At the Renaissance Theatre, our aimed is to showcase the varied and multifaceted lives of the black experience, especially black female experience, we are unique. We do this by capturing our individual stories, writing plays about our struggles, triumphs and culcuturage heritage. We are breaking away from one-dimensional sterotypical depictions of black women often seen in mainstream media, instead offering nuanced and realistic protrayals, highlighting the beauty and the strength in our experiences. We want to provide a platform for black women artists in our city, and the midsouth fostering a sense of enpowerment and increase visibility in performance and in theatre. The original works that I create hopefully will resonate with both black women and with a wider audience, promoting a better understanding, a greater appreciation and empathy of our struggles from a black female perspective. We are not all the same.

~ Mary Ann Washington