Theatre Arts - Playwriting
MFA
Sarah Lawrence College
1999
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Faculty
Faculty
Denise J. Hart (she/her)
Professor | Playwriting & Scriptwriting
Department/Office
- Theatre Arts
School/College
- College of Fine Arts
Biography
Playwright | Dramaturge | Director
Education & Teaching
Denise J. Hart, Professor at Howard University, currently serving as the area coordinator of Playwriting advising playwriting and TV/film students.
She has previously held academic positions at St. Mary's College, 2019 Visiting Professor, where she taught in the Department of Theatre, Film and Media Studies. She's also taught at American University and Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Her professional experience includes TV Drama Limited Series Development Consultant and TV Drama Development Consultant at Amazon Studios.
Her specialties include Playwriting, TV Scriptwriting, Dramaturgy, African American Theatre, Contemporary Trends in Theatre, Aesthetics of Black Television Drama and Theatre Criticism.
Recipient of the 2021 Provost's Distinguished Service Award and the 2018 Outstanding Associate Professor, Denise holds an MFA in Playwriting from Sarah Lawrence College where she was awarded the Lipkin Prize for Playwriting. She is also the recipient of the 2014 Global Leadership Rising Star award and from 2018-2020 she was the president of the Division of Fine Arts Executive Committee and chair of the transition team for the reinstatement of the College of Fine Arts. She acquired her BFA in Acting from Howard University where she was the president (95/96) of the historic Howard Players drama organization.
Her training in TV scriptwriting was completed at Script Anatomy in Los Angeles CA; and comedy writing at Second City Chicago and Upright Citizens Brigade NYC.
Academic Achievements
One of the highlights of Hart's career has been serving as a faculty-fellow in the innovative partnership program between Howard University and Amazon Studios, Howard Entertainment. The program focuses on diversifying the entertainment industry.
In 2019, she was appointed Visiting Professor at St. Mary's College and in 2022 she participated in the Unexpected Stage Company's Artist Retreat for BIPOC Playwrights.
Research
Hart's scholarly research focuses on stories that center the African American Experience. As a playwright and dramaturge her work explores the intersections of race, class and identity, and the impact they have on cultural memory and family. Her scholarship is driven by a commitment to document and preserve under researched narratives in the history of Black Theatre, particularly black playwrights.
Monograph (Works in Progress): Mecca Made: Howard University Theatre Production 1904-1949, is a retrospective of theatre produced at Howard University. Six chapters plus an introduction, each chapter will chronicle a 10 year period of theatre production at Howard, including the formative years of theatre which was largely led by the students from 1904-1919. Followed by the Locke/Gregory period with the creation of the Howard Players and the non-degree granting Department of Dramatic Art from 1920 -1924 and the struggle-to-keep-theatre-alive-period from 1925-1944, ending with 1944-1949 when Anne Cook arrived on the Howard Campus and her 5 year zenith to create the first degree granting Department of Drama which began in September 1950.
In 2018 Hart was selected to contribute her scholarly research in the Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance in the chapter, The Howard University Players: From Respectability Politics to Black Representation.
Coordinator of the Playwriting program at Howard University, Hart is the recipient of several international playwriting honors and awards: This Joy, (former finalist in the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights competition and the Lark Fellowship,) Nothing to Lose (finalist 2018 Bay Area Playwrights, former finalist in Black and Latino Playwrights Conference) Sistah Girl, Masquerade Parade, Ring the Bell, My Soul is a Witness (winner of ECTC playwriting competition), The Last Day, In the Realm of Shadows, Chasing Forever, Peace Declared, and A Real Black Comedy.
Education & Expertise
Education
Theatre Arts - Acting
BFA, Magda Cum Laude
Howard University
1996
Expertise
Playwriting, TV Scriptwriting, Dramaturgy
My scholarly research is focused on stories that center the African American Experience. As a playwright and dramaturge I'm interested in exploring the intersections of race, class and identity, and the impact they have on cultural memory and family. My scholarship is driven by a commitment to document and preserve under researched narratives in the history of Black Theatre, particularly black playwrights.
Academics
Academics
PLAYWRITING 1 and 2
PLAYWRITING 1 - A beginning playwriting course that aides the student with developing their creative process as playwrights. Students learn the fundamental craftsmanship of dramatic structure, plot, character development, motivation, creating stakes and writing realistic dialogue. Students write one scene per week that culminate in a one act play.
