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The Dramatists Guild of America is proud to announce that it has hired Jenna Chrisphonte as its first Director of Community Engagement. This is a new position which was created in response to the membership’s desire for a means to respond as a constituency to the altered political and social environment following the 2016 election. Jenna will be working with Guild members across the country to identify both national and local priority issues, coordinate collective actions and political responses, and build a long-term, playwright-led movement to protect Guild members and the free society in which theater makers and their audiences can flourish.

Guild Vice President Lisa Kron, who also chairs the Guild’s Political Engagement Committee, says, “The Guild is beyond thrilled to have Jenna Chrisphonte on board. She brings to this new position an extraordinarily perfect combination of skills and experience: She has experience developing national political analysis through her work for the Canadian Consulate, she has navigated the thicket of local politics working for Manhattan Community Board 4, she’s done issue organizing with the Alliance for Quality Education and union organizing with the Graduate Student Employees Union, and because of her legal education, she is well positioned to analyze dense legislation and identify issues of concern for our members. Among the skills she brings to the outreach component of her job is fluency in French, Haitian Creole, and Spanish. On top of all that and best of all, Jenna is herself a working playwright, and brings her own playwright’s perspective to the job."

Jenna has worked for Global Affairs Canada, the French Ministry of National Education and for the State and City of New York. Jenna received her Bachelor’s and Juris Doctor from SUNY Buffalo. She is the author of the forthcoming Talc: A Haitian Zombie Story. Jenna is also working on a dramatic trilogy— Property: The Rule in Shelly’s CaseRule Against Perpetuities and Adverse Possession.

For more information, contact Tari Stratton at the Dramatists Guild of America at (212) 398-9366 x20.


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