Cultural Activist

As an educator Stephanie’s primary focus has been to develop and implement curricula to meet the specific needs and challenges of the diverse and under-served populations she has worked with over the years. 

Stephanie is a founding member of Blackberry Productions Theater Company (www.blackberryproductions.org) a Harlem based organization that brings theater and arts education programs to underserved and youth populations throughout New York. Founded in 1984, she co-conceived and produced the company’s signature event, Harlem Renaissance II, at the world famous Apollo Theater for 4 consecutive years. In 1992, BPTC became the first in the history of the Apollo Theater to bring repertory, educational theater to this landmark venue. Concurrently, Stephanie began teaching language arts at the Young Adult Learning Academy (YALA), a New York City alternative school. 

Her pioneering approaches to using the arts as a vehicle for improving student performance led to the creation of a permanent arts-in-education program at YALA with unparalleled success for nearly 13 years. Likewise, under Stephanie’s leadership, the residency resulted in Blackberry's unique approach to enhancing learning and political awareness. BPTC generated a repertoire of over a dozen original productions and Stephanie authored several arts education curricula.  She was invited to teach her original models at Sarah Lawrence College for several years, at Rutgers’s University for the last 12 years, and at City College New York.

While teaching at YALA, Stephanie used journal writing as a teaching tool.  Using her own journals, she wrote her solo show, THE SHANEEQUA CHRONICLES: The Making of a Black Women. The play premiered at the Ensemble Studio Theatre and garnered her the 2001 OBIE Award, an AUDELCO and the New Voices Award at Harlem Stage (formerly Aaron Davis Hall.)