ROYAL SHIRÉE

EDUCATION

 

Master of Fine Arts, Playwriting, Oct. 2013

Hollins University, Roanoke, VA

​

• Thesis play: Clippings, written, directed, and performed by Royal Shirée. Solo
  performance exploring global female abuse to include domestic abuse, rape and the
  revictimization of abuse from society and the system sworn to protect, and female
  genital mutilation, 2013

• Cat House, directed by Kerry Moran, Red Eye 24-Hour,10-Minute Play Festival, 2013

• dun been thru it, written, directed, and performed by Royal Shirée. solo performance
  depicting racism from the work place to the church; selected for Festival of Student
  Readings, Hollins University July 2012

​

Master of Arts, English hybrid Creative Writing and Scholarship, May 2012

Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, VA

​

• Thesis: The Well: Climbing Out of the Dysfunction of Care Giving, An Analytical and Creative Exploration includes analysis and comparison of ten female memoirists on caregiving and original creative non-fiction of the same title.

• AS THE WORLD (OF ARABY) TURNS: A Narrative and Cinematic Exploration examines interior and exterior worlds of literature, and the world of color and its representative placement in space. Color and space have specific visual appointments in the performative representation and interpretation of what is materialized in the reader's mind by examining color and space as the evocative means of experience.

• The Enslavement of the Breedloves and Pecola's Left the Plantation: A Societal Exploration of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.  New Historicism Theory embeds is embedded in the material conditions of a culture. Texts examine how they reveal the economic and social realities, especially as they produce ideology and represent subversion exposing the reflection of the effects of inherited ideology and classism that colonialism perpetuated in a racialized society. It explores the social stratification in the African-American community and connects its beginnings to slavery, which sustained an institutionalized hierarchal system of social and internalized racism influenced by the dominant culture.

• Whatchu talkin' 'bout Wilson? A Critical Analysis of August Wilson's, Fences.  An examination of semiotics in the structure of the play employing New Historicism, Marxist, and Identity Theories that analyze the historical significance of The Great Migration from the South in relation to establishing representative identities in African-American and gender roles, and represent the history, social events, and challenges affecting a minority people in a racially dominant culture.

• I See Dead People, God: A Poetic Exploration of God and the Dead in Heather McHugh's Hinge & Sign.  A critical analysis of the poems of Heather McHugh.

 

EXPERIENCE

 

Playwright, Solo Performer, Director, Aug. 1998 - Present

Royal Shirée, Lynchburg, VA

 

Playwright/Solo Performer
· Commissioned playwright and solo performer
· Perform original dramatic works from 27 characters in a growing repertoire
· Write and perform in various genres
· Write and perform topics from complex social commentary from character perspective
to story time for elementary audiences
· Dramaturg/Research for content and accuracy
· Griot and spoken-word artist incorporating song and percussive instruments

​

Director

· Commissioned and contracted for organizations, churches, and academic institutions
· Audition, usually novice actors
· Coach in movement and voice, and character development
· Block
· Scene design
· Secure technicians for props, lighting, and audio

​

Education Consultant/Storyteller, Re-enactor, Oct. 2006 - July 2016

Avoca Historical Museum, Altavista, VA

​

• Creatively and dramatically educate elementary students and the public on historical events by creating, devising, and re-enacting stories

• Research historical facts for accuracy, mostly slave- and Native-American-related to reflect the region and lifestyle for Student Event Day and special events

• Storyteller from classic and historically relevant childhood literature

 

Assistant Professor in English Comp. I and II, and American Literature, Sept. 2013 – Dec. 2015

