MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

Biography

Sharai Dottin is playwright, musical theater writer and performer who is passionate about Black womxn’s stories. As an undergraduate student at Williams College, she was introduced to her love for Black feminism, theater and performance through various courses, and on the step team, Sankofa, where she served as team captain and head of choreography for two years. Sharai later went on to teach English in Colombia on a Fulbright U.S. Student grant, creatively bringing her Africana studies and theater interests into the classroom. Upon returning to the U.S. Sharai worked as the Community Outreach Apprentice at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, diversifying the Theater’s audience and advocating for equity and inclusion at the Theater.

Sharai graduated from New York University in 2022 with a Master’s in Interdisciplinary Studies at XE: Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement. Her original musical Blackgirltopia, and Master’s thesis project, titled Blackgirltopia: An Exploration of the Queer, Black Feminist and Afrofuturistic Possibilities of Musical Theater to Enact Liberation won the 2022 Hirschhorn Master’s Project Award. Blackgirltopia was last seen at Emerging Artists’ Theater’s Fall 2022 New Works Festival. Along with acting and continue to develop Blackgirltopia, Sharai is currently a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop as a book writer/librettist.