Lisa B. Thompson

Lisa B. Thompson (Ph.D.) is a playwright, scholar and the Patton Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. She is also affiliate faculty in English, Theatre and Dance and Women and Gender Studies. Her scholarship focuses on Black feminist theory, theatre, film, Black popular culture and literature. Thompson’s books include Beyond The Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class (2009); Single Black Female (2012) and her new play collection, Underground, Monroe, and The Mamalogues: Three Plays (2020). Her plays include Single Black Female (LA Weekly Theatre Award for Best Comedy nominee); Monroe (winner of the Austin Playhouse Festival of New Texas Plays); The Mamalogues (winner of the Broadway World Regional Awards Best Writing of an Original Work);  Underground (winner of the Austin Critics Circle David Mark Cohen New Play Award) and Dinner (Ashland New Play Festival Semi-finalist). She’s also co-host and co-producer of the NPR podcast Black Austin Matters.

Her work has received support from several institutions including the American Council of Learned Societies; the W. E. B. DuBois Research Institute at Harvard University; the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research; Stanford's Center for the Study of Race & Ethnicity; Hedgebrook; the Millay Colony for the Arts and MacDowell.

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