Jessica Charles
she/her/theirs
playwright/storyteller/cultural worker
Jessica Charles is a Black queer woman-identifying playwright, storyteller, and cultural worker whose work holds and uplifts underrepresented voices. Her passion is creating stories that listen, exhume, and archive the histories and present of Black and Queer lived experiences. She finds that in the specificities and nuances of her writing, universal connections are made. She writes absurd realism, both as real as it is absurd. Her dark comedies contain the optimism, resilience, and actuality of being a Black, queer person in America – “It’s funny, because it’s true.”
Jessica graduated from UC Berkeley and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, with degrees in Text and Performance. Her work has been workshopped, heard, and seen in spaces around the world. Her play ‘Antiquated F*ckery’ was produced at 59E59 Theaters in 2023. She was a finalist for the National Black Theatre’s 24/26 Playwriting Residency and The Lark 19/20 and a semi-finalist for WP Theater and Bay Area Playwrights Festival 24/26. Her work has been developed with: The Tank, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Makers Program @ 59E59, Liberation Theater Company, The New Group, The Pool, Google Pride, Black Lives Black Words International, Clutch Productions, San Francisco Playhouse, and more.