Past Appearances

  • Thursday, May 30th: The Hampton Years Post Show Discussions Join playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton and dramaturg Otis Cortez Ramsey-Zoe and the cast of The Hampton Years for a post-show  discussion following the performance. Set at Virginia’s Hampton University during World War II, The Hampton Years explores the development of African American artists John Biggers and Samella Lewis under the tutelage of Austrian Jewish refugee painter and educator  Viktor Lowenfeld. Click here for more information.



  • Thursday, May 23rd: Arts Education versus Job Training Discussion: Jacqueline E. Lawton will join We Act Radio host Thomas Byrd along with Deborah Simmons, award-winning correspondent with the Washington Times; Julia E. Christian, Anacostia Playhouse's Managing Director; Katie Ryan, Theatre Alliance Education and Outreach Director; and Virginia Spatz, The Education Town Hall's feature reporter, for an in-depth discussion on Arts Education versus Job Training at public universities and in tough economic times on The Education Town Hall radio show.

  • Saturday, April 13th: The Hampton Years reading and post show discussion at the The Phillips Collection. Join the playwright, director and cast for a post-show discussion following the performance. Set at Virginia’s Hampton University during World War II, The Hampton Years explores the development of African American artists John Biggers and Samella Lewis under the tutelage of Austrian Jewish refugee painter and educator Viktor Lowenfeld. Click here for more information.

  • Sunday, March 24th: Where We Stand: Gender and Race in the New Play Sector as part of Boston Center for the Arts and Company One's XX Playlab Festival. A national conversation with industry professionals Anne Garcia-Romero, Hana Sharif, Otis Ramsey-Zöe, Jacqueline Lawton and Lenelle Moïse. The XX PLAYLAB Festival Weekend, produced in collaboration with the Boston Center for the Arts, features reading of new original plays by Boston Playwrights Lydia Diamond, Kirsten Greenidge, and up-and-coming Natalia Naman, as well as conversations with the playwrights and a panel of leading lights in the field.


  • February 16th at 8:00pm: The Hampton Years reading and post show discussion as part of Theatre Ariel Salon Series. Theatre Ariel presents a sneak preview reading of The Hampton Years by playwright Jacqueline Lawton. The Hampton Year explores the development of celebrated African-American artists John Biggers and Samella Lewis under the tutelage of Austrian Jewish refugee, Viktor Lowenfeld. This play chronicles the triumphs and struggles of these emerging artists in a segregated society.

  • November 29th, 2012: Australian-American Playwright Smackdown as part of the National New Play Network. Australian and American playwrights often wrestle with issues of gender, sexuality, race and immigration, but they’re doing so in very different ways, both aesthetically and thematically.  New Dramatists Artistic Director Todd London and Georgetown University Professor (and playwright) Christine Evans lead an intercontinental playwrights’ conversation with Vanessa Bates, Declan Greene, Carson Kreitzer, Jacqueline E. Lawton, and Carlos Murillo about similarities and differences between their approaches and the cultures in which they write. The conversation can be seen here.


  • April 19-22, 2012: To Publish or Peril Panel Discussion (Howard University) as part of the 23rd Annual James A. Porter Colloquium: State of the Art: Addressing the Role of Stewardship and Scholarship in Public and Private Collections of African American Art and Art of the African Diaspora. Panelists: Scott Baker (Assistant Director Howard University Gallery of Art), Tina Dunkley (Director/Curator of Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries), Jacqueline E. Lawton (Playwright, The Hampton Years), Nashid Madyun (Director of Museum and Archives at Hampton University).

  • March 27th, 2012: State of New Plays as part of George Washington University's Department of Theatre and Dance's New Play Festival. Moderated by Ally Currin (Playwright) with Panelists: Jessica Burgess (Artistic Director, The Inkwell), Jon Klein (Playwright), Jacqueline E. Lawton (Playwright), Jason Loewith (National New Play Network), and Gwydion Suilebhan (Playwright).
  • February 25, 2012: Is There a Female Voice as part of the Forum Theater's Female's Voices Festival. Moderator: Michael Dove with Panelists: Renee Calarco (Playwright), Allyson Currin (Playwright), Jacqueline E. Lawton (Playwright), Eleanor Holdridge (Director), and Anne McCaw (Playwright).
  • January 26, 2012: The State of the DC Playwright: A Town Hall Conversation (Theater J). Moderator: Gwydion Suilebhan (Playwright) with Panelists: Renee Calarco (Playwright), Jacqueline E. Lawton (Playwright), Jon Spelman (Playwright),  Stephen Spotswood, (Playwright) and Laura Zam (Solo Performance Artist). Honored guests: David Dower (American Voices New Play Institute), and Jason Loewith and Jojo Ruf (National New Play Network).
  • November 2, 2011: Black Women Playwrights Theater Symposium at Howard University. Moderator and Presenter: Jacqueline E. Lawton with Presenters: Dr. Patricia Elam(Author and Commentator), Dr. Sandra Shannon (Professor of African American Literature, Howard University), and Karen Evans (Playwright and Founder/President of Black Women Playwrights Group), Dr. Sandra Jowers-Barber ( Professor of Political Science, History, and Global Studies, University of the District of Columbia), and Dr. Dana Williams (Professor of African American Literature, Howard University).      

