Recent News & Announcements

StoryTell (HER) Summit 2023: Her Voice, Her Narrative & Her Vision is an inaugural collaborative event which will provide a two-day perspective of excitement in celebration of “Diversity, Equality, and Inclusivity in honor of all things “HER” hosted by Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University. This event was created with hopes

StoryTell (HER) Summit 2023: Her Voice, Her Narrative & Her Vision is an inaugural collaborative event which will provide a two-day perspective of excitement in celebration of “Diversity, Equality, and Inclusivity in honor of all things “HER” hosted by Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University. This event was created with hopes of having attendees conclude the conference feeling motivated and inspired to use their voices in implementing positive “change” on their college campuses and communities.

Mar. 16 & 17, CO-FOUNDER/FEATURED PANELIST

‘StoryTell(HER) Summit 2023: Her Voice, Her Narrative & Her Vision’, hosted by ODU and NSU.

Mar. 23-26, PRESENTER

My narrative-based performance piece ‘Embodying Redemption Through Theatre: Performing Being B.A.D.’ has been accepted into 54th NeMLA Northeast Modern Language Association conference in

Mar. 16 & 17, CO-FOUNDER/FEATURED PANELIST

‘StoryTell(HER) Summit 2023: Her Voice, Her Narrative & Her Vision’, hosted by ODU and NSU.

Mar. 23-26, PRESENTER

My narrative-based performance piece ‘Embodying Redemption Through Theatre: Performing Being B.A.D.’ has been accepted into 54th NeMLA Northeast Modern Language Association conference in Niagara Falls, NY.

Mar. 28-29, PRESENTER

Research and Creative Activity 2023 International Hybrid Symposium hosted by Alabama State University presenting two papers: BLAND & PEDIGREE. 

What a prolific and inspirational night hosted by Suffolk Public Library’s BHM event ‘Representation in Media’. 

Moderated by the insightful Diamond Chavis-Waller, I was featured panelist along with poet Tonya Swindell (Teacher with a Pen)  as we engaged with our in-person/ZOOM audience in dialogues as Black/brown representation in media a

What a prolific and inspirational night hosted by Suffolk Public Library’s BHM event ‘Representation in Media’. 

Moderated by the insightful Diamond Chavis-Waller, I was featured panelist along with poet Tonya Swindell (Teacher with a Pen)  as we engaged with our in-person/ZOOM audience in dialogues as Black/brown representation in media and how our respective fields of performance and poetry are leading the charge for change. 

In collaboration with the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts at ODU, the Barry Art Museum will host “Coffee & Contemporary Art” on Feb. 16 in the museum’s lobby for Black History Month 2023.

I'll be performing a staged reading of my one-woman play, “The Intersection: The Sandra Bland Project" explores issues related to individua

In collaboration with the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts at ODU, the Barry Art Museum will host “Coffee & Contemporary Art” on Feb. 16 in the museum’s lobby for Black History Month 2023.

I'll be performing a staged reading of my one-woman play, “The Intersection: The Sandra Bland Project" explores issues related to individualism, freedom, and resistance through the Boalian technique of "Cop in Head" and the performance of resilience. 

'Pedigree' is an official selection for the 11th International Social Change Film Festival (a.k.a ChangeFest) and received a nomination for Best Woman Director!
 

ChangeFest, a national nonprofit committed to liberation and amplifying community voices through storytelling, organizing, and direct action, celebrates of our common humanity th

'Pedigree' is an official selection for the 11th International Social Change Film Festival (a.k.a ChangeFest) and received a nomination for Best Woman Director!
 

ChangeFest, a national nonprofit committed to liberation and amplifying community voices through storytelling, organizing, and direct action, celebrates of our common humanity through film, music, art & fashion.

The festival/screening is Oct. 23 in Atlanta, GA and after the screenings will be a featured talkback with the artists/directors of this year’s selection.

Oct. 5-7, 12-16 DIRECTOR, NEW DEVISED WORK,

 Tag! You're It!

