Hey folx 👋🏽,

I am Jocelyn Prince, the Creator of  Theater Folx of Color. My friends call me JP. I started this group in 2018 because I was feeling isolated after stints at oppressive predominately white institutions like Yale. I wanted to find new ways to fellowship with BIPOC people. I knew a few others who were feeling the same way so I started this group and invited people in.

TFOC is a platform dedicated to amplifying the voices and work of BIPOC theater artists in an affinity space where we can truly support one another. My first inspiration for TFOC was feminist and social activist bell hooks' offering in her book – Killing Rage: Ending Racism. She wrote, "As more people of color raise our consciousness and refuse to be pitted against one another, the forces of neo-colonial white supremacist domination must work harder to divide and conquer.” ✊🏽

Huge gratitude to the intergenerational collective of Black women who helped launch this community on Facebook back in 2018. We've grown to 14K+ members, and I'm incredibly proud of that. Our vision has outgrown what our Facebook Group can offer. Thank you everyone who has made it such a special place over the years. 

Our new homebase on Circle.so is in a completely private, safe space where we own our data, and where we can control the experience. Circle.so offers more robust privacy, customizable spaces for dialogue and resource sharing, and the ability to host workshops, gatherings, and collaborations—without the noise and surveillance of corporate social media.

For the past two decades, I've been working across the theater industry as an administrator, dramaturg, consultant, educator, and teaching artist. I am a neurodivergent, cis-gendered Gen X Black woman who grew up on the South Side of Chicago. I've been fortunate to live in some amazing cities over the years – New York City, New Haven, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and DC. These days I'm based in the desert oasis that is Las Vegas 🌵, where I work for the Department of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs, managing the West Las Vegas Theatre. My nationwide experience as a worker in the industry has given me a unique perspective on the challenges and possibilities for BIPOC in the theater. 

I've collaborated with incredible institutions, such as The Public Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, New York Theatre Workshop, Dobama Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, The Broad Stage, Court Theatre, eta Creative Arts Foundation, The Juilliard School of Drama, The Field, The Kennedy Center, The Juilliard School of Drama, Rattlestick Theater, The Opportunity Agenda, New York Theatre Workshop, Theatre Communications Group, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company. My work has been covered in publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

I've held faculty appointments in the Theater Management department at Yale's David Geffen School of Drama and Northwestern University's performance studies, theater, and rhetoric undergraduate departments, as well as in the Master of Science in Leadership for Creative Enterprises program. I was also a co-founding Artistic Director of The New Black Fest in NYC.

You can check out my writing in The Chicago Reporter, American Theatre, Nonprofit Quarterly, African-American Review, TimeOut Chicago, TimeOut New York, and Howlround. I co-authored “Honk for Justice,” a chapter in Contemporary Black Theatre and Performance: Acts of Rebellion, Activism, and Solidarity, with Dr. Harvey Young, reflecting on a 2020 durational performance protest I led in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. 📝 

Beyond theater, I've staffed presidential campaigns doing field organizing in Iowa, Ohio and Nevada – Obama ’08, Clinton ’16, and Harris ’20 and ’24. Politics and art are deeply connected, and I'm passionate about both.

I studied English Writing and LIterature at Lake Forest College and I have a B.A. in Journalism from Bradley University and a M.A. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. 🎓

I love coffee, ice cream, reality TV, horror films, desert sunshine ☀️, running, hiking, 90s alternative music and Broadway show tunes. Most importantly, I am proud dog mom to Malcolm (X) and Zora (Neale Hurston), two rescue dogs from Paws Chicago and The Animal Foundation. — follow their adventures on Instagram at @zora.thedoggy and @malcolm.thedoggy. 🐶 

In these turbulent times, I’m committed to championing, amplifying, connecting and celebrating BIPOC voices in the theater. This work matters.

Onward,

💙

JP

jocelyn@tfoc.net