PLAYWRITING 2 - Students further examine the process of developing characters, setting, developing a premise and writing dialogue through a variety of scene assignments within the 10 minute play structure work. Students are also introduced to character archetypes and writing in groups that mirror/reflect the energy and demand of the television writers room.
INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCTION DRAMATURGY
Introduction to the fundamentals of production dramaturgy through the theoretical study of the dramaturgical processes and the practical application of dramaturgy for a live production. Students are introduced to the history of dramaturgy and the key elements of pre-production research on the playwright and the historical and social context of the play. Students execute a variety of projects that engage textual analysis, dramatic criticism, play analysis and historiography.
TV SCRIPTWRITING: ONE-HOUR DRAMA
The primary purpose of this course is to help students learn and develop the skills and tools applicable to the methodology of writing for television and the further development of the writer discovering “their voice”. This course will introduce students to industry standards and best practices for the creative process of writing a 60-minute pilot for a TV Drama series. The student will engage in the process of creative exploration as it pertains to TV writing. You will study ways to inspire, nurture, encourage and sustain story ideas. In addition, you will explore the relationship of the script and the other collaborators, primarily the actor and director and how the audience experiences story. There will be scheduled in-class presentations of exercises and readings of published 10-minute plays and TV pilots and your own writing projects that will allow you to receive valuable feedback as it pertains to your process and progress.
PLAY ANALYSIS
Introduction to Aristotelian elements and principles of drama. Critical analysis and dramaturgy of dramatic literature and theatrical genres with regard to plot, theme, and character, approached from the director’s and actor’s viewpoints.
Research
Research
Specialty
Playwriting, TV Sctiptwriting, DramaturgyFunding
Research
My scholarly research is focused on stories centered in the African American Experience. As a playwright and dramaturge I'm interested in exploring the intersections of race, class and identity, and the impact they have on cultural memory and family. My scholarship is driven by a commitment to document and preserve under researched narratives in the history of Black Theatre, particularly black playwrights.
Group Information
Monograph: Mecca Made: Howard University Theatre Production 1904-1949.
Mecca Made is a retrospective of theatrical produced at Howard University. Six chapters plus an introduction, focusing on theatrical production at Howard, including the formative years of theatre which was largely led by the students from 1904-1919. Followed by the Locke/Gregory period with the creation of the Howard Players and the non-degree granting Department of Dramatic Art from 1920 -1924 and the struggle-to-keep-theatre-alive-period from 1925-1944, ending with 1944-1949 when Anne Cook arrived on the Howard Campus and her 5 year zenith to create the first degree granting Department of Drama which began in September 1950.
Status: Work in Progress
Currently I'm researching and developing two essay's in the underrepresented research areas of the life and contributions of luminary Howard University professors, Alain L. Locke, known as "the Father of the Harlem Renaissance" and T. Montgomery Gregory.
Culture as Strategy: Alain Locke's Influence on the Making of the Howard Players 1912-1924
Status: Work in Progress
From Dream Fulfilled to Dream Deferred: Locke and Gregory's Struggle to Establish the Howard University Department of Dramatic Art in 1921
Status: Work in Progress
This research will be of significant value to scholars doing research on: Black Theatre, The Howard Players, Historic context of theatre in Washington DC, History of Howard University, Theatre History, Theatre in Higher Education, Alain Locke, T. Montgomery Gregory and playwrights of the Harlem Renaissance, among others.
Accomplishments
Accomplishments
CSPAN Coverage of Written Then Spoken Now with Ford's Theatre
2023 Dramaturge panelist Ford's Theatre Taking Center Stage: Under-told Stories in the American Theatre, A First Look Ford's Theatre Legacy Commission
2022 Unexpected Stage Company's Artist Retreat for Playwrights
2021 Provost's Distinguished Service Award
2019 Visiting Professor - St. Mary's College Department of Theater, Film and Media Studies
During a semester long residency at St. Mary's College in the Department of Theater, Film and Media Studies I served their student population in the role of guest artist, instructor and director.Since there aren't any African American faculty members in the Department of Theater, Film and Media Studies, during academic year 2017/18, several students made an appeal to the administration to bring an African American guest artist to the department to specifically direct a play written by a black playwright. Being in residence at a predominately white institution presented a wonderful opportunity to present material with the African American experience at the center of the subject matter and discourse, for an audience less accustomed to encountering such material. I choose to direct the play "Stick Fly" written by award winning playwright, Lydia Diamond. The play is filled with tensions centered on race, class and the power and impact of family secretes. Additionally, I taught a course entitled, Dramaturgy and Analysis: the plays of August Wilson.
