Works by Caleen Sinnette Jennings:
QUEENS GIRL IN THE WORLD
QUEENS GIRL IN AFRICA
QUEENS GIRL: BLACK IN THE GREEN MOUNTAINS
WANDA’S WAY
Synopses:
Queens Girl in the World – Queens Girl in the World looks at one young woman’s journey of self-discovery at the onset of the Civil Rights-era. It chronicles the misadventures of bright-eyed, brown-skinned Jacqueline Marie Butler, whose sudden transfer from a protective, middle class upbringing in 1950s Queens to a progressive, predominantly Jewish private school in Greenwich Village. Funny, poignant, and filled with life — all punctuated with the irresistible sounds of Motown.
Queens Girl in Africa – Queens Girl in Africa picks back up with teenager Jacqueline Marie Butler as she and her family travel to Nigeria following the assassination of her father’s close friend, Malcolm X. Jacqueline must navigate both personal challenges (fitting in at a new school, applying to college, falling in love) and societal challenges (a civil war in Nigeria and growing racial tension back in the States).
Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains – As the Vietnam War rages and the Kent State killings ignite college campuses across the country, Jackie arrives in Vermont to begin college. Caught between wildly divergent sets of friends — wealthy “WASPS,” militant Black activists, and passionate theatre people—Jackie is forced to confront the space between white and Black culture to find her place in the world.
Wanda’s Way – Based on real interviews, Wanda’s Way explores the journey of a Black female police officer as she explains how and why she got into law enforcement. This intricately woven tale is one of corrupted dreams, seemingly impenetrable systems, and the extreme consequences of both acting and failing to act.
Bio:
Caleen Sinnette Jennings is professor of theater at American University in Washington, D.C. She teaches acting, voice and speech, acting Shakespeare, playwriting and academic courses in theater. Jennings was a 2007 finalist for the O’Neill Playwright’s Conference, and she is a two-time Helen Hayes nominee for Outstanding New Play. In 2002, she received the Heidman Award from Actor’s Theatre of Louisville for her play Classyass. In 1999 she received a $10,000 grant from the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays for her play Inns & Outs. Her play Playing Juliet/Casting Othello was produced at the Folger Elizabethan Theatre in 1998. In 2000, her children’s play Free Like Br’er Rabbit was produced for the Kennedy Center’s New Visions/New Voices festival. Her two short plays Pecos Bill and The People Could Fly are featured in Walking the Winds, which premiered at the Kennedy Center and toured nationally with Kennedy Center’s Programs for Children and Youth. Jennings received her bachelor’s degree in drama from Bennington College and her M.F.A. in acting from the N.Y.U. Tisch School of the Arts. She has been a faculty member of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Teaching Shakespeare Institute since 1994. She moderates panels, does workshops and presentations for cultural institutions such as the Smithsonian, Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Shakespeare Theatre. In 2003, she received American University’s 2003 Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award. That same year, she won the award for Outstanding Teaching of Playwriting from the Play Writing Forum of the Association of Theatre in Higher Education.