwrights, at the Schomburg Library in Harlem, NYC, on January 22, 2018 | birth_date = | birth_place = Germany | occupation = Playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker | education = University of Southern Mississippi (BA)<br>California Institute of the Arts (MFA) | language = English | nationality = American | genre = Theatre, film | website = {{URL|www.bagofbeans.net}} | notable_works = ''Is God Is'', ''What to Send Up When It Goes Down'', ''On Sugarland'' }}
'''Aleshea Harris''' is an American playwright, performer, and screenwriter. Her play ''Is God Is'' won the American Playwriting Foundation's Relentless Award in 2016. In 2023, her play ''On Sugarland'' was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Drama- The Pulitzer Prizes |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/218}}</ref>
Her work has been commissioned for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bagofbeans.net/|title=Aleshea Harris|website=Aleshea Harris|access-date=2018-01-24|archive-date=2024-06-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614225740/https://www.bagofbeans.net/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/24/theater/aleshea-harris-wins-a-playwriting-prize-for-is-god-is.html|title=Aleshea Harris Wins a Playwriting Prize for 'Is God Is'|first=Andrew R.|last=Chow|work=The New York Times |date=23 October 2016|publisher=|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2018/01/22/theater-talks-playwrights-aleshea-harris-jackie-sibblies-drury|title=Theater Talks: Playwrights Aleshea Harris & Jackie Sibblies Drury|website=The New York Public Library}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.seattlerep.org/Plays/1617/WF/Playwrights/Aleshea|title=Meet the Playwrights : Aleshea Harris|website=www.seattlerep.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/playwright-aleshea-harris-receives-relentless-award_80516.html|title=Aleshea Harris Receives American Playwriting Foundation's Relentless Award|date=28 March 2017 |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/news/Aleshea-Harris/|title=Aleshea Harris News|website=www.broadwayworld.com}}</ref> Her plays have toured in France and in Belgium and have been presented at Playfest at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, California Institute of the Arts, VOXfest at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and the Comédie de Saint-Étienne-National Drama Center in France.
==Early life== Harris was born in Germany and raised as a U.S. Army child. She spent her youth in many places, including Germany and in the South, notably Mississippi. She was born to an African-American father and Trinidad-born mother.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spaceonryderfarm.org/blog/2017/8/31/aleshea-harrisplaywrightpolite-sheep-dog|title=Aleshea Harris/Playwright/Polite Sheep Dog|publisher=|access-date=2018-01-24|archive-date=2019-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330070638/https://www.spaceonryderfarm.org/blog/2017/8/31/aleshea-harrisplaywrightpolite-sheep-dog|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Aleshea Harris |url=https://screendollars.com/celebrity/aleshea-harris/ |website=Screendollars.com |access-date=May 16, 2026}}</ref>
Harris is a CalArts alumna.<ref name="calarts_2016-11-23" /> She was a part of CalArts' student organization, a collective that collaborated with the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and with the African-American Shakespeare Company, with three plays and two staged readings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.calarts.edu/2014/02/10/on-the-road-the-collective-staged-three-plays-in-san-francisco-last-month/|title=On the Road: The Collective Staged Three Plays in San Francisco Last Month|date=10 February 2014 |publisher=}}</ref>
==Career== Harris's work appeared in the anthology ''The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop'', published in 2015.
In 2016 she directed her ritual play ''What to Send Up When it Goes Down'' at Occidental College in Los Angeles. ''What to Send Up When it Goes Down'' incorporates song, language (spoken word), and audience participation to honor black bodies and lives.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theoccidentalweekly.com/culture/2016/09/28/whos-who-a-survey-of-administrative-roles-at-occidental/2877582|title=In conversation with Aleshea Harris - The Occidental Weekly|date=28 September 2016|publisher=|access-date=24 January 2018|archive-date=29 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629033422/http://www.theoccidentalweekly.com/culture/2016/09/28/whos-who-a-survey-of-administrative-roles-at-occidental/2877582|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Branden Jacobs-Jenkins|date=2019-04-05|title='What to Send Up When It Goes Down': A Black Gaze|url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2019/04/05/what-to-send-up-when-it-goes-down-a-black-gaze/|access-date=2020-10-12|website=AMERICAN THEATRE|language=en-US}}</ref> It is described as a play/pageant/ritual about the death of Black people due to racial violence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.interfestnyc.org/schedule/interpret|title=Interpret - "What To Send Up When It Goes Down" by Aleshea Harris (Reading) + Open Discussion [w/ The Movement Theatre Co]|website=Interfest|access-date=2018-01-24|archive-date=2019-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330081909/https://www.interfestnyc.org/schedule/interpret|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 2018, ''What to Send Up When It Goes Down'' was produced off-Broadway by The Movement Theatre Company in a Drama Desk-nominated, extended production. That production later traveled to the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington D.C., The Public Theater in New York for the Under the Radar Festival, and at Playwrights Horizons and Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.
