The University of Minnesota provides a nominated graduate student with support, mentorship and practical experience at Penumbra Theatre Company through this fellowship program. Having produced more August Wilson plays than any other professional organization worldwide, Penumbra is uniquely situated to afford students the opportunity to explore the signature Penumbra staging process that inaugurated the playwright’s career in 1983 with Black Bart and the Sacred Hills. Before his death in 2005, August Wilson was lauded with praise from critics and contemporaries in addition to being twice awarded the highly esteemed Pulitzer Prize.

Administered by the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance, the Fellow receives full tuition and a 50% teaching assistantship during a residence that can extend up to three years of study. The award is based on merit, achievement, creativity and community involvement. The Fellow is the resident scholar at Penumbra and provides dramaturgical research, and critical essays that are often used in support of thesis or dissertation work. Penumbra Theatre Company member August Wilson created this fellowship to solidify a connection between the country’s preeminent black theatre company and area students, and to generate erudite criticism and dramaturgical research within an authentic, expert African American institution.

Maximum participants: 1 Fellow per year.
Candidates must be nominated by faculty at University of Minnesota.
Open to graduate students.
For more information, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ,
Graduate Studies Secretary in the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance

CARRA MARTINEZ, 2010-2011 Recipient
Carra is a PhD candidate in Theatre Historiography at the University of Minnesota, and she is excited to work with Penumbra as the August Wilson Fellow for Penumbra’s 2010-2011 Season. In Minneapolis, she has worked professionally as an actor with The Playwrights’ Center and Teatro del Pueblo. Prior to moving to Minneapolis to work on her doctorate, Carra was a performer and teacher in Austin, Texas. In Austin, she worked professionally as an actor and collaborator with companies like the Rude Mechanicals, Salvage Vanguard Theater, the dirigo group, Austin Script Works, Hyde Park Theatre, and the Fusebox Festival, as well as in educational settings like the University of Texas at Austin. Carra was a company member of Refraction Arts Project. By day, she masqueraded as an English teacher at Austin Westlake High School. Currently, Carra is working on a memoir-based, one-woman show.