Virginia University of Lynchburg, Lynchburg, VA

​

• · American Literature focuses on the African-American diaspora, history, the dominant
  culture, gender roles, and their generationally-inherited impact on the hierarchical
  structure in American society dating back to slavery in the works of Toni Morrison and
  Zora Neale Hurston
  · Introduce students to analytical and critical thinking and writing by first discussing and
  dissecting a well-known story or movie·
  · Educate students in MLA formatting
  · Guide students in composing their first five- and ten-page academic paper using MLA
  formatting
  · Educate students in comparing and discerning facts from academic databases and
  internet research
  · Introduce cross-curriculum principles and vocabulary to lay the foundation for deeper
  and broader perspectives
  · Utilize various videos in various genres to stimulate the senses and further explain
  context and content
  · Encourage heavy classroom discussion to foster analytical and critical thinking and
  articulation skills
  · Through the writing process, students refine topics; develop and support ideas;
  · Through the writing process, students refine topics; develop and support ideas;
  investigate, evaluate, and incorporate appropriate sources; edit for effective style and
  usage; and determine appropriate approaches for a variety of contexts, audiences, and
  purposes
  · Writing activities include exposition and argumentation with at least two researched
  references
  · Engage students in all phases of the writing process: conception, pre-writing,
  drafting, editing, reflecting
  · Assist students to incorporate reading and experience into their writing processes
  · Student Adviser for academic and registration purposes

 

English Department Chair, Sept. 2014 – Dec. 2015

Virginia University of Lynchburg, Lynchburg, VA

​

• Confer with professors on curricula goals

• Reconcile professor/student conflicts, if any

• Confer with administration and other faculty on program improvement

 

Director of Student Conduct and Discipline Aug. 2014 – Dec. 2015

Virginia University of Lynchburg, Lynchburg, VA

​

• Investigate allegations of violations by consulting the Directors of Security and Student Affairs

• Confer with Director of Student Affairs for and enforce resolutions to effect proper disciplinary recourse

• Confer and counsel student on institutional and societal expectations to avoid future encounters

• Make expulsion recommendation to Provost

 

Director of Student Affairs, Event Coordinator, May 2013 – Aug. 2014

Virginia University of Lynchburg, Lynchburg, VA

 

Director of Student Affairs (during institution-wide restructuring)

​

• Managed a staff of five to improve student housing, student activities, and all affairs of the students

• Researched for recommendations on updating the Student Handbook 

​

Event Coordinator

​

• Fundraiser for necessary classroom technology and possibly create a budget for the department

• "Music on the Lawn" fundraiser event promoter and producer securing  four well-known local jazz bands, eight vendors and 30 sponsors

​

Theatre/Director

​

• The Widows, director, writer, and performer, Hayes-Allen Day Dec. 2014
• Murder at the Tony Lou Awards, director, inaugural dinner/theatre fundraiser for
  Hayes-Allen Day Dec. 2013

​

Adjunct Assistant Professor, English Comp I and II, Aug. 2012 – Sept. 2013 

Central Virginia Community College, Lynchburg, VA

​

• Introduced students to analytical and critical thinking and writing by first discussing a well-known story or movie

• Educated students in MLA formatting

• Assisted students in composing their first five- ten-, and twenty-page academic paper using MLA formatting

• Educated students in discerning academic database and internet research

• Introduced cross-curriculum principles and vocabulary to lay the foundation for broader perspective

• Utilized various videos in various genres to stimulate the senses and further explain context and content

• Encouraged heavy classroom discussion to foster analytical and critical thinking and articulation skills

• Through the writing process, students refined topics; developed and supported ideas; investigated, evaluated, and incorporated appropriate sources; edited for effective style and usage; and determined appropriate approaches for a variety of contexts, audiences, and purposes

• Writing activities included exposition and argumentation with at least one researched essay

• Engaged students in all phases of the writing process: conception, prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, reflecting

• Assisted students to incorporate reading and experience into their writing processes

​

AWARDS

​​

• Sisters funded by the Cultural Alliance of Western CT,  through a grant given by the State of
  Connecticut and the National Endowment for the Arts.

• Nominated for the 2016 James River Council Arts and Humanities' public arts project, "Celebrate Diversity: Black Artists in Lynchburg."

