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Jordan Ealey

Jordan Ealey is a playwright, dramaturg, and scholar based in the DC-area.

Jordan Ealey is a playwright, dramaturg, and scholar, hailing from Atlanta, Georgia and currently based in the DC-area. Currently, Jordan is a doctoral student in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park where she researches black theatre and performance, black feminist theories and praxis, musical theatre, black girlhood studies, practice-as-research, and popular entertainment. Her work has been published in Theatre Journal. As a playwright, Jordan's works have been workshopped and/or developed with The Keegan Theatre, University of Maryland, and Rorschach Theatre. As a dramaturg, she has worked with Hush Harbor Lab, Dance Place, and Synchronicity Theatre. Jordan is the co-host and co-producer of Daughters of Lorraine, a black theatre podcast.

A promotional graphic for the Daughters of Lorraine Podcast.
We’ve Got Trouble in Mind
Podcast

We’ve Got Trouble in Mind

29 November 2023

Hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley discuss the contributions made by Alice Childress and the historical and contemporary significance of her play, Trouble in Mind, including the filmed 2021 production at the National Theatre in London.

A promotional graphic for the Daughters of Lorraine Podcast
Digging for Bones with Topdog/Underdog
Podcast

Digging for Bones with Topdog/Underdog

15 November 2023

Hosts Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey dig into the dramaturgies and theories of Suzan-Lori Parks and discuss Canadian Stage’s production of Parks’s Topdog/Underdog.
 

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
Black Patience and the Theatre of Civil Rights
Podcast

Black Patience and the Theatre of Civil Rights

1 November 2023

Hosts Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey interview scholar Professor Julius Fleming, Jr. about his book Black Patience: Performance, Civil Rights, and the Unfinished Project of Emancipation (NYU Press, 2022). They discuss the importance of theatre to the Civil Rights Movement and the relationship between Black theatre and performance and Black studies.

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
The Influence and Impact of the Negro Ensemble Company
Podcast

The Influence and Impact of the Negro Ensemble Company

18 October 2023

This episode focuses on the iconic Negro Ensemble Company (NEC). Hosts Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey delve into the NEC’s founding and history, its track record of producing successful Black plays, and its legacy within Black theatre and performance.

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
Staging Black Intimacies
Podcast

Staging Black Intimacies

4 October 2023

Hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley interview Kaja Dunn, who is an intimacy professional, director, actor, and scholar. They discuss her journey as a theatre artist, the importance of intimacy coordinator for theatre and television, and Kaja’s own artistry and creativity.

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
What Is Black Theatre?
Podcast

What Is Black Theatre?

20 September 2023

This episode will discuss the age old questions of what is Black theatre? What is a Black play? How do you know one when you see it? Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey provide an overview of the some of the most popular commentary on this question from Black theatre theorists of the past such as W.E.B Dubois, Alain Locke, and Alice Childress.

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Queer Archival Praxis Roundtable
Podcast

Queer Archival Praxis Roundtable

With Guests David Silvernail, Janet Werther, Victoria Lafave, Jordan Ealey, and Kelli Crump

6 September 2023

What role does white supremacy play in the creation of the queer theatre canon? What power and what responsibility do we—as queer theatremakers, historians, and educators—have to challenge canons and archives that define “queer” almost exclusively as white and cisgender? Artist-scholars Janet Werther, Victoria LaFave, Jordan Ealey, David Silvernail, and Kelli Crump join host Nicolas Shannon Savard to tackle these questions and to queer the archive.

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
I Write What Comes Up in My Body: Robbie McCauley's Theatre
Podcast

I Write What Comes Up in My Body: Robbie McCauley's Theatre

24 August 2022

In this episode, Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley look at the life and legacy of playwright Robbie McCauley, who recently passed away. They discuss her work as a pioneer of solo performance as a Black woman and how she impacted the world of Black feminist theatre.

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
Put Some Respect on Black Theatre with Lisa B. Thompson
Podcast

Put Some Respect on Black Theatre with Lisa B. Thompson

16 August 2022

In this episode, Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley interview artist/scholar Lisa B. Thompson. They discuss navigating life as a Black feminist artist/scholar, putting some respect on Black theatre, and why Black theatre is an integral part of Black Studies.

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
Writing Detroit: Dominique Morisseau’s Practice of the Possible
Podcast

Writing Detroit: Dominique Morisseau’s Practice of the Possible

10 August 2022

Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley interview award-winning and acclaimed playwright Dominique Morisseau about her recent Broadway productions of Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations and Skeleton Crew; the future of Detroit theatre and performance; and reckoning with American history. Ealey and Ridley discuss Morisseau’s practice of reparative creativity and the ability for theatre to serve as a rehearsal for true change.

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
Staging Reproductive Freedom in Black Feminist Theatre
Podcast

Staging Reproductive Freedom in Black Feminist Theatre

3 August 2022

This episode is inspired by recent and current events regarding Roe v. Wade and their potential impact on birthing people. We think about the representation of reproductive justice (things such as abortion, contraception, and anything regarding decisions to birth or plan a family) especially from Black women playwrights. We discuss plays such as They That Sit in Darkness by Mary Burrill, Rachel by Angelina Weld Grimke, Come Down Burning by Kia Corthron, In the Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks, and Abortion Road Trip by Rachel Lynett.

Black Women Got Something to Say: A Conversation with Pearl Cleage
Podcast

Black Women Got Something to Say: A Conversation with Pearl Cleage

27 July 2022

In this episode, Jordan and Leticia interview playwright Pearl Cleage. They discuss the way she has navigated her career as a Black feminist/womanist playwright often working in Black spaces; how she found her home in Atlanta, Georgia; and her most recent play, Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous.

