Shanelle Villegas

Open Study/Research Award

Shanelle Chloe Villegas (she/they) graduated with a BFA in Contemporary Theatre from Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She is a highly awarded actor, writer, arts educator and experimental theatre artist who was recognized in September 2022 as one of fifteen artists of color leaving an imprint on Massachusetts in WBUR’S “The Makers”. In March of 2023, Shanelle ended her playwrighting residency at The Boston Center for the Arts where she has been developing a devised memoir play about the coexistence of grief and love at the intersection of parental emotional absence, oppressive institutions of patriarchy and racism, and intergenerational trauma within her dysfunctional family of color. This Fulbright opportunity will give her the opportunity to research Ghanaian-British community members and incorporate their perspective on intergenerational trauma into the finished version of this play, in affiliation with Talawa Theatre Company.  
 
Outside of theatre, Shanelle is most well-known for being an arts educator throughout the City of Boston - mentoring young people who wish to pursue careers in the arts and championing their creative genius and visionary talents.