2019 Chapter Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance
Howard, like many HBCUs, held fast to the belief that respectability politics, or the presentation of Eurocentric acceptable standards of appearance and behavior, would protect Black people from prejudices and systemic injustices. This chapter examines how the “respectability” framework shaped the plays produced by the Howard Players from 1919 to the mid-1960s; it also reviews how this paradigm of respectability shifted as a result of the Black Power movement of the 1960s into the 1970s.
2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival semi-finalist
2018 Semi-finalist (top 5%) Bay Area Playwrights Festival - "Nothing to Lose"
2019 Co-Chair August Wilson Society "August Wilson Ground" Lecture Series, Washington DC
Featured speaker: University of Maryland’s American Studies Chair and foodways scholar Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson speaking on—Cornbread, Biscuits, and Coca-Cola: Foods and Food Practices in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle PlaysAdditional Speakers - Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick; Constanza Romero Wilson, August Wilson’s wife and the executor of his estate; Janis Burley Wilson, President and CEO of Pittsburgh’s August Wilson African American Cultural Center; and Paul Ellis, Executive Director and Legal Counsel for the August Wilson House Restoration Project.
2018 Outstanding Associate Professor - Division of Fine Arts
Recipient of the Outstanding Tenured Associate Professor Award in the College of Arts and Sciences, Division of Fine Arts at Howard University. This award emphasizes overall achievements in research, teaching and service.
2018 Dramaturge - August Wilson's Jitney at Hattiloo Theatre
2018 Ostrander Award Best Dramatic Production for "Jitney" at Hattiloo Theatre, Memphis TN
2016 Lone Star Emmy Nomination for Blackademics TV
2016 Lone Star EMMY nomination, Blackademics TV, Season 4/Episode 1 - Scholar Media Coach
Commissioned Playwright - Plowshares Theatre
Hart is a commissioned playwright with Plowshares Theatre CompanyPlowshares Theatre Company is one of the oldest continuous nationally recognized African American theatre company's and is recognized as Michigan’s only professional African American theatre company. Plowshares has been the alternative voice in metro Detroit’s performing arts community. A theatre that offers a true off-Broadway experience, with the kind of entertaining, and diverse productions that has made it a favorite among discerning patrons.
2014 Rising Star Award - Global Leadership Program
2014 Rising Star Award Global Leadership Program
Related Articles
Dramaturge/Researcher - Ford's Theatre "An Evening with Johnathon White"
Written Then, Spoken Now: African American Letters to Lincoln with historian, author and professor Johnathon White at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC, February 2024.
Dramaturge/Researcher - Rhyme Deferred by Kamilah Forbes, Howard University Department of Theatre Arts
On Friday September 29, 2023 at Howard University, Al Freeman Environmental Theatre Space, dramaturge, Denise J. Hart moderated the "Never Thought it Would Last" dramaturgy talkback for the production of Ryhme Deferred written by Kamilah Forbes. Guest panelists were Coordinator of Art istory, Dr. Melanie Harvey, Coordinator of Fashion Design at Howard University, Elka Stevens, Hip Hop archivist Tim Jones, Hip Hope Cultural Curator Priest and actor Greg A. Reid. Priest and Reid were original members of the team who supported the creation of the play.
Masterclass Intensive Acting Techniques - PG County Film Festival, September 2023
Learn the ins and outs to get started and navigate an actor's career, from auditions to casting. From scene study and table reads to production and reshoots, we will cover this celebrated career's good, bad and ugly. Attendees learned audition techniques for on camera comfort, confidence and how to make meaningful character and story choices. Plus, how to analyze text to bring characters to life.
TV Scriptwriting Intensive: Def Creative Lab, Stone Mountain GA, July 2023
Summer 2023, I taught a day long TV Scriptwriting intensive in Stone Mountain Georgia for students in the Def Creative Lab program!
Dramaturge/Researcher - Ford's Theatre "Taking Center Stage: Under-told Stories in the American Theatre", Washington DC
Dramaturge Panelist for the Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commissions which will serve as an artistic incubator for stories about social justice and racial history and explore the varied experiences of underrepresented characters and lesser-known historical figures and their contributions to American life. This free, three-day public festival of readings provided a preview of new plays in development with members of our first cohort of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) playwrights in The Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commissions initiative.
