Peggy Pettitt - Playwright and Storyteller

Playwright and Storyteller

The centerpiece of Pettitt’s theater career is a unique style of solo performance rooted in African-American storytelling. She developed this form to portray a spectrum of characters. Related by blood and circumstance, these characters shed light on the multifaceted history of African American men and women. And they tell "stories addressing important issues of our time."

In collaboration with director, Remy Tissier, she has created over ten original full length plays. These examine issues of domestic violence, sexual abuse, cross-generational differences, voting registration, the Civil Rights Movement, identity and the world HIV/Aids crisis. Titles include Women Preachers, Caught Between the Devil and The Deep Blue Sea, Tricksters: All Over You Like White On Rice, Wrapped Up, Tied Up and Tangled, Mollie Oil BETWIXT, Wild Steps and In The Spirit For Real.

One play was the product of her 2000-01 Fulbright Fellowship to Senegal: The Spirit Factor. An original play, it’s based on the living history and the art of storytelling in West Africa. Yet another play, Voyage, was presented at the Avignon Off Festival in 2010. It explores American history through both the blues and a spiritual heritage that lives along the Mississippi River but originated in West Africa. In addition to the Fulbright Fellowship she has received numerous other grants and awards. These include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. “Pearls of Wisdom” is a storytelling ensemble of the Elders Share the Arts in N.Y. City. Ms Pettitt is its the founding artistic director, and with the Pearls of Widsom she was inducted in 2007 into City Lore's "People's Hall of Fame.”