Pearl Cleage (she/her/hers) (playwright, Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous) is an Atlanta-based playwright currently serving as Distinguished Artist in Residence at The Alliance Theatre. The recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dramatists Guild, she is also Atlanta’s first Poet Laureate. Selected Theatre Credits: Her plays include Flyin’ West, Blues for an Alabama Sky, The Nacirema Society, What I Learned in Paris, and Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous. Her work is anthologized in Flyin’ West and Other Plays, published by The Theatre Communications Group. In addition to the Alliance, Cleage has been widely produced, including performances at The Goodman Theatre, London’s National Theatre, The McCarter Theater Center, Penumbra Theater, Keen Company, Ford’s Theatre, the Huntington Theater, the Guthrie Theater, Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theater, Actor’s Express, the Black Repertory Company, Old Globe Theatre, the Negro Ensemble Company, Arena Stage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Ensemble Theater, New Federal Theater and the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. Additional Artistic Credits: She is also a performance artist working in collaboration with her husband, writer Zaron W. Burnett, Jr. Their groundbreaking performance work is the subject of a new documentary film Live at Club Zebra! directed by Matthew and David Adeboye. Cleage and Burnett also collaborated on In My Granny’s Garden, a book for young children, which was adapted for the stage by Rosemary Newcott and has been performed in Atlanta, Chicago and St. Louis. The author of eight novels, including What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, a New York Times bestseller, Cleage also co-authored with Burnett We Speak Your Names, a praise poem commissioned by Oprah Winfrey. She is currently at work on Off Day at Chickens, in collaboration with Burnett and a play with music, Letters from Aunt Nina, based on the music and memories of Simone’s niece, actor/singer Crystal Fox.