Oct. 18 FEATURED PANELIST

Antiracism in the Arts Symposium, Old Dominion University 

Oct. 19 FEATURED PANELIST 

'Making Money Doing What You Love' panel, Zeiders American Dream Theater

Oct. 20 FEATURED ARTIST 

Screening of short film 'Pedigree', '7th Annual NEON Festival

Oct. 22-23 FILM

Oct. 5-7, 12-16 DIRECTOR, NEW DEVISED WORK,

 Tag! You're It!

Oct. 18 FEATURED PANELIST

Antiracism in the Arts Symposium, Old Dominion University 

Oct. 19 FEATURED PANELIST 

'Making Money Doing What You Love' panel, Zeiders American Dream Theater

Oct. 20 FEATURED ARTIST 

Screening of short film 'Pedigree', '7th Annual NEON Festival

Oct. 22-23 FILM FESTIVAL SCREENING 

Official Selection in 11th International Social Change Film Festival (a.k.a ChangeFest’) for Pedigree in Atlanta, GA. Talkback panel to follow screening. 

**Available online for streaming Sept. 12- Nov. 12 2022

For Fall 2022, I’ve been commissioned to direct/create/devise ‘Tag! You’re It!’ is an interactive, ensemble-based devised theatre piece utilizing the Boalian technique of Image Theatre. In a 4-week rehearsal process, our ensemble cast will create and devise original text/literature (poetry/rap, choreography, etc.) that explores issues of 

For Fall 2022, I’ve been commissioned to direct/create/devise ‘Tag! You’re It!’ is an interactive, ensemble-based devised theatre piece utilizing the Boalian technique of Image Theatre. In a 4-week rehearsal process, our ensemble cast will create and devise original text/literature (poetry/rap, choreography, etc.) that explores issues of individualism, unmasking/unveiling of freedom, creative self-expression through performance, exploration, resistance, and protest.

The collective ensemble will culminate in creating a living “mural” that will live on in the minds of audience members long afterward.

Read full production details here

Served as the  'Performing Arts' advocate for the YWCA's 2022 Stand Against Racism (SAR) Challenge.  Annually in April, YWCA South Hampton Roads and YWs across the nation raise awareness about the negative impact of institutional and structural racism in our communities and seek to build community among those who work for racial justice. 

Served as the  'Performing Arts' advocate for the YWCA's 2022 Stand Against Racism (SAR) Challenge.  Annually in April, YWCA South Hampton Roads and YWs across the nation raise awareness about the negative impact of institutional and structural racism in our communities and seek to build community among those who work for racial justice.   

This year’s theme is We Can’t Wait: Equity and Justice Now!  Check out the interview and article here.

Premiering in May 2022, I'm serving as the Asst. Director and Research Contributor on this newly devised theater project, The In[HEIR]itance Project: Exodus Coastal Virginia.

Project Overview: an examination of the history and lived experiences of the people of Hampton Roads in relationship to the themes and narrative of the book of Exodus

Premiering in May 2022, I'm serving as the Asst. Director and Research Contributor on this newly devised theater project, The In[HEIR]itance Project: Exodus Coastal Virginia.

Project Overview: an examination of the history and lived experiences of the people of Hampton Roads in relationship to the themes and narrative of the book of Exodus. A final play will premiere at the Virginia Arts Festival in May 2022 at the Attucks Theater.

Community partners include (not limited to) Virginia Arts Festival, The Attucks Theater, Zeiders American Dream Theater, Teens with a Purpose, and WHRO.

Project website: www.inheiritance.org

I was recognized by KCACTF Region IV Achievement in Directing for Intimate Apparel, November 2021. The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) is a national theater program involving 18,000 students annually from colleges and universities across the country. 

  
Through extensive adjudication process, Intimate Apparel was

I was recognized by KCACTF Region IV Achievement in Directing for Intimate Apparel, November 2021. The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) is a national theater program involving 18,000 students annually from colleges and universities across the country. 

