Amara Janae Brady

Amara Janae Brady

Amara (She/Her/Hers) is a generative artist & cultural dramaturg from Chicago. At the crux of her artistry is showcasing the humanity and divinity of Black women and connecting underserved communities with experiences that mirror their own. She is a 2023 MacDowell Fellow, a New Roots Fellow, a current fellow of WP Theater’s 2022-2024 Lab, and a member of The Public Theater’s Devised Working Group 2023-2024...
Amara (She/Her/Hers) is a generative artist & cultural dramaturg from Chicago. At the crux of her artistry is showcasing the humanity and divinity of Black women and connecting underserved communities with experiences that mirror their own. She is a 2023 MacDowell Fellow, a New Roots Fellow, a current fellow of WP Theater’s 2022-2024 Lab, and a member of The Public Theater’s Devised Working Group 2023-2024. Writing: the beautiful things are gonna kill you (Kilroys 2023; The Bushwick Starr; The Public Theater), “my dick is david duke” or The Sad Fat Negress Can’t Get a Date (Ars Nova), This is Where We Go (MCC), Last Ones First (Crux VR in association with Blair Russell Productions); The SupaDupa Kid (Barrington Stage Co.); Manic Pixie Dream Girls Aren’t Black (WP Theater + Northwestern University). Performance: “my dick is david duke” or The Sad Fat Negress Can’t Get a Date (Ars Nova), Hachetation (O’Neill), Wine in the Wilderness (Roundabout), Abduction (Atlantic Theater Co.), This Is Where We Go (MCC), Bernarda’s Daughters (The Lark; Audible + New Group), Annie Golden: Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrington Stage Co.), NYTW, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, 54 Below, Joe’s Pub & others. She’s a member of Iconis & family. Producing: “my dick is david duke” or The Sad Fat Negress Can’t Get a Date (Ars Nova), the 2019 Theatre Communications Groups National Conference. Assistant Producer of NYT Critic’s Pick, Jillian Walker’s SKiNFoLK (Bushwick Starr). YouTube series, ‘Skinny & White’ Aren’t Character Traits. In This Paper I’ll Explain. Resist, check your privilege, & then give some space to Women of Color & Trans Folx. Ashé to the ancestors. All Power to all people.
Website:https://linktr.ee/ajbrady


Plays

  • Angie 4.0 by Amara Janae Brady
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: dark comedy, horror + 1 more
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    Keyword: Black women, grotesque
    Genre: dark comedy, horror, political
    Keyword: Black women, grotesque
    Tells the story of the lone Black women at a dinner table with people she considered friends. Each time she tries to assert her boundaries she is shut down and loses a piece of herself each time coming back more and more inhuman. And what happens when the inhumanity is in the driver's seat of your existence?
  • Ibinuje (grief) by Amara Janae Brady
    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: black womanhood, black death + 1 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, period, tragedy
    Keyword: black womanhood, black death, lynching
    Inspired by real accounts of the mass migrations of Black folk from the South to the North and beyond. Ibinuje, tells the story of Lula, a woman dealing with the lynching of her husband as the city tries to bribe her to move out. While trying to navigate what to do she is guided by a physical manifestation of death/grief and her dearly departed husband.
  • Last Ones First by Amara Janae Brady
    Cast: 
    4–7
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    Genre: fantasy, immersive + 1 more
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    Keyword: virtual reality, Black femmes + 3 more
    Genre: fantasy, immersive, tragedy
    Keyword: virtual reality, Black femmes, Black women, goddess, water
    While trying to create a new fish O and Maya are startled to discover one of their goddess siblings, Win, has been hurt. They appeal to the kindness of the audience to see if anyone is willing to sacrifice themselves to save Win. When no action is taken the audience is confronted with their own complicity.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girls Aren't Black by Amara Janae Brady
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: romantic comedy
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    Keyword: Black women, manic pixie dream girl
    Genre: romantic comedy
    Keyword: Black women, manic pixie dream girl
    As a video game designer (well, almost!), Delilah has never had a problem with her untamed imagination. But when her boss suggests that the lead character in her latest video game is too unrealistic and unrelatable because “Black women don’t play video games,” she decides it’s time to reel her imagination in. Fortunately for her, her video game has another idea- Delilah gets sucked into the amazingly colorful...
    As a video game designer (well, almost!), Delilah has never had a problem with her untamed imagination. But when her boss suggests that the lead character in her latest video game is too unrealistic and unrelatable because “Black women don’t play video games,” she decides it’s time to reel her imagination in. Fortunately for her, her video game has another idea- Delilah gets sucked into the amazingly colorful world she created. She finds there’s nothing wrong with her lead, but there is something wrong with the massive, violent changes she didn’t make! Now, she must defeat her greatest foe, self-doubt…but…kinda disguised as white supremacy.
  • When We Were gods by Amara Janae Brady
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    7–8
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    Genre: adaptation, drama + 3 more
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    Keyword: Black women, American drama as a Greek tragedy + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, movement/physical
    Keyword: Black women, American drama as a Greek tragedy, reclaiming greek myths, Women - Greek Myth - Adaptation
    Inspired by a wooden carving and a nefarious poem about how Black women were not as beautiful, but for some “inexplicable reason” really enticing, When We Were gods tells the story of the Sable Venus’ search for purpose and levity at the precipice of a massive shift in power on Olympus. Where were these gods during slavery and what do they owe to the humanity the sought to create? And also how the hell do we dethrone Zeus?
  • the beautiful things are gonna kill you by Amara Janae Brady
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: experimental, melodrama
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    Keyword: black LGBTQIA, interracial couple + 1 more
    Genre: experimental, melodrama
    Keyword: black LGBTQIA, interracial couple, interracial gay couple
    Somewhere between the vastness of time and the liminal space of our physical universe, a Black femme, O, sits wondering why the f***ck she loves this yt woman, Ele. Together, they traverse the dangerous realities, dreams, and nightmares that come with being in an interracial relationship in a “post-racial society.” Inspired by Tanya Barfield’s Bright Half-Life comes a wildly vulnerable and heartbreakingly...
    Somewhere between the vastness of time and the liminal space of our physical universe, a Black femme, O, sits wondering why the f***ck she loves this yt woman, Ele. Together, they traverse the dangerous realities, dreams, and nightmares that come with being in an interracial relationship in a “post-racial society.” Inspired by Tanya Barfield’s Bright Half-Life comes a wildly vulnerable and heartbreakingly amusing exploration of why we accept the love “we think we deserve” while examining the cost. Can Ele get past the entitlement ingrained in yt womanhood? Can O figure out why she’s dating a yt person at all? And can they grow beyond who society tells them they should be? Probably not…but it might be fun to try.
  • This Is Where We Go (Episodes 5 & 6) by Amara Janae Brady
    Cast: 
    4–5
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    Genre: adventure, drama + 3 more
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    Keyword: Octavia Butler, space + 3 more
    Genre: adventure, drama, fantasy, radio drama, science fiction
    Keyword: Octavia Butler, space, sci-fi, Voodoo, apocalypse
    EPISODE 5: The World We Knew
    In the year 1793, the priestess Andula receives visions of a terrible future. Who are the people in her visions? Can the sun be saved? And most importantly, what does any of this have to do with Andula?

    EPISODE 6: Itele
    Questions abound as the fates of Andula, Amelia Rose, Illi and Izta intertwine. When the end is not the end, four strangers have to ask themselves: Where will we go?