• Tied for Best Teacher, Virginia University of Lynchburg, 2015

• Hurston and Spencer: A Tale of Two Renaissance Women, debut reading of original solo show, a commission by Amherst Glebe Arts Response (AGAR) for the Big Read program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts
  Midwest

• Heaven in Hell, commissioned solo performance, Booker T. Washington National Monument, Hardy, VA 2010

• Intent to Commit, commissioned solo percussive poet/prose, Juneteenth Celebration, Lynchburg, VA 2007

• Take an Inventory, commissioned solo percussive poet, Legacy Museum of African-American History 2006

• Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow

​

PUBLICATIONS

​​

• Cat House, Original Publishing, eTens, May 2012

​

PRODUCTIONS,  PERFORMANCES, STORYTELLING, and READINGS

​

• Line Dry Fade to Black Reading Series, directed by Brenda (Bebe) Wilson, Houston, TX, Jan. 2018

• The Inheritance, spoken word feature, Riverfront Flow, BOT Productions, Lynchburg, VA, Jan. 2018

• Sisters reading 2, Riverviews Artspace, written by Joanne Hudson and Royal Shirée, directed by Royal Shirée, Lynchburg, VA, Nov. 2017 (debut production, Connecticut, 2018)

• Lightning Bugs, directed by Karen Paisley inaugural 2017 Midwest Dramatists Conference, Olathe, KS, Sept. 2017

• Sisters, reading 1, written by Joanne Hudson and Royal Shirée, directed by Joanne Hudson, Keeler Tavern Museum, Ridgeville, CT, Sept. 2017

• "Perspective Presents: Phoenix," an evening of storytelling, producer and director, Riverviews Artspace, Lynchburg, VA, Sept. 23, 2017

• Poetry Slam! A Poetry Night for Kids, moderator, Riverviews Artspace, Lynchburg, VA, April 2017

• Storyteller:  Avoca Historical Museum; Thomas Jefferson Poplar Forest 4th of July Celebration; Legacy Museum of African American History; Miss Missy,  Booker T. Washington National Monument, 2007 - 2010

• Victory, MOJOAA Performing Arts Company's production of "Reclamation, Female Voices of Color," Mordecai Historic Park, Raleigh, NC, August 2016

• Clippings, written, directed, and performed by Royal Shirée, Second Stage/Amherst, Amherst, VA 2013; Troupe 30C, Roanoke, VA 2013; Dance Theatre of Lynchburg 2014; Waterworks Players Theatre, Farmville, VA 2014;
  Downtown Urban Theater Festival New York 2014; Randolph College, Lynchburg,
  VA 2016

• Melanin Presents "Solitary Fantasy: A Love Song of African-American Poetry," celebrating the words and rhythms of notable African-American poets, directed by Edwina Herring; Royal Shirée, performer and percussionist, Live Arts Charlottesville, Charlottesville, VA Feb. 2015

• Out House, professional reading by Virginia Playwrights and Screenwriters Initiative (VPSI), Live Arts, Charlottesville, VA, May 2015

• Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, narrator to the performance by composer and vibraphonist, Cecilia Smith, with Lew Taylor Trio and three members of the Amherst County High School Band in an inaugural new theatre-jazz composition to The Hurricane,  in Zora Neale Hurston's, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," Amherst County Public Library, Sept. 2014

