In the season 2 premiere of PBS Digital Studios’ First Person, host Tonilyn Sideco talks with playwright Donja Love about his experience of surviving depression and suicide ideation, expanding notions of Black masculinity, and what he refers to as the radical power of “softness”.
About Donja Love: Donja is a Philadelphia born and raised Afro-Queer playwright, poet, and filmmaker. His work examines identity by unapologetically dramatizing the multifaceted nuance of Blackness and Queerness - and challenges the white supremacist, heteronormative structures that exist in American culture.
He's The Lark's 2016 Van Lier Playwriting Fellow. He's also the 2011 Philadelphia Adult Grand Slam Poetry Champion. His work has been featured in multiple festivals, The Advocate, Glaad, NBC, and many other publications.
He's the co-host of Broadway Black's podcast Off-Book; the co-founder of Ademide Theatre Ensemble; and The Each-Other Project, an organization that helps build community and provide visibility, through art and advocacy, for GBTQ People of Color, (www.TheEachOtherProject.com). Selected stage-plays include: The Dead N--- Poem (New Dramatists Resident Playwright Semi-finalist), and Sugar In Our Wounds. Selected film work: Modern Day Black Gay (web series), I Hate New York (web series), and The Space Between (short film).
Comments