Erika Dickerson-Despenza

Master of Science in Historic Preservation

Erika Dickerson-Despenza is a playwright, ecowomanist, and cultural memory worker. She is the creator and inaugural resident of The Ntozake Shange Social Justice Playwriting Residency at The Public Theater in partnership with Barnard College and the Shange Trust. Erika is also the independent steward of The Daughters Table, a 14-acre regenerative organic farm and herbiary in South Central Louisiana. Select Awards: Jane Chambers Playwriting Award (2024), PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award (2023), Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (2021), Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award (2020), Thom Thomas Award (2020), Lilly Award (2020), Barrie and Bernice Stavis Award (2020), Grist 50 Fixer (2020), Princess Grace Playwriting Award (2019). Productions: SHADOW/LAND (The Public Theater, 2023), CULLUD WATTAH (The Public Theater, 2021), [HIEROGLYPH] (San Francisco Playhouse/ Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 2021). Erika holds a Bachelor of Science in English Secondary Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"As a result of my time in Tulane's Master of Science in Historic Preservation program, I see myself serving as an Artist Estate (Archive) Planning consultant for Black women and femme literary artists and an independent Visual & Material Culture Historian specializing in 18th and 19th century Black built environments of the American South, with a vested interest in Louisiana, where my family has resided for eight generations."