Patricia J. Gibson
Patricia J. Gibson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1952 |
| Died | October 20, 2002 (aged 83) |
| Other names | P.J. Gibson |
| Alma mater | Keuka College, Brandeis University |
| Occupation(s) | Playwright, teacher, and lecturer |
| Awards | National Endowment of the Arts playwriting grant |
Patricia Joann Gibson (1952-2022), also known as P.J. Gibson, was an African American playwright and teacher.
Biography
[edit]Patricia Joann Gibson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1952.[1] She grew up in Trenton, New Jersey.[2] She started writing at the age of 9.[3]
She earned a BA in drama, religion, and English from Keuka College. She earned a MFA from Brandeis University in 1975, where she received a Schubert Fellowship.[2]
Gibson studied under J.P. Miller. Other mentors included Don Peterson and Israel Horovitz.[2] Lorraine Hansberry was a major influence on Gibson's work. Gibson saw To Be Young Gifted and Black in 1969, and started writing plays.[2]
Works
[edit]She has written 35 full-length plays[3] and television scripts for Oprah Winfrey and Bill Cosby.[4]
Her play Miss Ann Don't Cry No More (1980) earned a National Endowment of the Arts grant. The play was performed as a reading at the Frank Silvera Writer's Workshop, and eventually fully produced at the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center.[2]
Her play Long Time Since Yesterday earned multiple AUDELCO awards in 1985, including Best Play.[3] It has had over 60 productions since its premiere.[4]
Gibson was playwright-in-residence at Rutgers University, the University of California at Berkeley, and a lengthy stay at the College of New Rochelle[1] Gibson was an Artistic Director of the Rites and Reason Theatre at Brown University.[5]
Gibson taught as an assistant professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice City University of New York.[2] She started on April 19, 1988 in the Seek Department, and in 1990 moved to the English department.[5]
She was part of the Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre playwriting faculty.[6]
Death
[edit]Gibson died on May 6, 2022.[5]
John Jay College established a P.J. Gibson Memorial Scholarship for Creative Writers in her name.[4]
Published works
[edit]Plays
[edit]- Shameful in Your Eyes (1971)
- The Black Woman (1971, as a one-act play; 1972, as a three-act play)
- companion one-act plays Void Passage and Konvergence (1973)
- The Ninth Story Window (1974)
- Spida Bug (1975)
- The Zappers and the Shopping Bag Lady (1979)
- The Androgyny (1979)
- Ain't Love Grand? (1980)
- Miss Ann Don't Cry No More (1980)
- Brown Silk and Magenta Sunsets (1981)
- My Mark, My Name (1981)
- Angel (1981)
- The Unveiling of Abigail (1982)
- Clean Sheets Can't Soil (1983)
- Long Time Since Yesterday (1985/1992)
- Deep Roots (1998)
- trilogy Private Hells, Sketches in Reality (1981), which included You Must Die Before My Eyes as I Have Before Yours, “But I Feed the Pigeons” / “Well, I Watch the Sun,” and Can You Tell Me Who They Is?
Book Anthology
[edit]- Destiny's Daughters: 9 Voices of P.J. Gibson[7]
Unproduced works
[edit]- Strippa
- Swing/Slide
- Majorna and the Man Thief
- A Man
- Masculine and Glass Fist
- Marie
- In Search of Me (also titled Trial)
Recognition
[edit]- AUDELCO awards, Audience Development Committee
- Shubert Fellowship
- National Endowment of the Arts playwriting grant
- PSC-CUNY research award grant
- Artist in Residence at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor[1]
- Schubert fellowship with which she earned her M.F.A. at Brandeis University
- Bushfire Theatre of Performing Arts Seventh Annual "Walk of Fame"
- proclamation from the city of Trenton, New Jersey and Key to the City from Indianapolis, Indiana[8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Encyclopedia of African-American Writing. Grey House Publishing. 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Oxford Reference.
- ^ a b c Cristi, A.A. "New Federal Theatre In Association With ASP Presents A Staged-Reading Of P.J. Gibson's LONG TIME SINCE YESTERDAY". Broadway World.
- ^ a b c "P.J. Gibson Memorial Scholarship for Creative Writers". John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
- ^ a b c "Passing of Professor Patricia (PJ) Gibson – Department of English" (PDF).
- ^ "P. J. Gibson". Patricia J. Gibson. New Federal Theatre.
- ^ "Destiny's daughters : 9 voices of P.J. Gibson". Worldcat.
- ^ "PJ Gibson's "Diana Sands Project" Reading 5/20 (Harlem)". African American Playwrights Exchange. 14 May 2009.