  • September 26, 2011: Black Women Playwrights Forum at University of the District of Columbia (UDC). Moderator: Sandra Jowers and Panelists: Karen Evans (Playwright and Founder/President of Black Women Playwrights Group), Nubia Kai, (Author and Professor of Theater at Howard University), Jacqueline E. Lawton (Playwright and Professor of Theater at UDC) and Dorothy Phaire (Playwright, Author and Professor of English at UDC).
  • July 11, 2011: From DC Theatres to the Nation’s Stages: Developing National Theatre Artists Inside the Capital City as part of the Source Theater Festival. Moderator: Adrien Alice-Hansel (Literary Director, Studio Theater) with Panelists: Gregg Henry (Artistic Director, KCACTF), David Dower (Associate Artistic Director, Arena Stage), Jacqueline Lawton (Playwright/Director of New Play Development, Active Cultures), Abel Lopez (Associate Producing Director, GALA Hispanic Theatre) and Jason Loewith (Executive Director, National New Play Network).
  • January 26-20, 2010: Black Playwrights Convening (Arena Stage) - American Voices New Play Institute convened of 30 of the nation's leading black playwrights and artistic leaders to address: what stories are black playwrights allowed to tell in American theater today; what are the issues presented in their works; and what are the challenges facing development of new plays by black playwrights?
  • Sunday, July 12, 2009: New Forms: Adapting the Classics (Theater J).  Moderated by Shirley Serotsky with Panelists: Joe Banno (Former Artistic Director of Source Theater, Freelance Director), Jacqueline Lawton (playwright and dramaturg),  Jason Loewith (playwright and adapter, Executive Director of the National New Play Network) and Ari Roth (Artistic Director of Theater J, adapter of THE SEAGULL ON 16TH STREET)
  • July 10, 2009: The Actor and the New Play at Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival (The Inkwell).  Facilitated by Jessica Burgess (Artistic Director, The Inkwell) with Panelists: Tiffany Antone (LA-based playwright and actress), Allyson Currin (playwright and actress), Naomi Jacobson (Actor)), Jacqueline E. Lawton (playwright and dramaturg),John Lescault (Actor), Jason Loewith (Executive Director, National New Play Network) and Mary Resing (Artistic Director, Active Cultures). 
  • January 9, 2009: For-Profit, Non-Profit, No-Profit - Industry Roundtable Discussions on How Theater Failed America (Woolly Mammoth). Moderated by Mike Daisy with Panelists: Julianne Brienza (Executive Director, Capital Fringe Festival), Martha Knight, (Stage manager), Jacqueline Lawton, playwright, Bill O'Brien (Director of Theater and Musical Theater, National Endowment for the Arts), Eric Schaeffer (Artistic Director, Signature Theatre), and Harry Teter, Jr. (General Manager, National Theatre).
  • November 17, 2008: King of My Kingdom: Racism and Cultural Stereotypes of African American Men (African Continuum Theatre Company). Moderated by Jacqueline Lawton with Panelists: Tanya Barfield (Playwright, Blue Door), Walter Dallas (Director, Blue Door), Dennis Davenport, Ph.D. (Howard University), Shirley Dickey (The Yoruba Temple), LaWanda Johnson (Justice Policy Institute), Peggy Seats (Banneker Institute), and Chris Hart-Wright (STRIVE DC).

  • March 16, 2008: The Price in the Pantheon: Arthur Miller and August Wilson - Comparing Their Greatest Works (Theater J): In conjunction with this spring's Arthur Miller festival at Theater J and Arena Stage and The Kennedy Center's look at the work of August Wilson. With Literary Director Hannah Hessel and local dramaturg/playwright Jacqueline Lawton.
  • October 21, 2007: Women on Mamet: The Case for and Against (Theater J).Female educators, directors and theater professionals face off about their love and hatred for David Mamet. Moderated:  Hannah Hessel (Literary Director, Theater J) with Panelists: Kathleen Akerley, Danielle Mages Amato, Jacqueline E. Lawton, and Rahaleh Nassri.