P.J. GIBSON

Biography

P. J. Gibson has demonstrated her talent in writing ranging from poems and short stories to public service announcements and media publications. However, she is best known for her plays.

Gibson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Trenton, New Jersey. While in her early teens, she studied under J. P. Miller (The Days of Wine and Roses, 1973). In the early 1970s, she earned a BA in drama, religion, and English from Keuka College in New York. She was then awarded a Shubert Fellowship to study playwriting at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where she completed her MFA in 1975. Aside from J. P. Miller, Gibson's mentors include Don Peterson (Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, 1969) and Israel Horovitz (Indian Wants the Bronx, 1968).

Although Gibson has had several mentors, Lorraine Hansberry is one of her primary influences. In fact, in the late 1960s, after seeing a play based on Hansberry's life and writing, To Be Young, Gifted and Black (1969), Gibson was inspired to start writing plays. Since that time, she has written twenty-six, a number of which have been produced in various countries. She is quite prolific and explains that “If I live to be 150, I still won’t have enough time to write about all the black women inside of me.”

Gibson's commitment to creating substantial roles for African American women is evident in her first play, The Black Woman, which debuted in a one-act version in 1971 and was later produced in a three-act version in 1972. The play consists of a chronological sequence of monologues spoken by twenty African American women characters who live during different periods of history.

The Black Woman was followed by Void Passage and Konvergence, two one-acts produced as companion pieces in 1973 by Players Company of Trenton, New Jersey. Void Passage focuses on the conflicts of two women who have been labeled “strong Black women” while Konvergence, published in Woodie King, Jr.'s New Plays for the Black Theatre (1989), depicts the turbulent reunion of a married couple after a year's separation. This upwardly mobile couple struggles with whether or not to assimilate into middle-class society and “become another chocolate-covered android of the system,” yet another statistic of the vacuous, materialistic American dream.

The failure of the American dream returns as a theme in Miss Ann Don’t Cry No More (1980), the play that earned an NEA grant for Gibson. In this, Gibson reveals the failed dreams of the inhabitants of an apartment house and again presents the challenges and struggles urban America presents to African Americans.

P.J. Gibson passed away in 2022. (Full bio)

Plays

VOID PASSAGE (1973)

Void is a realistic/surrealistic drama in one act. The setting is a vast pyramidal structure considered the “void passage.” It addresses the conflict between two women who have both had to live with the title “strong black woman” and must now learn to find strength from each other. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 2 (2f)

Characters: Deja, Aikeetra, Grandmother, Mother, Voice Over

Publication: Void Passage. Alexander Street Press, 2006. (Link)*

+ MORE INFO

Void Passage and Konvergence were first produced as companion one-acts in 1973 by the Players Company of Trenton in New Jersey.

KONVERGENCE (1973)

Konvergence is a drama in one act set in a mountain lodge about a couple who wants to reevaluate their relationship after a year’s separation. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 2 (1f, 1m)

Characters: Derek, Nanyel

Publication: Konvergence. Alexander Street Press, 2003. (Link)*

New Plays for the Black Theatre. Edited by Woodie King Jr. Third World Press, 1989. (Link)

+ More Info

Void Passage and Konvergence were first produced as companion one-acts in 1973 by the Players Company of Trenton in New Jersey.

BROWN SILK AND MAGENTA SUNSETS (1981)

Brown Silk and Magenta Sunsets presents an expressionistic view of the results of obsessive passion. Told through flashbacks of Lena Salvinoni’s life, the plot unfolds to chronicle a younger Lena’s relationship with Roland, a striving musician, and Fendi, their daughter. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 6 (4f, 2m)

Characters: Lena Larsen Salvinoni, Younger Lena, Veeda Richards Watts, Roland Watts, Fendi Larsen Watts Salvinoni, Able McKitchen

Publication: 9 Plays by Black Women. Edited by Margaret B. Wilkerson. New American Library, 1986. (Link)

TRIAL (1983)

A courtroom. It is the day the youth may defend their actions, conditions, needs and addictions. This work addresses the adolescent audience. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 11+

Characters: Bailiff, Reporter, Judge Saw-En-Heard It All Before, Faith Hopskin, Valerie Wilson, Donnie Lewis, Tisha Reynolds, Garrett Alexander, Candy Tilmoore, Prosecuting Attorney, Cameraman, Jurors

