Meet the 2016-17 Many Voices Fellows and Mentees

The Playwrights’ Center and the Jerome Foundation are thrilled to announce the 2016-17 Many Voices Fellows Benjamin Benne and Marisa Carr, and Many Voices Mentees Drewcella Mae Davis and ShaVunda Brown.

The Many Voices Fellowship for early-career writers of color comes with a $10,000 award, $2,500 in living expenses and $1,500 in development funds. One fellow each year must be Minnesota-based, and both writers spend a year-long residency in Minnesota. Previous recipients include Sharif Abu-Hamdeh, Cristina Castro, Janaki Ranpura, Harrison David Rivers, James Anthony Tyler, and Josh Wilder. The Playwrights’ Center’s 2016-17 Many Voices Fellows are:

• Benjamin Benne, a Seattle-based playwright whose work includes at the very bottom of a body of water, What \ Washed Ashore / Astray, and Terra Incognita, which will receive its world premiere at Annex Theatre in the summer of 2016
• Marisa Carr, a Minneapolis-based playwright, actor, and singer/composer who was a 2015 Naked Stages fellow at Pillsbury House + Theatre. Carr is a core artist at New Native Theatre, where she composed the original score for 2012: The Musical!

Many Voices Mentorships award Minnesota-based beginning playwrights of color with individually-curated writing and play development services and a $1,000 stipend. The Playwrights’ Center’s 2016-17 Many Voices Mentees are:

• Drewcella Mae Davis, also known as Oya, who is currently a junior at Augsburg College majoring in sociology with a focus on playwriting
• ShaVunda Brown, the recipient of a 2015 Verve Grant for Spoken Word, 2015 Finalist of the Beyond the Pure Writers’ Fellowship, and Poetry Slam Winner of The Farrago Fresher Slam at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London

(See also: 2016-17 Jerome Fellows announcement)

BENJAMIN BENNE

Benjamin Benne is a Seattle-based playwright who was born and raised in Los Angeles County. He was a participant in New York Theatre Intensives 2011 summer conservatory (in association with Ensemble Studio Theatre) and the 2013 NoPassport Playwriting Intensive with OBIE Award-winning playwright Caridad Svich. His play at the very bottom of a body of water (2016 O'Neill Playwrights Conference semi-finalist; 2016 Bay Area Playwrights Festival finalist) is currently receiving development support by Umbrella Project, a Seattle-based new play advocacy group. Terra Incognita (2014 O'Neill Playwrights Conference semi-finalist) will receive its world premiere this summer at Annex Theatre. www.benjaminbenne.com

MARISA CARR

Playwright, actor, and singer/composer Marisa Carr was born and raised in Milwaukee but now lives in Minneapolis. In 2014 Lavender Magazine named her “Best New Political Playwright” for her play Reconciliation, which it described as “stunningly intelligent.” In 2015 she was a Naked Stages fellow at Pillsbury House + Theatre, where she wrote and performed her solo play Static. She is a member of the Unit Collective and a core artist at New Native Theatre, where she composed the original score for 2012: The Musical! (book by Rhiana Yazzie). You can learn more about Marisa’s work at https://marisacarr.wordpress.com.

DREWCELLA MAE DAVIS

Drewcella Mae Davis, also known as Oya, is a born and raised playwright from Minneapolis, MN. She is currently a junior at Augsburg College majoring in sociology with a focus on playwriting. Her play Waiting for Superman was developed through a one on one independent study. The rhythms and cultures of North Minneapolis are infused in the worlds of her plays. Her work focuses on blackness and beauty in the context of America. Her plays aim to redefine blackness in terms of love, family, community, and the magic that comes along with not knowing where one truly came from. Her plays hope to give life to stories that haven’t been told. One day she will use her experience as a playwright and sociologist to rehabilitate black youth in prison and give a voice to the voiceless.

SHAVUNDA BROWN

ShaVunda Brown is a Minneapolis based, internationally award winning spoken word artist, actress, hip hop artist, and spirit guided writer. She uses her knowledge of African and African American spirituality, history, and myths and the southern folklore of her upbringing and blends it with a sharp social consciousness to shed light on raw truths and weave stories of new visions and liberation. ShaVunda is the recipient of a 2015 Verve Grant for Spoken Word, 2015 Finalist of the Beyond the Pure Writers’ Fellowship, Poetry Slam Winner of The Farrago Fresher Slam at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, one half of the duo that won the 2010 Whut it Do? Hip-Hop Competition and Peace-fest, and has placed second in the Voices Merging Poetry Slam twice.