Lisa B. Thompson

Find out about scholar and playwright Dr. Lisa B. Thompson's work focusing on Black feminist theory, theatre, film, Black popular culture and literature.

Professor, Performance as Public Practice Patton Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies Fellow of the Ransom Chair Advisor to the Dean for Faculty Mentoring and Support, College of Liberal Arts

 

    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).

    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.

    African American Literature, Film, Cultural Studies, Black Feminist Theory, Contemporary Black Theatre and Performance

    Performing Blackness, Toni Morrison & August Wilson, Writing for Black Performance

    Recent Publications

    Books

    • Beyond The Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class (University of Illinois Press, 2009)
    • Single Black Female (Samuel French Inc. 2012)
    • Underground, Monroe, and The Mamalogues: Three Plays (Northwestern University Press, 2020)

    Recent Performances

    Playwright

    • Underground (The Vortex; 2017 Austin Critics Circle David Mark Cohen New Play Award winner, Broadway World Regional Awards Best Writing of an Original Work Nominee) 
    • Monroe (Austin Playhouse; 2018 Austin Playhouse Festival of New Texas Plays winner)
    • The Mamalogues (The Vortex; 2019 Broadway World Regional Awards Best Writing of an Original Work winner)
    • Dinner (Crossroads Theatre Genesis New Play Festival, The Road Theatre 2020 Summer Playwrights Festival)

     

    Contact Information

    Phone
    512-471-4656

    Campus location
    GWB 4.112