Letitia R. Guillory

Letitia Guillory is a writer/performance artist/producer/theatre director/educator. Her vision of theatre as a "worship service for humanity" has led to the creation of The Further Adventures of Gussie Mae in America, MAE, THE (beginning of the End) and Crossing the Holy Waters. These multi-disciplinary, mixed-media pieces have received productions throughout the U. S. Her performance piece, MAE, was chosen by the Eugene O'Neill Playwright's Conference to be part of their festival, making Letitia the first performance artist ever invited there to develop & perform solo work. In addition, Letitia has created site-specific performance in bars and mental health facilities throughout New York City and Houston, Texas.  

​ Letitia’s writing credits also include the plays Dust of Life, SHELTER: A Photograph of Hope, Free at Last?, Dancing in Her Head: The Life of Katherine Dunham, Crawfish Tales, RED, 8:42 and the screenplays: Baby Love,  Hound Dog, Hotel California, Dirt, Grace, The Last Time, Lights Out and Shanghai ‘37.  Her work has been presented at the National Black Theater, PS 122, Billie Holiday Theater, Next Stage, Rutgers University, National Black Theatre Festival, New Perspectives Theater, Dixon Place, New York University, Cincinnati Black Theatre Company, BAX and Aaron Davis Hall/Harlem Stage, College of Charleston, Lincoln Center, among others.

​As an ethnographer, Letitia has worked on projects with HIV/AIDS survivors, children in NYC shelters, Prospect Park’s Drummer’s Grove, East NY Farms urban farmers and Louisiana Creole women. Some of this research has found its way into her theatre work. Presently, Letitia continues her research Louisiana Creole history and culture. Her current academic projects center on the performativity of enslaved women’s petitions for emancipation. 

In addition to the above, she produces events for NYC Parks and curates the award-winning Movies Under the Stars Programs for Brooklyn. Through this work she has fosters indie film screenings in partnerships with the American Black Film Festival, Hip Hop Film Festival, African America Women in Cinema, Black TV & Film Collective, Art of Brooklyn Film Festival and the Austin Film Festival, among others.

​Letitia has received grants from the Puffin Foundation, National Performance Network and Brooklyn Arts Exchange for her work. In addition, Ms. Guillory is the recipient of the ABC Entertainment Award for Creative Excellence and the J. Ndkaku Amankulor Memorial Award for Academic Excellence from NYU. She is a member of the Hemispheric Institute, WGA/Harlem Writers Workshop Diversity Screenwriters Lab, AFTRA, NY Women in Film & Television, Dramatists Guild, New York Women in Film & Television and DC 37.