In 2018, ''Is God Is'', written by Harris and directed by Taibi Magar, premiered at Soho Rep in New York City and ran from February 6 to March 11.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Soho-Rep-Announces-Complete-Casting-And-Creative-Team-For-Aleshea-Harriss-IS-GOD-IS-20180118|title=Soho Rep. Announces Complete Casting And Creative Team For Aleshea Harris's IS GOD IS|author=BWW News Desk|publisher=}}</ref> ''Is God Is'' received 3 Obie Awards for Playwriting, Directing, and Performance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/describe-the-night-will-swenson-dominique-morisseau-more-win-2018-obie-awards|title=Describe the Night, Will Swenson, Dominique Morisseau, More Win 2018 Obie Awards|website=Playbill}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/05/21/mary-jane-and-is-god-is-achieve-a-glorious-trifecta-at-the-63rd-obie-awards/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528045305/https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/05/21/mary-jane-and-is-god-is-achieve-a-glorious-trifecta-at-the-63rd-obie-awards/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 28, 2018|title="Mary Jane" and "Is God Is" Achieve a Glorious Trifecta at the 63rd Obie Awards|website=Village Voice|date=22 May 2018 }}</ref> The play won the American Playwriting Foundation's Relentless Award in 2016.<ref name="calarts_2016-11-23">{{cite web|url=http://blog.calarts.edu/2016/11/23/playwright-aleshea-harris-wins-relentless-award/|title=Playwright Aleshea Harris Wins Relentless Award|date=23 November 2016 |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://creativepinellas.org/performing-arts/american-award-prestige-abroad-for-aleshea-harris/|title=American Award, Prestige Abroad for Aleshea Harris - Creative Pinellas|website=creativepinellas.org|access-date=2018-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125074505/http://creativepinellas.org/performing-arts/american-award-prestige-abroad-for-aleshea-harris/|archive-date=2018-01-25|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://stage-directions.com/theatre-buzz/8932-aleshea-harris-wins-2016-relentless-award.html|title=Aleshea Harris Wins 2016 Relentless Award - Stage Directions|first=Jacob|last=Coakley|date=24 October 2016|publisher=|access-date=24 January 2018|archive-date=8 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008061249/http://stage-directions.com/theatre-buzz/8932-aleshea-harris-wins-2016-relentless-award.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Her play ''On Sugarland'' was produced by the New York Theatre Workshop in 2022, directed by Whitney White and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NYTW / ON SUGARLAND |url=https://www.nytw.org/show/on-sugarland/ |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=NYTW |language=en-US}}</ref> It was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.<ref name=":1" />
A film adaptation of ''Is God Is'', written, produced and directed by Harris for distribution by Orion Pictures, began filming in 2024 and was released in 2026 to critical acclaim.<ref>{{cite web |last1=D'Alessandro |first1=Anthony |last2=Grobar |first2=Matt |date=30 October 2024 |title=Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Sterling K. Brown, Vivica A. Fox & Janelle Monáe Team With Aleshea Harris For Amazon MGM Orion's 'Is God Is' – The Dish |url=https://deadline.com/2024/10/janelle-monae-sterling-k-brown-is-god-is-movie-1236162707/ |access-date=31 October 2024 |website=Deadline Hollywood}}</ref>
== Awards == In addition to the Relentless Award in 2016, Harris has been a two-time finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and a two-time MacDowell Fellow.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Aleshea Harris|url=https://windhamcampbell.org/festival/2020/recipients/harris-aleshea|access-date=2020-10-12|website=Windham Campbell Prizes|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Finalist: On Sugarland, by Aleshea Harris |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/aleshea-harris |website=The Pulitzer Prizes}}</ref>
In 2019, Harris received the Helen Merrill Award for playwriting.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-06-19|title=Five Talented Playwrights Win $30,000 Helen Merrill Awards|url=https://www.nycommunitytrust.org/newsroom/five-talented-playwrights-win-30000-helen-merrill-awards/|access-date=2020-10-12|website=The New York Community Trust|language=en-US}}</ref>
In 2020, Harris was awarded one of the eight Windham-Campbell Literature Prizes.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Flood|first=Alison|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/19/windham-campbell-literary-award-bhanu-kapil-yiyun-li-namwali-serpell-jonah-mixon-webster-anne-boyer-julia-cho-alesha-harris-maria-tumarkin-coronavirus|title=Eight authors share $1m prize as writers face coronavirus uncertainty|date=2020-03-19|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-03-20|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
==References== <references />
==External links== *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmXj-ANgLKo Performance, poetry and the spoken word: Aleshea Harris at TEDxCalArts]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Aleshea}} Category:African-American dramatists and playwrights Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:Living people Category:American women dramatists and playwrights Category:21st-century American women writers Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:University of Southern Mississippi alumni Category:California Institute of the Arts alumni Category:Obie Award recipients Category:21st-century African-American women writers Category:21st-century African-American writers