Alan Sharpe

Inaugural Alan Sharpe Award

Alan Sharpe began creating LGBTQ-themed projects in 1970, as a freshman film student at Boston University. An on-campus theater company which he co-founded while there, eventually evolved into African-American Collective Theater (ACT) after his move to Washington, DC in 1976. In the early 90’s, African-American Collective Theater revised its original mission from Black theater in general, to focus solely on LGBTQ themes and subject matter. During the subsequent three decades, as an HIV+ artist, he has written and directed over 100 plays, short films, and a web series -- all showcasing the mosaic of LGBTQ life and culture in the Black community. In addition to ACT, Sharpe is proud to be a charter member of the Brave Soul Collective (BSC) -- for which he has also written an ongoing series of plays, as well as a member of the African-American Playwrights’ Exchange (APEX), Urban Playwrights United (UPU), the NPX New Play Exchange and the Dramatists’ Guild. Currently, in addition to being recipient of a 2018-19 Artist’s Fellowship in Theater from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, he was selected to participate in the 2019 “Playwrights’ Arena” program at Arena Stage.

May 2019

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About the Award:

The Alan Sharpe Award will be given each year to an individual who has made significant contributions toBlack LGBTQ creative arts.