# Maya Washington

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{{short description|American poet}}

'''Maya Washington''' is an American filmmaker, actress, playwright, poet, writer, visualist, and arts educator. With a bachelor of arts in theatre from the [University of Southern California](/source/University_of_Southern_California) and a master of fine arts in creative writing from [Hamline University](/source/Hamline_University), Washington has garnered awards from<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jeromefdn.org/past-grantees?page=49|title=Past Grantees|date=2019-04-26|website=Jerome Foundation}}</ref>[Jerome Foundation](/source/Jerome_Foundation),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.arts.state.mn.us/grants/2016/2016-awarded-ai.htm|title=Minnesota State Arts Board|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref> Minnesota State Arts Board,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.leg.state.mn.us/docs/2015/mandated/150805.pdf|title=Minnesota Film and TV Board ACHF Annual Report|date=2019-04-26}}</ref> Minnesota Film and Television, and many more. Her scholarship and creative projects approach issues of diversity and inclusion. Her film work has had a global reach, in Toronto, Budapest, Hong Kong, Berlin, and Rome.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mayawashington.net/film-tv|title=Maya Washington website|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref>

She wrote and directed the 2011 short film<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/african-american-short-films/episodes/347559/|title=TV Guide|website=TV Guide|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref>'' White Space'' starring [Ryan Lane](/source/Ryan_Lane), a selection of [African American Short Films](/source/African_American_Short_Films) syndicated series, which follows the life of a deaf performance poet, and was featured as an official selection in over two dozen<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mayawashington.net/film-tv|title=Filmography|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref> film festivals, winning many awards. She produced and starred in ''Life Coach Chronicles'' (2013), an award-winning web series about friends and families, their circumstances, and their situations from writer and director Freda C. Hobbs. She wrote, directed, and starred in the award-winning short film ''Clear'' (2018) about an exoneree reconnecting with her daughter after serving 16 years for a crime she did not commit.{{Citation needed |date=April 2021}}

In 2018, Washington released her first feature-length documentary,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://throughthebanksoftheredcedar.com|title=Through the Banks of the Red Cedar|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref> ''Through the Banks of the Red Cedar'', premiering at the ''[Detroit Free Press](/source/Detroit_Free_Press)''<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.fox2detroit.com/good-day/weekend/freep-film-festival-features-through-the-bank-of-the-red-cedar|title=Freep Film Festival Features Through the Banks of the Red Cedar|work=Fox 2 Detroit|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref> Freep Film Festival. The film follows the 50-year legacy of Washington's father, [Minnesota Vikings](/source/Minnesota_Vikings) wide-receiver<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vikings.com/news/documentary-film-provides-generational-bridge-for-gene-washington-daughter?campaign=sf:fanshare:facebook|title=Documentary Film Provides Generational Bridge for Gene Washington & Daughter|website=www.vikings.com|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref> [Gene Washington](/source/Gene_Washington_(American_football%2C_born_1944)), on his journey from the segregated south to [Michigan State University](/source/Michigan_State_University), where he and his teammates led by head coach [Duffy Daugherty](/source/Duffy_Daugherty), played on the first fully racially integrated college football teams, the [1965](/source/1965_Michigan_State_Spartans_football_team) and [1966](/source/1966_Michigan_State_Spartans_football_team) Spartans football teams.{{Citation needed |date=April 2021}}