  
Through extensive adjudication process, Intimate Apparel was not only recognized for its achievements in directing, but also in acting, costuming, and set design.  

With its many acknowledgments, the primary focuses of KCACTF aims to encourage, recognize, and celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theater programs and encourage colleges and universities to give distinguished productions of new plays, especially those written by students; the classics, revitalized or newly conceived; and experimental works. 

Read full production details here

Short performance piece ‘Pedigree’ is making its national interdisciplinary conference debut this Spring 2022.

This show explores the lengths to which one declares to take back their power after years of mental and emotional torment at the hands of societal tormentors from her past to the present. In the wake of the political backdrop of t

Short performance piece ‘Pedigree’ is making its national interdisciplinary conference debut this Spring 2022.

This show explores the lengths to which one declares to take back their power after years of mental and emotional torment at the hands of societal tormentors from her past to the present. In the wake of the political backdrop of the Black Lives Matter Movement, this applied theatre work is relevant to our Black community in providing insight to a cathartic resolution and engaging in civil dialogue beyond the headlines and #hashtags.

Each conference appearance was accompanied by a moderated talkback on my artistic process and “personifying resistance through narrative”.

Highlighted

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference African, African American & Diaspora Studies (AAAD)

Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) 

Global Conference on Women and Gender (GCWG)

Midwestern Conference on Literature, Language & Media (MCLLM)

Pedigree is an official selection in the 2022 James River Short Film Festival hosted by the James River Film Society and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Now in its 27th year, JRFS is an annual juried competition festival devoted to the short. The centerpiece is an international juried competition for short films (20 minutes or less) from aro

Pedigree is an official selection in the 2022 James River Short Film Festival hosted by the James River Film Society and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Now in its 27th year, JRFS is an annual juried competition festival devoted to the short. The centerpiece is an international juried competition for short films (20 minutes or less) from around the globe that best embody what the James River Film Society and James River Film Festival are all about – the art of film and film as art.

Pedigree will be live-streamed starting January 28th through Jan. 30th via jamesriverfilm.org.

For the Fall 2021 mainstage season for ODURep, I directed Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage.

From my director statement/vision:

"our redefining of Nottage’s breathtaking text aims to comb out the desires within and expose them at their seams. I’ve come to describe our production as a patchwork quilt of woven narratives stitched together over

For the Fall 2021 mainstage season for ODURep, I directed Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage.

From my director statement/vision:

"our redefining of Nottage’s breathtaking text aims to comb out the desires within and expose them at their seams. I’ve come to describe our production as a patchwork quilt of woven narratives stitched together over time through the themes of gender, race and class, and religion. We seek to open a space within which to examine, through a different lens, the silhouettes of the “history of the present” and its complicated tensions wrought of contradictory desires....

 For the past 6 weeks, the entire cast and production team have diligently rehearsed, revised, and rehearsed again still within the confines of a pandemic wrought world."

Read full my director statement

My piece Pedigree has been selected as one of the top 4 finalist in the nationally acclaimed 2021 The Breath Project Festival (TBP).

Through art, action and advocacy, The Breath Project seeks to build a more equitable theater community in this country, and actively dismantle structural racism in the American Theater. In partnership with th

My piece Pedigree has been selected as one of the top 4 finalist in the nationally acclaimed 2021 The Breath Project Festival (TBP).

Through art, action and advocacy, The Breath Project seeks to build a more equitable theater community in this country, and actively dismantle structural racism in the American Theater. In partnership with theater companies across the country, the free festival featured 24 world premiere works created by multidisciplinary theater artists of color, all 8 minutes and 46 seconds in length.

The theme is "8:46", and all submissions must be a recording of a live performance of original work that has been created in the past year, and must be 8 minutes and 46 seconds in length, in remembrance of George Floyd and his untimely, unjustified death.

