We recently connected with Renée Westbrook and have shared our conversation below.

Renée , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

SHELTER, my one-woman show is by far the most meaningful project I’ve ever written and performed. Because I’m taking it to the next level professionally, I don’t want to give away too much right now. So, to make a long story short, after spending several months looking for a window into the story, I later began developing it at Diversionary Theatre’s WordPlay Tuesday workshop and it grew from there. When I entered my first semester of graduate school in 2016 my program director suggested I finish the play and I did. After the world premier in 2017 and during the second run at the 2019 San Diego International Fringe Festival is when I totally understood what the show is all about and what it means to others. Several people thanked me for writing it because they or someone they knew had experienced homelessness. Inside of a quiet moment when I’m about half way through the show, I pause to get a good look at the audience. The most beautiful thing I’ve seen so far is that no one in my audience is black or white, Jew or Gentile or Catholic. Each audience member is one human being connected to the human being sitting next to them and they big kick out of listening to the fairy godmother of mature female artists Essence Of Whoopi Goldberg and Laz-R-Us the karate kid street urchin.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I earned my M.F.A in Creative Writing from San Diego State University where I was the recipient of the MFA Creative Writing Scholarship, Graduate Equity Fellowship, and an AWP Intro Journals Fiction Short Story Competition Nomination. My critically acclaimed, award-winning one-woman show SHELTER ran at the San Diego International Fringe Festival in 2017, 2019, and 2022. At the 2019 festival, I received the Outstanding Solo Performance Award and an Artist Cultural Exchange Award. SHELTER was also a San Diego Union-Tribune Critic’s Choice and the KBPS SD Fringe Top Pick that year. In 2022, SHELTER was an SD Fringe Top Pick and the #1 show in Beth Accomando’s KBPS SD Fringe Top Ten Shows. I am currently developing an expansion of the one-woman show, a 12-character musical, titled SHELTER THE ENSEMBLE. It received its first complete reading at San Diego State University, led by Professor Randy Reinholz, in early 2022. Recently I received permission to use content from Alice Walker’s THE COLOR PURPLE in a forthcoming revival run of the show and I’m very excited about it. I’ve co-written songs with former Teena Marie bass player Allen McGrier and my original feature film screenplay ONLY GIRL was one of the Elite Eight in the All Sports Los Angeles Film Festival. I’m also currently developing EVELYN SMITH, a feature film screenplay inspired by my 2009 homeless experiences. My writing can be found in Callaloo Literary Journal, Black Warrior Review, and the Black Lawrence Press anthology titled Mamas, Martyrs, and Jezebels: Myths, Legends, and Other Lies You’ve Been Told about Black Women.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission is simple. I wrote about it in the personal statement of my graduate school application and I live by it today: help women find ways to tell their stories.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is knowing that my art can change someone’s life. I write songs, plays, screenplays etc. because I can’t NOT write them. It’s my passion and it’s just who I am as a human being. Years ago when I realized that I was “called” to create art and later learned my art could change someone’s life, that was scary. Having that kind of influence can be off-putting. But I stood in my shoes, kept the focus on my passion for creating, and believed that a higher power would guide me to create meaningful art with universal themes. Whether it’s an essay in an anthology that sits on a grad student’s desk or it’s the Essence Of Whoopi Goldberg giving Davina Grey the business in SHELTER, I now know at least one person will be able to take away something positive from what I’ve created. That to me is a blessing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://boldjourney.com/meet-renee-westbrook/
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/BDdaybkrlXk?feature=shared

Image Credits

Leslie Reilly, Prine Photography, Internet Commons, Beth Accomando