== Literature ==

*<ref>{{Cite book|title=BODIES BUILT FOR GAME : the prairie schooner anthology of contemporary sports.|date=2019|publisher=UNIV OF NEBRASKA PRESS|isbn=978-1496217738|location=[S.l.]|oclc=1089955460}}</ref>[https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bodies-built-for-game-natalie-diaz/1130938484 Bodies Built for the Game] edited by Natalie Diaz (University of Nebraska, 2019)
*<ref>{{Cite book|title=Black girl magic|others=Browne, Mahogany L.,, Simmonds, Idrissa,, Woods, Jamila, 1989-, Smith, Patricia, 1955-|year=2018|isbn=978-1608468577|location=Chicago|oclc=975378086}}</ref>''[https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1109-the-breakbeat-poets-vol-2 The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2 : Black Girl Magic]'' edited by Mahogany L. Browne, Idrissa Simmonds, and Jamila Woods (Haymarket Books, 2018)
*''Nothing To Lose But Our Chains: Black Voices on Activism'', ''Resistance and Love'' edited by Marvin K. White ([http://justicematters.press/ Justice Matters Press, 2018])
*<ref>{{Cite book|title=The beiging of America : personal narratives about being mixed race in the 21st century|date=2017|publisher=2Leaf Press|others=Schlund-Vials, Cathy J., 1974-, Forbes, Sean Frederick,, Betts, Tara|isbn=9781940939551|location=New York, NY|oclc=1053839614}}</ref>''[https://2leafpress.org/online/the-beiging-of-america-personal-narratives-about-being-mixed-race-in-the-twenty-first-century/ The Beiging of America: Personal Narratives About Being Mixed Race in the Twenty-First Century]'' edited by Cathy J. Scholund-Vials and Tara Betts (2Leaf Press, 2017)
*<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Diaz|first=Natalie|date=2016|title=A Body of Athletics|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/content/crossref/journals/prairie_schooner/v089/89.4.diaz.html|journal=Prairie Schooner|language=en|volume=89|issue=4|pages=7–15|doi=10.1353/psg.2016.0018|s2cid=74234813|issn=1542-426X|url-access=subscription}}</ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Prairie-Schooner-Magazine-Winter-2015/dp/B01G9A8WOU Prairie Schooner Special Issue: Sports, Winter 2015] edited by Natalie Diaz (University of Nebraska, 2019).
*<ref>{{Cite book|title=White space poetry anthology|others=Washington, Maya.|date=17 February 2014 |isbn=9780615622873|location=Minneapolis|oclc=908119550}}</ref>[https://www.amazon.com/White-Space-Poetry-Anthology-Project/dp/0615622879 White Space Poetry Anthology] edited by Maya Washington (White Space Poetry Project, 2014)
*<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780325007410|title=The Playwrights' Center monologues for women|date=2005|publisher=Heinemann|others=Gandrow, Kristen., Carl, Polly K., Playwrights' Center (Minneapolis, Minn.)|isbn=0325007411|location=Portsmouth, NH|oclc=56967112|url-access=registration}}</ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Playwrights-Center-Monologues-Kristen-Gandrow/dp/0325007411 The Playwrights’ Center Monologues for Women] edited by Kristen Gandrow (Heinemann Drama, 2005)

== Performance background ==

As an actor, Washington has performed at a number of regional and national venues in the United States:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatermania.com/shows/boston-theater/grandchildren-of-the-buffalo-soldiers_112029|title=Theater Mania|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref>[Trinity Repertory Company](/source/Trinity_Repertory_Company) and<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penumbratheatre.org/repertoire/|title=Penumbra Theatre Repertoire|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref>[Penumbra Theatre](/source/Penumbra_Theatre_Company) where she originated the role of<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.districtchronicles.com/news/view.php/421937/Grandchildren-marries-Native-Black-histo|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426225953/http://www.districtchronicles.com/news/view.php/421937/Grandchildren-marries-Native-Black-histo|url-status=usurped|archive-date=April 26, 2019|title=\'Grandchildren\' marries Native, Black history|website=districtchronicles|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref> August Jackson in [William S. Yellow Robe Jr's](/source/William_S._Yellow_Robe_Jr.) national tour of Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers which included appearances at [The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian](/source/National_Museum_of_the_American_Indian), [Dartmouth](/source/Dartmouth_College), [Roundhouse Theater](/source/Roundhouse_Theatre), and other venues nationwide; [The Guthrie Theater](/source/Guthrie_Theater) as a<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/guthrie-theater-presents-dickens-a-christmas-carol-previews-start-nov-17-com-93083|title=Guthrie Theater Presents Dickens' A Christmas Carol Previews Start Nov. 17|website=Playbill|language=en|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref> Christmas Carol Company Member for two seasons; History Theatre originating the role of Neecy in<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historytheatre.com/about/past-seasons-history-theatre|title=Past Seasons at History Theatre {{!}} History Theatre|website=www.historytheatre.com|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref> Snapshots Life in the city a collaboration between [Sounds of Blackness](/source/Sounds_of_Blackness) recording artist J.D. Steele and writer David Lawrence Grant, [Children's Theatre Company](/source/Children's_Theatre_Company), [The Playwrights’ Center](/source/The_Playwrights'_Center), Pillsbury House Theatre, The Powerhouse Theatre, The California Science Center, The House of Blues, and [https://www.mayawashington.net/performance others].

Her play ''Colorful Women of Invention'' was commissioned by [https://youthperformanceco.org/ Youth Performance Company] as a touring production in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mnartists.org/article/youth-performance-company-growing-crazy|title=Youth Performance Company: Growing like Crazy - Mn Artists|website=www.mnartists.org|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref> Her full-length play, ''South of Adams'', received a<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mayawashington.net/performance|title=Performance|website=Maya Washington|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-26}}</ref> staged reading at [http://www.congosquaretheatre.org/history-2 Congo Square Theatre] in Chicago as part of the August Wilson Playwriting Initiative in 2005.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official|http://themayawashington.com/}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Maya}}
Category:Filmmakers from California
Category:Filmmakers from Minnesota
Category:American film actresses
Category:American documentary filmmakers
Category:21st-century American poets
Category:African-American poets
Category:Poets from California
Category:Poets from Minnesota
Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:American women dramatists and playwrights
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Living people
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:21st-century African-American women writers
Category:21st-century African-American writers
Category:21st-century American women poets

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Maya Washington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Washington) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Washington?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.