Denise J. Hart, MFA
Full Professor
Playwright | Dramaturge | Director
Denise J. Hart, a Professor at Howard University, currently serves as the area coordinator of playwriting advising playwriting and TV/film students.
She has previously held academic positions at St. Mary's College as the 2019 Visiting Professor, where she taught in the Department of Theatre, Film and Media Studies. She's also taught at American University and Duke Ellington School of the Arts. and holds a certificate in Creativity Coaching from the Creativity Coaching Association with Dr. Eric Maisel. Her professional work includes TV Drama Limited Series Development Consultant and TV Drama Development Consultant at Amazon Studios.
Recipient of the 2021 Provost's Distinguished Service Award and the 2018 Outstanding Associate Professor, Denise holds an MFA in Playwriting from Sarah Lawrence College where she was awarded the Lipkin Prize for Playwriting. She is also the recipient of the 2014 Global Leadership Rising Star award and from 2018-2020 she was the president of the Division of Fine Arts Executive Committee and chair of the transition team for the reinstatement of the College of Fine Arts. She acquired her BFA in Acting from Howard University where she was the president (95/96) of the historic Howard Players drama organization.
Her training in TV scriptwriting was completed at Script Anatomy in Los Angeles CA; with comedy writing training at Second City Chicago and Upright Citizens Brigade NYC.
Her specialties include Playwriting, African American Theatre, TV Scriptwriting, Dramaturgy, Contemporary Trends in Theatre, Acting, Play Analysis, Directing and Aesthetics of Black Television Drama.
Academic Achievements
In 2021 she received the Provost's Distinguished Service Award and in 2018 was named Outstanding Associate Professor in the College of Fine Arts.
One of the highlights of Hart's career has been serving as a faculty-fellow for the partnership program between Howard University and Amazon Studios, Howard Entertainment. She served in this roll for the first 3 years of the program which has the goal of diversifying the entertainment industry.
In 2019, appointed as Visiting Professor at St. Mary's College and in 2022 she was selected as a cohort member for the Unexpected Stage Company's Artist Retreat for BIPOC Playwrights.
Research
Hart's scholarly research focuses on African American Theatre. As a playwright and dramaturge her work explores the intersections of race, class and identity, and the impact they have on cultural memory and family. Her scholarship is driven by a commitment to document and preserve under researched narratives in the history of Black Theatre, particularly black playwrights.
In 2018 she was selected to contribute her scholarly research in the Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance in the chapter, The Howard University Players: From Respectability Politics to Black Representation.
Playwright
A former commissioned playwright with Plowshares Theatre Company Plowshares Theatre Company, Hart is proud to support the legacy of one of the oldest continuous nationally recognized African American theatre company's recognized as Michigan’s only professional African American theatre company.
Coordinator of the Playwriting program at Howard University, Hart is the recipient of several international playwriting honors and awards: This Joy, (former finalist in the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights competition and the Lark Fellowship,) Nothing to Lose (finalist 2018 Bay Area Playwrights, former finalist in Black and Latino Playwrights Conference) Sistah Girl, Masquerade Parade, Ring the Bell, My Soul is a Witness (winner of ECTC playwriting competition), The Last Day, In the Realm of Shadows, Chasing Forever, Peace Declared, and A Real Black Comedy.
Midway through her 22 year career at Howard, Hart founded the Playwrights in Process Visiting Playwrights Series, helping to shape the careers of: Nikkole Salter (Torn Asunder, Repairing a Nation), Peter Harris (The Johnson Chronicles), A. Peter Baily (Malcom, Martin & Medgar), and in collaboration with The Lark Play Development Center, Kofi Kwahule’s Melancholy of Barbarians.
Dramaturge
As a dramaturge, Hart has been invited to share her scholarly expertise as a guest expert on Fox 5 TV & WJLA/ABC News in Washington DC and in DC as dramaturgy consultant with Ford's Theatre, Studio Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, The August Wilson Society, Arena Stage, Mosaic Theatre, Howard University and Hatiloo Theatre in Memphis TN.
Production dramaturge credits include: Jitney by August Wilson (recipient of the 2019 Memphis Ostrander Award for Best Production), Rhyme Deferred, Flyin' West, Milk Like Sugar, Sweet Charity, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Day of Absence (Kennedy Center ACT Festival Outstanding Acting Ensemble Award), Zooman and the Sign, Malcom. Martin & Medgar, Breath Boom and DC Queer Festivals' productions of Quick Stop at the Florist and Secret Mist of the Blue.
As a scholar dramaturge/presentation coach, for six years, Hart coached internationally recognized scholars, artists and activists for appearances on the Lone Star Emmy nominated Blackademics TV, which airs on PBS and reaches over 3 million households.
Season 4/episode 1 of Blackademics Television, when Hart served as the Dramaturge Writing/Presentation Coach, her episode was nominated for a Lone Star Emmy. You can watch the episode by clicking here.
Director
An accomplished director, her directing credits include: Zora, Stick Fly, Milk Like Sugar, Torn Asunder, Spunk, Zooman and the Sign, Day of Absence (finalist in the ‘08 ACTFestival and recipient of the Outstanding Acting Ensemble Award), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Quick Stop at the Florist, Bedlam in the Pulpit, Malcolm, Martin & Medgar, The Exile & The American, Secrets of the Mist of Blue, Uncanny Resemblance, and Melancholy of Barbarians.
Hart has also authored and directed 19 children's musicals.
Actress
No stranger to stage and screen, Hart's acting credits include a recurring role as the beloved character "Miss Anna" on HBO'S award winning drama series, The Wire. She’s also worked with DMV theaters: Woolly Mammoth Theatre (The Day Room), Arena Stage (Holiday Heart), African Continuum Theatre (The Old Settler), An Idea Conceived (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority), Howard University (Before it Hits Home) and Theatre Alliance (Le Dispute).
Professional Affiliations
A founding charter member of the internationally recognized August Wilson Society, in 2019 she served as co-chair of the August Wilson Ground lecture series, which featured Mr. Wilson's wife, Constanza Romero along with Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson speaking on—Cornbread, Biscuits, and Coca-Cola: Foods and Food Practices in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle Plays. For 20 years Hart helped hundreds of adults and youth to appreciate and create theatre through All About Creativity (AAC) and The Children's Theatre Workshop (TCTW).
A former Managing Editor of the international peer reviewed journal, Continuum: The Journal of African Diaspora Drama, Theatre and Performance, she's also a member of the following professional societies: Dramatist Guild, Literary Managers and Dramaturges of the Americas (LMDA), Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Black Theatre Network (BTN) and the Association of Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE).
In her spare time, Hart enjoys reading, bike riding, interior decorating and exploring the world around her. Her son Julian is her creative inspiration. She also enjoys family history and genealogy. Check out her Howard University family history on ancestry.com!
Denise J. Hart Actor Reel from HBO's, The Wire