Dramaturge/Researcher - The Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Howard University, Washington DC
Dramaturge Consultant - Brown Girl Brownstone, Shakespeare Theatre, Washington DC
Fellowship: Amazon Studios TV Drama Limited Series Development Consultant
Amazon Studios TV Drama Limited Series Development Consultant
Keynote Speaker
The Multi-Dimensionality of Mountaintop: Martin Luther King as More than an Icon Weston Playhouse, Weston, VT
Dramaturge Consultant
Dramaturge Consultant: 1960 Television Drama adaptation of the novel, Brown Girl Brownstone, Shakespeare Theatre, Washington DC, DC
Dramaturge Panelist
Dramaturge Panelist: Taking Center Stage: Under-told Stories in the American Theatre, A First Look Ford's Theatre Legacy Commission, various, Ford's Theatre, Washington DC
Development Dramaturge/TV writing consultant
Dramaturge/TV writing consultant - Black Girl You've Been Gentrified," Epoch Films, New York Public Radio, The Greene Space, New York, NY. (July 1, 2021 - February 8,2023).
2020 Featured Playwright/Speaker - Penn State African American Read In
Featured playwright/speaker for the 2020 Penn State African American Read In.
2019 Chapter in Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance
Howard, like many HBCUs, held fast to the belief that respectability politics, or the presentation of Eurocentric acceptable standards of appearance and behavior, would protect Black people from prejudices and systemic injustices. This chapter examines how the “respectability” framework shaped the plays produced by the Howard Players from 1919 to the mid-1960s; it also reviews how this paradigm of respectability shifted as a result of the Black Power movement of the 1960s into the 1970s.
Mosaic Theatre: Twisted Melodies - post production panelist
Mosaic Theatre: Post show panelist for the production Twisted Melodies: HBCUs: A Home for Black Artists. focused on Howard University, and other HBCUs, as a nurturing ground for black artists.
Beyond Respectability Politics - the Evolution of Black Theatre at Howard University
Presenter at 2017 32nd Annual Black Theatre Network conference: Liberation Theatre When Black Theatre Works, Memphis TNIn 2015 The Dramatist Guild released a report stating that only 3.4% of the produced plays in the US were by women of color and 6% were by men of color, which sheds light on the necessity of HBCU’s to lead the charge of black people being exposed to stories on stage that reflect the black experience. This presentation will shed light on the importance of the Howard Players and the trajectory that led to their definitive role in the advancement of the black experience on stage. Attention will also be given to the organization’s early years, when there was an adherence to “respectability politics" and a resulting smattering of plays written by black playwrights, and the shift in the late ’60’s, which resulted in the Department producing more plays by black playwrights.
Blackademics TV Scholar Media Coach
Professor Denise J. Hart serves as a Scholar Media Coach for Blackademics TV, where top Black Studies and other scholars, artists and activists share projects and research focused on education, performance and empowerment.2019 - Professor Hart presenting on "Beyond Respectability Politics" at University of Texas Blackademics TV. https://www.pbs.org/video/starr-morris-hart-yyilyj/2019 - Professor Hart presenting on "Beyond Respectability Politics" at University of Texas Blackademics TV. Scholars coached by Professor Hart include: Dr. Paula Gerstenblatt, Dr. Robert Adams, Dr. Victor B. Sáenz, Dr. Venus E. Evans-Winters, Chef Kabui, Dr. Kevin Foster https://www.pbs.org/video/gerstenblattconwayshoberman-2jbsvx/2017 - Professor Hart served as Scholar Media Coach for the presenters at University of Texas Blackademics TV. Scholars coached by Professor Hart include: Dr. Sharrell Luckett, Yewande K. Austin, Rolf Straubhaar and Tequia Hicks Delgadohttp://www.pbs.org/video/tinsley-mann-austin-cvr7i8/http://www.pbs.org/… 2016 - Professor Hart served as Scholar Media Coach for the presenters at University of Texas Blackademics TV. Her episode was nominated for a Lone Star Emmy. http://www.pbs.org/video/blackademics-tv-ulmer-wests-smiths/2015 - Professor Hart presenting on "Not just Black Excellence" at University of Texas Blackademics TV http://www.pbs.org/video/blackademics-tv-foster-hart/
Genealogical Roots within Flyin' West by Pearl Cleage
2019 Dramaturgy Production Symposium facilitator and presenter for Flyin' West by Pearl Cleage to support production in the Department of Theatre Arts.