| Chisa Hutchinson | |
| Birth Date: | 1980 |
| Birth Place: | Queens, New York, US |
| Occupation: | Playwright, Performer |
| Alma Mater: | BA Vassar College MFA New York University |
| Awards: | GLAAD Award (2010), Lilly Award (2010), Lanford Wilson Award (2015) |
Chisa Hutchinson is an American playwright. Her plays have won multiple awards including the 2010 GLAAD Award, a Lilly Award in 2010, as well as a Lanford Wilson Award in 2015. She was a Lark Fellow as well as a Dramatist Guild Fellow in 2010–11. She was also a cast member of the Neo-Futurists in New York. Hutchinson was a staff writer for the Blue Man Group. She has been a member of New Dramatists for four years. Currently she is a Humanitas Fellow and the Tow Foundation Fellow at Second Stage.[1] Hutchinson teaches creative writing at the University of Delaware.[2] Most recently her play Somebody's Daughter was included on the 2017 Kilroys List which includes un-produced plays by female and trans playwrights.[3]
Chisa Hutchinson was born in Queens, New York in 1980. At the age of four she was unofficially adopted by a family in Newark, New Jersey. At the age of 14 Hutchinson relocated to the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey to attend Kent Place School.[4] It is here that she was exposed to theatre for the first time. While attending high school, her drama teacher took her to attend a debate between August Wilson and Robert Brustein which inspired her to write African American centric theatre.[5]
Hutchinson attended Vassar College where she received a B.A. in Dramatic Arts. She would later go to earn her M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from Tisch School of the Arts.[2]
At Vassar College, Hutchinson was the only Black drama major. Because her education was not exploring theatre by Black writers, Hutchinson felt compelled to create her own work.[4]
Hutchinson's work centers around responding to social issues, although she states that, "the best way to write a play about a social issue is to not make it about a social issue." Her plays tell stories of people that are rarely seen on stage, such as transgender stories or stories of people of color.[5]
In interview she stated[6]
After the opening of her play She Likes Girls in 2008 Hutchinson's sexuality was put into the spotlight because the play centers around a young lesbian woman. Hutchinson however self identifies as bisexual.[4]
Hutchinson's play She Likes Girls centers around a young lesbian couple at an inter-city high school. This play and the topics it deals with would lead her to receive a GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Award. Not only did the play win this award but it received positive reviews throughout its run in New York City.[8]
In 2022, Chisa Hutchinson was included in the book 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre, profiled in a chapter written by theatre scholar La Donna L. Forsgren.[9]