| Patricia J. Gibson | |
| Birth Date: | 1952 |
| Birth Place: | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Death Place: | New York, New York |
| Occupation: | Playwright, teacher, and lecturer |
| Other Names: | P.J. Gibson |
| Awards: | National Endowment of the Arts playwriting grant |
| Alma Mater: | Keuka College, Brandeis University |
Patricia Joann Gibson (1952-2022), also known as P.J. Gibson, was an African American playwright and teacher.
Patricia Joann Gibson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1952. She grew up in Trenton, New Jersey.[1] She started writing at the age of 9.[2]
She earned a BA in drama, religion, and English from Keuka College. She earned a MFA from Brandeis University in 1975, where she received a Schubert Fellowship.
Gibson studied under J.P. Miller. Other mentors included Don Peterson and Israel Horovitz. Lorraine Hansberry was a major influence on Gibson's work. Gibson saw To Be Young Gifted and Black in 1969, and started writing plays.
She has written 35 full-length plays and television scripts for Oprah Winfrey and Bill Cosby.[3]
Her play Miss Ann Don't Cry No More (1980) earned a National Endowment of the Arts grant. The play was performed as a reading at the Frank Silvera Writer's Workshop, and eventually fully produced at the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center.
Her play Long Time Since Yesterday earned multiple AUDELCO awards in 1985, including Best Play. It has had over 60 productions since its premiere.
Gibson was playwright-in-residence at Rutgers University, the University of California at Berkeley, and a lengthy stay at the College of New Rochelle[4] Gibson was an Artistic Director of the Rites and Reason Theatre at Brown University.
Gibson taught as an assistant professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice City University of New York. She started on April 19, 1988 in the Seek Department, and in 1990 moved to the English department.[5]
She was part of the Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre playwriting faculty.[6]
Gibson died on May 6, 2022.
John Jay College established a P.J. Gibson Memorial Scholarship for Creative Writers in her name.