Daughter of Lorraine teaser image
When and Where We Enter: Black Feminist Theatre
Podcast

When and Where We Enter: Black Feminist Theatre

20 July 2022

In this episode, Leticia and Jordan finally explain what they mean when they say Black feminism, especially in theatre and performance. They engage Lisa M. Anderson’s tenets of Black feminist drama, alongside other contemporary scholars and artists expansion of Black feminist theatre. They discuss Black feminist theory, black feminist practice in creative work, and black feminist theatre theory.

Daughters of Lorraine - Fat Ham
A Soft Place To Land: James Ijames' Fat Ham
Podcast

A Soft Place To Land: James Ijames' Fat Ham

13 July 2022

This episode focuses on the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner, Fat Ham by James Ijames. Leticia and Jordan discuss the recent production at the Public Theater, its conversation and diversion from Shakespeare, representations of Black queerness, and what it means to be soft as a black person.

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
Working Her Own Tune: Revisiting the Life, Legacy, and Work of Micki Grant
Podcast

Working Her Own Tune: Revisiting the Life, Legacy, and Work of Micki Grant

6 July 2022

This episode honors the life and work of composer, writer, and performer Micki Grant, who passed away in August 2021. Grant was the first Black woman to write and compose a musical that made it to Broadway, and she is also the subject of Jordan's dissertation.

Creating a Space for Black Theatre Audiences
Podcast

Creating a Space for Black Theatre Audiences

With Addae Moon

29 June 2022

This episode is an interview with Addae Moon, the associate artistic director at Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta, Georgia. We discuss his journey as a theatre artist; his playwright development lab, Hush Harbor Lab; and his own artistry and creativity.

Singin' a Black Girl's Song- Ntozake Shange and for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf
Podcast

Singin' a Black Girl's Song- Ntozake Shange and for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf

22 June 2022

This episode explores the recent revival of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, directed and choreographed by Camille A. Brown. Hosts Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey contextualize the production, its ongoing relevance and legacy, and its resonance in Black feminist theatre, dance, and performance.

Sharpening Our Oyster Knives: Revisiting What to Send Up When It Goes Down
Podcast

Sharpening Our Oyster Knives: Revisiting What to Send Up When It Goes Down

Bonus Episode

1 November 2021

On this special episode of Daughters of Lorraine, hosts Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey sit down with Aleshea Harris and Whitney White, the playwright and director of the powerful, ritualistic play, What to Send Up When It Goes Down.

hana sharif seated in a theatre
Claiming Our Space with Hana Sharif
Podcast

Claiming Our Space with Hana Sharif

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast Season 2 Episode 6

25 November 2020

For the last episode of season two of the Daughters of Lorraine Podcast, hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley talk with Hana S. Sharif about her journey to becoming one of the first Black women to be artistic director of a regional theatre, managing in a pandemic, her thoughts on the current state of American theatre, and more.

black and white photo of four actors onstage
When Form Meets Content
Podcast

When Form Meets Content

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast Season 2 Episode 5

18 November 2020

In this episode, Daughters of Lorraine Podcast hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley discuss how Black playwrights, such as Adrienne Kennedy, Tarrell Alvin McCraney, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Ntozake Shange, have experimented with form.

The Black Artist Coalition logo
American Theatre's Racial Reckoning with The Black Artist Coalition
Podcast

American Theatre's Racial Reckoning with The Black Artist Coalition

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast Season 2 Episode 4

28 October 2020

The Daughters of Lorraine Podcast hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley discuss the advent of We See You, White American Theatre and situate it within a history of Black theatre artists calling out the white supremacy endemic to American theatre, as well as interviewing The Black Artist Coalition founders Vaughn Midder and Kevin McAllister.

a large group of actors on an outdoor stage
Shakespeare in Black with Renea Brown
Podcast

Shakespeare in Black with Renea Brown

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast Season 2 Episode 3

7 October 2020

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley interview actress Renea Brown on the interactions between Black theatre and Shakespeare, as well as her experience as a Black Shakespearean performer.

three actors onstage
The Black in Black Musical Theatre
Podcast

The Black in Black Musical Theatre

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast Season 2 Episode 2

23 September 2020

In this episode of the Daughters of Lorraine Podcast, hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley discuss "What is a Black musical?" using James Baldwin's Amen Corner and Angelica Chéri's Gun and Powder.

black and white photo of a large group with one person at a microphone
Beyond the Raisin: The Incredible Brief Life of Lorraine Hansberry
Podcast

Beyond the Raisin: The Incredible Brief Life of Lorraine Hansberry

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast Season 2 Episode 1

9 September 2020

The Daughters of Lorraine Podcast returns for another episode where hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridely discuss Lorraine Hansberry's life, legacy, and other works of theatre and literature.

Otis Cortez Ramsey-Zoë
Dramaturgy, Black Refusal, and Possibility with Otis Cortez Ramsey-Zoë
Podcast

Dramaturgy, Black Refusal, and Possibility with Otis Cortez Ramsey-Zoë

Daughters of Lorraine Episode #6

28 January 2020

For the final episode of the first season of the Daughters of Lorraine Podcast, Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley interview dramaturg and director Otis Cortez Ramsey-Zoë about his work in the Washington DC area, as well as his general thoughts about the state of and stakes for Black theatre.