Peggy Pettitt (born February 8, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, teacher, playwright, and storyteller. Pettitt is best known for her role as Billie Jean in the 1972 family–drama film ''

Black Girl Black women are women of sub-Saharan African and Afro-diasporic descent, as well as women of Australian Aboriginal and Melanesian descent. The term 'Black' is a racial classification of people, the definition of which has shifted over time and acr ...

'', starring alongside

Brock Peters Brock Peters (born George Fisher; July 2, 1927 – August 23, 2005) was an American actor and singer, best known for playing the villainous "Crown" in the 1959 film version of ''Porgy and Bess'', and the wrongfully convicted Tom Robinson in th ...

and

Claudia McNeil Claudia McNeil (August 13, 1917 – November 25, 1993) was an American actress known for premiering the role of matriarch Lena Younger in both the stage and screen productions of ''A Raisin in the Sun''. She later appeared in a 1981 productio ...

. Pettitt is a native of St. Louis, Missouri.

Playwright and storyteller

The centerpiece of Pettitt's theater career is a unique style of solo performance rooted in African-American storytelling. She developed this form to portray a spectrum of characters. Related by blood and circumstance, these characters shed light on the multifaceted history of African American men and women. And they tell "stories addressing important issues of our time."Mark Russell, ed., ''Out of Character: Rants, Raves, and Monologues from Today's Top Performance Artists'', New York: Bantam, 1997, p. 304. In collaboration with director Remy Tissier, she has created over 10 original full-length plays. These examine issues of domestic violence, sexual abuse, cross-generational differences, voting registration, the Civil Rights Movement, identity and the world HIV/Aids crisis. Titles include ''Women Preachers,'' ''Caught Between the Devil and The Deep Blue Sea,'' ''Tricksters: All Over You Like White On Rice,'' ''Wrapped Up, Tied Up and Tangled,'' ''Mollie Oil BETWIXT,'' ''Wild Steps'' and ''In The Spirit For Real''. One play was the product of her 2000-01

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

to Senegal: ''The Spirit Factor''. An original play, it's based on the living history and the art of storytelling in West Africa. Another play, ''Voyage'', was presented at the Avignon ''Off Festival'' in 2010. It explores American history through both the blues and a spiritual heritage that lives along the Mississippi River but originated in West Africa. Pettitt has presented her work at the Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni Les Rencontres du Bout des Mondes International Festival in 2011 (French Guiana). In addition to the Fulbright Fellowship, she has received numerous other grants and awards. These include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Pearls of Wisdom is a storytelling ensemble of the Elders Share the Arts in N.Y. City. Pettitt is its founding artistic director, and with the Pearls of Wisdom, she was inducted in 2007 into City Lore's People's Hall of Fame.

Actress

In 1972, during the era of

Blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...

movies, Pettitt made ''

'', her first feature film. Pettitt was nominated for Best Actress by the NAACP for her role in ''Black Girl'', written by J.E. Franklin (from her 1969

WGBH WGBH may refer to: * WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States ** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation ** WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...

(

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

) teleplay and her 1971 play), and directed by

Ossie Davis Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...

. Another of her noteworthy roles was at Lincoln Center as Miss Lindsey in ''

Mule Bone ''Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life'' is a 1930 play by American authors Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. The process of writing the play led Hughes and Hurston, who had been close friends, to sever their relationship. ''Mule Bone'' was no ...

'',

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...

and

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

’ historical comedy.

Teacher

Pettitt has professional experience and training in directing and storytelling workshops. She teaches a step-by-step process of creating, writing and performing original material. Partnering with a wide array of organizations, she has helped scores of diverse groups present their own original stories as both theater and storytelling performances. She also works extensively with drama therapists, social workers and educators in public schools. Both in the U.S. and abroad, Pettitt has worked at numerous schools and educational institutions. Her teaching experience extends to facilities such as homeless shelters, prisons, drug treatment centers, VA hospitals, and senior and adolescent centers. Additionally she has ample experience working with the emotionally and physically disabled and their families. She currently teaches self-scripting at New York University's Experimental Theatre Wing.

Biography

In 1974, after earning a BA from

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its f ...

, she moved to London on a

Thomas J. Watson Fellowship The Thomas J. Watson Foundation is a charitable trust formed 1961 in honor of former chairman and CEO of IBM, Thomas J. Watson. The Foundation's stated vision is to empower students “to expand their vision, test and develop their potential, an ...

. Pettitt now resides in New York City. She has been married since 1982 to writer, director and painter Rémy Tissier.

Awards and honors

* 2008, Story gatherer for "Another River Flows" recipient of the Pennsylvania Human Relation Award * 2010, ''Voyage'' was presented at the Avignon, France ''Off Festival'' * Nominated for an

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

Image Award for role in ''Black Girl'' * 2007, Ms. Pettitt and the Pearls of Wisdom were inducted into New York City Lore's People's Hall of Fame * Recipient of New York City's Arts In Education Roundtable Award for sustained achievement in theater * Honored by the William Hodson Senior Center, The Roundtable Senior Center and Elders Share the Arts for "Commitment to the art of storytelling that transforms lives and communities" * 2011,

Performance Space 122 Performance Space New York, formerly known as Performance Space 122 or P.S. 122, is a non-profitable arts organization founded in 1980 in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in an abandoned public school building. Origin The former eleme ...

founders and board pioneers Shining Star Award

In books

* ''Out of Character'', Mark Russell, 1997 * ''Performing Democracy'', Susan Chandler Haedicke, 2004 * ''Mapping Memories'', Pam Schweitzer, 2004 * ''Local Acts, An International Anthology'', Jan Cohen Cruz, 2005 * ''Ensemble Works'', An Anthology, Ferdinand Lewis, 2005 * ''Reminiscence Theatre: Making Theatre from Memory'', Pam Schweitzer, 2007 * ''Forget Memory: Creating Better Lives For People With Dementia'', Ann Basting, 2009.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettitt, Peggy American female dancers American dancers 1950 births Living people 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights African-American actresses American actresses Watson Fellows American storytellers Women storytellers 20th-century American women writers African-American women musicians 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women