Pedigree premieres December 4th, 2021 with a talk-back with the artists at

5pm PS | 6pm MT | 7pm CT | 8pm ET

Shifting from virtual conferences and festivals back to live theater, my one-woman show 'Being B.A.D.' toured locally and nationally for Fall 2021.
 

Embodying creative resistance against oppressive gender stereotypes and domestic violence, 'Being B.A.D.' is a piece about personal acceptance and redemption from the cycle of abuse. Each con

Shifting from virtual conferences and festivals back to live theater, my one-woman show 'Being B.A.D.' toured locally and nationally for Fall 2021.
 

Embodying creative resistance against oppressive gender stereotypes and domestic violence, 'Being B.A.D.' is a piece about personal acceptance and redemption from the cycle of abuse. Each conference appearance was accompanied by a moderator talkback on my artistic process and the “performance of redemption”.

Highlighted

Keybank Rochester Fringe Festival

Intl' Gender & Sexuality Studies Conf (IGSS) 

Org for the Study of Comm, Lang & Gender (OSCLG)

NEON Festival

Drafted and filmed between Summer 2020-2021, Pedigree features a first-time protester sharing her emotional experience with being arrested and disrespected. This solo performance piece is about personal acceptance and recovery from the inexplicit influences of racial hatred and violence. 

To complement each showing, there will be a subsequ

Drafted and filmed between Summer 2020-2021, Pedigree features a first-time protester sharing her emotional experience with being arrested and disrespected. This solo performance piece is about personal acceptance and recovery from the inexplicit influences of racial hatred and violence. 

To complement each showing, there will be a subsequent talkback reflection with the audience addressing issues of racial and personal disparities of protesting and the permission to challenge the status quo. 

Pedigree will debut at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), featured in the BTA Panel: Personifying Resistance: Devising Theatre for Social Justice with Adanma Barton, moderated by Omiyemi Artisia Green

Being BAD has been invited to the 2021 BorderLight Festival International Theatre + Virtual Fringe. 

Streaming July 22—31, 2021.

As one of 100s of “fringe” festivals worldwide, the BorderLight Festival Fringe serves as a platform for independent artists and companies to showcase their work and engage new audiences as part of a vibrant festi

Being BAD has been invited to the 2021 BorderLight Festival International Theatre + Virtual Fringe. 

Streaming July 22—31, 2021.

As one of 100s of “fringe” festivals worldwide, the BorderLight Festival Fringe serves as a platform for independent artists and companies to showcase their work and engage new audiences as part of a vibrant festival environment. 

The 2021 BorderLight VIRTUAL Fringe Festival program will showcase the work of more than 100 artists from 4 countries including Canada, India, Ireland, Italy, as well 13 states across the US, including Ohio.

https://www.borderlightcle.org/being-b-a-d/

My short play 'How to Tie a Tie' will be featured on Red Clay Plays Podcast w/ Monet Noelle Marshall. Featuring audio dramas and interviews with brilliant artists, Red Clay Plays champions Southern Black playwrights and the worlds they create with their words. 

Produced by MOJOAA Performing Arts Company, based in Raleigh, NC.

The reading wa

My short play 'How to Tie a Tie' will be featured on Red Clay Plays Podcast w/ Monet Noelle Marshall. Featuring audio dramas and interviews with brilliant artists, Red Clay Plays champions Southern Black playwrights and the worlds they create with their words. 

Produced by MOJOAA Performing Arts Company, based in Raleigh, NC.

The reading was accompanied by a playwright interview with me! Take a listen!

Directed by Brittney S. Harris and produced by the Zeiders American Dream Theater....

“Hidden History: The Banjo” will premieres Juneteenth (June 19)  as a salute to freedom through expression and creativity. Featuring an array of music, dance, and spoken word poetry from talented local artists and following the performance, WHRO’s Lisa Go

Directed by Brittney S. Harris and produced by the Zeiders American Dream Theater....