• Hurston and Spencer: A Tale of Two Renaissance Women, debut reading oforiginal solo show, Anne Spencer House and Museum, September 2014; Amherst Historical Museum, October 2014; James River State Park Festival, Oct. 2014; Zora at Monelison Middle School, Dec. 2014
• "Night at the Museum," devised theatrical performance of Rachel with Mary, recently emancipated slaves of Charles Lynch, Avoca Museum, Oct. 2014
• Heaven in Hell, solo performance, Booker T. Washington National Monument, Hardy, VA, 2010                       
• The Widows, writer, director, and actor, Virginia University of Lynchburg Hayes-Allen Day fundraiser, Lynchburg, VA, December 2014
• Murder at the Tonylou Awards, by Tony Schwartz and Marylou Ambrose, Director, Virginia University of Lynchburg Hayes-Allen Day fundraiser, Lynchburg, VA, Dec. 2013
• Lightning Bugs, and Wednesday's Child, Original Works Festival, The Spot, Arroyo Grande, CA 2013; inaugural Midwest Dramatist Conference 2017
• Angel Eyes, writer, professional reading, Live Arts Charlottesville, May 2013
• Adults, written by Erin Lane, directed by Royal Shirée, Red Eye 10s Festival, The Wayne Theatre/Gateway Theatre, Waynesboro, VA 2013
• dun been thru it, written, directed, and performed by Royal Shirée, solo performance, Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA, 2011; Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, VA, 2012; Waterworks Players Theatre, Farmville, VA, 2012; Student
  Festival of Readings, Hollins University 2012
• IDENTITY Crisis, Leading Ladies, directed by Samantha Wellengard, Theatrelab, New York, NY 2010
  New York debut of selected monologues from:
  Uncle Bob, performed by Portia Lee Rose
  Victory's Mama, performed by Geiselle Nix-Fauntleroy
  Victory, performed by Kerri Campbell Evans
• IDENTITY Crisis, written, directed, and performed by Royal Shirée, solo performance, Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA 2008; Waterworks Theatre, Farmville, VA 2009
• Heaven in Hell, commissioned one-woman show, Booker T. Washington National Monument, Hardy, VA 2010
• Nu Naybahood II, Here We Go Agin, The Warehouse Theatre, The Academy of Fine Arts 2009
  The Preacher, writer and director
  The Classroom, actress
  Beauty Shop, actress
• What Kind of History Will You Leave Your Blackness, commissioned original percussive poetic commentary, Juneteenth Celebration, Lynchburg, VA 2008; University of Great Falls, special evening of works written by Royal Shirée
• Intent to Commit, commissioned solo percussive poet/prose, Juneteenth Celebration, Lynchburg, VA 2007
• Birth, actress, Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, VA 2006
• Take an Inventory, commissioned solo percussive poet, Legacy Museum of African-American History 2006
• Vagina Monologues, Rapunzel's Bookstore, Lovingston, VA 2005
  My Angry Vagina, actress
  The Little Coochi Snorcher, actress
• Cabaret, Fraulein Kost, actress/soloist, Charleston Stage Company 2000
• Lifetimes On The Street, directorial debut, independent production, 2000
• Victory, Director/Writer, original opening narrative for Lifetimes On The Street
  Delores, actress
  Stop Me If You Heard This One, actress
• Black Nativity, Soloist/chorus/townsperson, Charleston Stage Company 1998, 1999
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Aide Turkle, actress, Kanawha Players 1999
• The Colored Museum, Charleston Stage Company 1997
  LaWanda (Hairpiece), actress
  Lala LaMazing Grace (Lala LaMazing Grace), actress

​

Television/Video

​

• Voice-over narrator, Avoca Museum promotional video clip 2006, 2011

• Green Ridge Recreation Center, actor, Roanoke County, 3 commercials, WDBJ-7 2009

• Roanoke County Parks, promotions for Roanoke County's new Green Ridge Recreation Center, Roanoke, VA, 2009

• Science Fiction, My Anxieties, Voice-over actress, Myron Helfgott, Visual Artist 2008

• Disturbing Images of Your Future, writer/narrator/director/producer/b-roll, socio-political documentary 2005

• The Caregiver: Disturbing Images of Your Future, writer/narrator/director/producer/b-roll, socio-political documentary, public-speaker officiator 2005; New York International and Independent Film Festival 2005; Catalogued at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts

• Sara, actress, Redline Group, Training Video, Lynchburg, VA 2004

• Motion Masters Media and Advertising, Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center, Print and Television Commercials, Charleston, WV 1999

​

BOARD MEMBER -- RIVERVIEWS ARTSPACE

​

• Programs Committee (exhibitions, literary arts, performing arts)

• Producer/Director of theatrical productions

​

RESEARCH – PLAYWRITING

​

• Clippings, original solo performance exploring female abuse globally to include domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and female genital mutilation; presented Afarika, an African; debuted as professional reading at Second Stage/Amherst; Troupe 30C, Roanoke, VA 2013; Dance Theatre of Lynchburg 2014, Waterworks Players Theatre, Farmville, VA 2014, Downtown Urban Theater Festival New York 2014; Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA 2016

• Moton Museum Commissioned Play, commissioned one-woman show focusing on the walkout at Farmville, Virginia's Robert Russa Moton High School's 1951 segregation demonstration.

