Getting To Know Brittney

Brittney S. Harris, M.F.A., a native of Norfolk, VA, is an Assistant Professor of Theatre in the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts at Old Dominion University. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Theatre Performance with a minor in Communications from Old Dominion University. 

Brittney's creative scholarship efforts are supported and documented by the practices of PaR (Performance as Research). Her areas of expertise are in Race and Performance, Performance as Activism, Solo Performance Development,  and Community-Engaged Devised Theatre. Brittney's research surveys the adverse effects of vicarious trauma from social media on the personal psyche and how narrative-based storytelling is used as a vessel for social resilience and redemption. Specific topics explored, but not limited to, are Racial Injustice, Mental Health Awareness, Gender Equality, and Domestic Violence Awareness. She believes theatre and the performing arts teach society about themselves and point out the attitudes and mindsets of current society. It can be a tool used to educate people about their current conditions.

Throughout the US Southeast region, Brittney has created numerous community engagement-based projects and conducted workshops on Performance as Activism, Narrative-based Storytelling, and Devised Theatre for the past decade. Her research has been featured at several national interdisciplinary conferences and fringe festivals, including the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference (ATHE), American Society of Theatre Research (ASTR), BorderLight Festival International Theatre Fringe, National Women’s Theatre Festival, and Black Theatre Network. Brittney has created work and performed professionally at Virginia Stage Company, Chrysler Museum of Art, Attucks Theater, and Hampton University.

Most recent featured directed performances/programming include Silhouettes: Cut to Black, The Kara Walker Project (ROUGE Productions and Virginia MOCA); Exodus: Homecoming VA (The InHEIRitance Project); The Hidden History of the Banjo (Zeiders American Dream Theater);  Intimate Apparel ODURep Theatre) and created/devised TAG! You're It!, Symptomatic: IRL and Echoes: Transcending Through Story for the ODURep Theatre Mainstage season. Currently, she is workshopping and touring her three solo performance projects, Pedigree, The Intersection: The Sandra Bland Project and Being B.A.D.; each project assessing: can embodied storytelling be used as a tool for evolving how narratives of resilience are archived, shared, remembered, and incite a dialogue in promoting social reform and change?  These projects are called Drama to Drama: From the Headlines to the Stage.  

Beyond her extensive educational and performance credentials, she possesses over ten years' experience in cultural enrichment, youth development/involvement, and grant writing.

Membership affiliations: ATHE (Association for Theatre in Higher Education), ATME (Association for Theatre Movement Educators), BTN (Black Theatre Network), WOCA (Women of Color in the Arts), Alpha Psi Omega (Theatre Fraternity), AEA EMC (Equity Member Candidate).