“Hidden History: The Banjo” will premieres Juneteenth (June 19)  as a salute to freedom through expression and creativity. Featuring an array of music, dance, and spoken word poetry from talented local artists and following the performance, WHRO’s Lisa Godley will lead a community discussion about African and African American Culture, the importance of reconnecting music to cultural origins, and more.

The performance will begin at 2:30 p.m. on June 19 at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts Miller Studio Theatre 

THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

From conferences to fringe festivals, my one-woman show 'Being B.A.D.' will be featured/toured in Spring & Summer 2021. Each show is accompanied by a talkback reflection with the audience addressing issues of gender disparity and awareness of intimate partner violence (IPV).

 Embodying creative resistance against oppressive gender stereoty

From conferences to fringe festivals, my one-woman show 'Being B.A.D.' will be featured/toured in Spring & Summer 2021. Each show is accompanied by a talkback reflection with the audience addressing issues of gender disparity and awareness of intimate partner violence (IPV).

 Embodying creative resistance against oppressive gender stereotypes and domestic violence, 'Being B.A.D.' is a piece about personal acceptance and redemption from the cycle of abuse.

Highlighted

Asheville Fringe Festival

AAAD Conference @ JMU

GCWG Conference@ CNU

2021 ODU Women's History Month Series

Recipient of the ATME Innovation Fellowship for solo piece ‘Being B.A.D.’ and the Performance of Redemption. 

ATME grants awards to support innovation in one of three categories: New Work, Teaching, and Writing. The Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME) is shaping the future of kinesthetic and aesthetic education and the premi

Recipient of the ATME Innovation Fellowship for solo piece ‘Being B.A.D.’ and the Performance of Redemption. 

ATME grants awards to support innovation in one of three categories: New Work, Teaching, and Writing. The Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME) is shaping the future of kinesthetic and aesthetic education and the premiere organization of and for theatre practitioners who specialize in physical training.

Interviewed by Cullen Strawn of Tidewater Family Plus Magazine, this article features my affinity for Devised and Activist theatre-- read more about my approach to how theatre can be a platform for social change.

CS: What drew you to theatre?
BH: Desire. The desire to use the stage to amplify narratives that had not been seen in the forefr

Interviewed by Cullen Strawn of Tidewater Family Plus Magazine, this article features my affinity for Devised and Activist theatre-- read more about my approach to how theatre can be a platform for social change.

CS: What drew you to theatre?
BH: Desire. The desire to use the stage to amplify narratives that had not been seen in the forefront. As a creative, it is my duty to provide a sacred forum/space for artist to create, explore, discover, and breathe life into their narratives... 

FULL INTERVIEW HERE

Again this summer, as a ‘Featured Speaker’ for the Women’s Theatre Fringe Festival of NC, I'm leading a two-parter workshop series on solo performance development ‘Flyin Solo: Your Story and Solo Performance Exploration’.

• Part 1 of Flyin' Solo (July 16 @7p ET) will focus on developing material for your one-person show
• Part 2 (July 23 @7p ET

Again this summer, as a ‘Featured Speaker’ for the Women’s Theatre Fringe Festival of NC, I'm leading a two-parter workshop series on solo performance development ‘Flyin Solo: Your Story and Solo Performance Exploration’.

• Part 1 of Flyin' Solo (July 16 @7p ET) will focus on developing material for your one-person show
• Part 2 (July 23 @7p ET) will focus on the development of production & performance. 

Participants are strongly encouraged to register for both parts. 

University of Georgia Alumna Brittney S. Harris Receives 2020 Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award.

The Robert C. Anderson Award is given to recent Ph.D.s or terminal degree recipients for outstanding research at the university or immediately after graduating. It is named for the late Robert C. Anderson, who served as UGA’s vice president for

University of Georgia Alumna Brittney S. Harris Receives 2020 Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award.

The Robert C. Anderson Award is given to recent Ph.D.s or terminal degree recipients for outstanding research at the university or immediately after graduating. It is named for the late Robert C. Anderson, who served as UGA’s vice president for research and president of the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.

More about the award