• Character study for development

• The Well: Climbing Out of the Dysfunction of Care Giving, An Analytical and Creative Exploration includes the analysis and comparison of ten female memoirists on caregiving and original creative non-fiction, The Well: Climbing Out of the Dysfunction of Care Giving.

• Hurston and Spencer: A Tale of Two Renaissance Women, debut reading of original one-woman show, a commission by Amherst Glebe Arts Response (AGAR) for the Big Read program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, Anne Spencer House and Museum September 2014; Amherst Historical Museum October 2014 , James River State Park Festival October 2014, Zora at Monelison Middle School, December 2014

• Miss Missy, commissioned storyteller: created for Avoca Museum; Legacy Museum of African American History Juneteenth Celebration 2010; Booker T. Washington National Monument, Hardy, VA 2009, 2010; Thomas Jefferson Poplar Forest 2009, 2010

• Heaven in Hell, commissioned one-woman show, Black History Month Celebration, Booker T. Washington National Monument, Hardy, VA 2010

• Fighting Blacks, commissioned original percussive poetic commentary, Legacy Museum of African American History Juneteenth Celebration, Lynchburg, VA 2009

• What Kind of History Will You Leave Your Blackness, commissioned original percussive poetic commentary, Legacy Museum of African American History Juneteenth Celebration, Lynchburg, VA 2008; University of Great Falls, Great Falls, Montana 2014

• Disturbing Images of Your Future, socio-political documentary on caregivers 2005: writer, narrator, director, producer, b-roll The Caregiver: Disturbing Images of Your Future,  socio-political documentary on caregivers 2005: writer, narrator, co-director, co-producer, b-roll, public-speaker officiator; New York International and Independent Film Festival 2005; catalogued at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts

​

RESEARCH – ACADEMIC

​

• We All Know a Prince Jones: The Impact of Colonialism on the Unchanged Present in Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me, critical analysis examining the genesis of race-based hate in America

• Thesis: The Well: Climbing Out of the Dysfunction of Care Giving, An Analytical and Creative Exploration includes analysis and comparison of ten female memoirists on caregiving and original creative non-fiction of the same title.

• AS THE WORLD (OF ARABY) TURNS: A Narrative and Cinematic Exploration examines interior and exterior worlds of literature, and the world of color and its representative placement in space. Color and space have specific visual appointments in the performative representation and interpretation of what is materialized in the reader's mind by examining color and space as the evocative means of experience.

• The Enslavement of the Breedloves and Pecola's Left the Plantation: A Societal Exploration of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.  New Historicism Theory embeds is embedded in the material conditions of a culture. Texts examine how they reveal the economic and social realities, especially as they produce ideology and represent subversion exposing the reflection of the effects of inherited ideology and classism that colonialism perpetuated in a racialized society. It explores the social stratification in the African-American community and connects its beginnings to slavery, which sustained an institutionalized hierarchal system of social and internalized racism influenced by the dominant culture.

• Whatchu talkin' 'bout Wilson? A Critical Analysis of August Wilson's, Fences.  An examination of semiotics in the structure of the play employing New Historicism, Marxist, and Identity Theories that analyze the historical significance of The Great Migration from the South in relation to establishing representative identities in African-American and gender roles, and represent the history, social events, and challenges affecting a minority people in a racially dominant culture.

• I See Dead People, God: A Poetic Exploration of God and the Dead in Heather McHugh's Hinge & Sign.  A critical analysis of the poems of Heather McHugh.