Dawn Campbell

Dawn Campbell

Dawn Campbell grew up as the youngest of four children in a working class Jamaican immigrant household in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a small city tucked in between New York and Boston, two cultural behemoths to the South and North. Having been inspired as a child by the recordings of Louise Bennett-Coverly, a Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer and educator as well as the world of books and little theater in...
Dawn Campbell grew up as the youngest of four children in a working class Jamaican immigrant household in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a small city tucked in between New York and Boston, two cultural behemoths to the South and North. Having been inspired as a child by the recordings of Louise Bennett-Coverly, a Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer and educator as well as the world of books and little theater in modest venues, Dawn completed a Fine Arts concentration in addition to English and African American studies majors at Oberlin College. A study abroad in London, England and a post B.A. internship for an independent theater producer inspired her to pursue the vocation of writing for the theater. After taking courses in playwriting, screenwriting and writing for the television sitcom with a particular focus on playwriting, Dawn completed her Master of Fine Arts from the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts (TSOA).
Dawn has had her plays performed at festivals from New York City (Voices from the Edge Festival) to New Haven, CT (Theatre 4: Acting Out Festival) to having her work make the shortlist for the Alfred Fagon Award (Royal Court Theatre, London, England). Dawn was a proud participant of the Writers of the Americas conference/workshop, representing one of forty North American based artists in a series of workshops that took place in Havana Cuba. More recently, she was selected as a Fellow in the Playwright category by the Connecticut Office of the Arts. She is currently based in Connecticut in the town of Stratford (an apt location for a Playwright).

Plays

  • Silverbird by Dawn Campbell
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama
    Genre: drama
    Vera Carmichael, a Jamaican migrant who has been living and working alone in the U.S. is finally reunited with the two children, Josey and Gavin but each person discovers that adapting to change is difficult. Vera finds that her children, who have grown up without her, are changed in some ways that she does not like. Josey, and especially Gavin finds that life in the U.S.A. is not what they imagined. All...
    Vera Carmichael, a Jamaican migrant who has been living and working alone in the U.S. is finally reunited with the two children, Josey and Gavin but each person discovers that adapting to change is difficult. Vera finds that her children, who have grown up without her, are changed in some ways that she does not like. Josey, and especially Gavin finds that life in the U.S.A. is not what they imagined. All struggle to grasp and handle this new period in their lives as Vera worries that the better life that she sought may have permanently damaged the bonds she once shared with her children and takes extreme measures to prevent this.
  • About the Neti Pot by Dawn Campbell
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, farce
    ·
    Keyword: Chance encounters
    Genre: comedy, farce
    Keyword: Chance encounters
    The random meeting of two strangers in a furniture store occurs when a newly separated and distressed man, looking for a corner of privacy in a public place has to endure the company of a zany older woman who seeks shelter from the rain. What she already knows and he eventually comes to realize, is that both are in sore need of a few moments of understanding, quasi-companionship and ultimately, a display of humanity.
  • At The Bottom of The Sea: A Fisherman's Tale by Dawn Campbell
    Cast: 
    9–10
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Linval Peterson, an talented musician who had to give up his musical aspirations to forge a better life for his family, discovers that his desires come back to haunt him in the form of a mythical visitor from his past- a visitor that once served as a source of inspiration for his dreams but has new followed him to a new country and threatens to upend his life and the lives of his growing family as he decides,...
    Linval Peterson, an talented musician who had to give up his musical aspirations to forge a better life for his family, discovers that his desires come back to haunt him in the form of a mythical visitor from his past- a visitor that once served as a source of inspiration for his dreams but has new followed him to a new country and threatens to upend his life and the lives of his growing family as he decides, once again, to pursue a dream left behind.
  • Havana Story by Dawn Campbell
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: adventure, drama + 1 more
    Genre: adventure, drama, political
    Still unsure of herself and her talent, an budding artist on a cultural expedition finds encouragement from other artists as well as an unexpected source of inspiration when she encounters a mysterious stranger in the streets of Old Havana. It is an encounter that both intrigues and unsettles her.