Glenda Dickerson

Who was Glenda Dickerson?

Glenda Dickerson was an iconic director, folklorist, adaptor, writer, choreographer, actor, black theatre organizer, and educator. She is known throughout the American Theater as a consummate promoter of a "womanist" direction in the theater and her work focused on folklore, myths, black legends, and classical works reinterpreted. She worked in venues including the Biltmore Theatre, Circle in the Square, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Ford's Theatre and the Kennedy Center. In 1971, she received an Emmy nomination and in 1972 a Peabody Award.

She conceived and/or adapted numerous vehicles for the stage from various dramatic and non-dramatic sources, including the "miracle play": Jesus Christ, Lawd Today; Owen's Song; The Unfinished Song; Rashomn; Torture of Mothers; Jump at the Sun; Aunt Jemima and the Traveling Menstrual Show and Every Step I Take. She conceived and directed Eel Catching in Setauket: A Living Portrait of a Community, an oral history, creative performance project which documented the lives of the African-American Christian Avenue community in Setauket, Long Island. She performed in her one-woman shows, Saffron Persephone Brown: The Flower-storm of a Brown Woman; Spreading Lies; and in the Trojan Women: A Tale of Devastation for Two Voices.