About the Artist

Letitia Guillory is a multi-disciplinary mixed-media performance artist, playwright and arts 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, and Crossing the Holy Waters ( www.shallwegather.us ). 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 2002 to be part of their festival, making Letitia the first performance artist ever invited to develop solo work in their 38 year history. In addition, Ms. Guillory has created site-specific performance in bars and mental health facilities throughout New York City and Houston , Texas .

Always writing, Letitia is moved to create art that reflects the spiritual and Always writing, Letitia is moved to create art that reflects the spiritual emotional reality of people. Realizing this, the National Black Theatre and Bread & Roses commissioned her to write a play based on slave narratives.  Free at Last? toured NYC hospitals and was part of the Harlem Renaissance II Festival at the Apollo Theatre. Based on her experiences with children in the shelter system, Shelter: A Photograph of Hope was created to address poverty's effect on children. This play was part of Community Works' Theater Connections program at Aaron Davis Hall, in which hundreds of children saw the work and had dialogue with Letitia afterwards. Her tribute to African American survivors of the Viet Nam war, Dust of Life , premiered at Rutgers University . This work afforded a healthy discourse among Vets in the audience, many of whom never saw their stories told onstage before. Letitia's writing credits also include Dancing in Her Head: The Life of Katherine Dunham , Crawfish Tales , The Further Adventures of Gussie Mae in America , MAE , Near Death Experience  and the screenplays: Baby Love and Dirt.  


She 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, AFTRA, the Dramatists Guild and DC 37. Letitia holds a MA in Performance Studies from New York University .