Publication: Trial. Alexander Street Press, 2006. (Link)*

LONG TIME SINCE YESTERDAY (1985)

Set in suburban New Jersey in the early 1980's, this potent drama is about a reunion of former college classmates, now in their thirties, at the funeral of a friend who killed herself. These women are prosperous, professional Black women who have gone through the sixties and come out on top of the eighties. At the wake, they confront the truth about their own lives and about the suicide which has again brought them together. A literate, humorous, sensitive look at the lives of contemporary Black women. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 8 (8f)

Characters: Young Laveer Swan, Young Janeen Earl, Laveer Swan, Babbs Wilkerson, Alisa Myers-Reynolds, Thelma Carlson, Panzi Lew McVain, Janeen Earl-Taylor

Publication: Long Time Since Yesterday. Samuel French, 1986. (Link)

+ MORE INFO

Long Time Since Yesterday was first produced by the New Federal Theatre in New York City in 1985. The production was directed by Bette Howard; set design was by Charles Henry McClennahan; costume design was by Judy Dearing; lighting design was by William H. Grant III; sound design was by Bernard Hall. The cast for this production included:

Young Laveer Swan - Sabrina DePina
Young Janeen Earl - Ayanna Phillips
Laveer Swan - Starletta DuPois
Babbs Wilkerson - Petronia Paley
Alisa Myers-Reynolds - Thelma Louise Carter
Thelma Carlson - Emily Yancy
Panzi Lew McVain - Denise Nicholas
Janeen Earl-Taylor - Loretta Devine

ANGEL (1986)

It is a world of women, loneliness and the consolation found in either liquor, religion or a creation of the mind, Angel, a suspected "incubus.” This is the story of a woman's choice between the love of a living man and that of an "Angel." (Source)

Cast Requirement: 5 (3f, 2m)

Characters: Lena Winds, Liz Fuller, Mina Torres, Preston Pierson, Angel, Amilia Washington, Bob Hewitt

Publication: Angel. Alexander Street Press, 2006. (Link)*

ANNIE MAYE’S CHILD (1992)

A tragic drowning, twenty-one years ago, results in the hand-off of a baby, three people trying to alter destiny and the paths they were all to travel. Fate wills out. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 6 (4f, 2m)

Characters: Annie Maye Jones Butross, Francine Cooks/Purvis, Derethia Butross, Brenmar Butross, Donell Butross, Summer Purvis

Publication: Annie Maye’s Child. Alexander Street Press, 2003. (Link)*

Destiny’s Daughters: 9 Voices of P.J. Gibson. 1st Books, 2003. (Link)

UNVEILINGS (1993)

Former college professor chooses to spend her last days on her parents estate. On this, her birthday, she receives as gifts–revelations of lies, deception and cheated years with the man she loved. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 4 (4f)

Characters: Abigail Waterford, Jocelyn Harrison Pierson, Carolyn Waterford Harrison, Momma Waterford

Publication: Unveilings. Alexander Street Press, 2003. (Link)*

Destiny’s Daughters: 9 Voices of P.J. Gibson. 1st Books, 2003. (Link)

MY MARK, MY NAME (1993)

Drama that addresses the world facing the "freed" Black men and women after the war. It is a time where "freedom" does not mean security and a world where a slave, in the midst of freed Black men, must take a dramatic action to gain his freedom. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 7 (2f, 5m)

Characters: Nuba Briggs, Silah Briggs, Sippeo Stephens, Phillis Stephens, Cedar, River, Jupiter

Publication: My Mark, My Name. Alexander Street Press, 2003. (Link)*

Destiny’s Daughters: 9 Voices of P.J. Gibson. 1st Books, 2003. (Link)

+ MORE INFO

My Mark, My Name was originally commissioned by George Houston Bass at Brown University’s Rites and Reason Theatre.

DEEP ROOTS (1997)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1868. A free, educated and prosperous Black family must deal with the self hatred of their very fair complexion daughter, whose actions threaten the family's legacy and responsibility for the distant future. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 6 (3f, 3m)

Characters: Octavia Freeman, Reginia Freeman, Mason Freeman, Grand Annie Allen, Joshua Freeman, Jackson Thurnsby

Publication: Deep Roots. Alexander Street Press, 2003. (Link)*

Destiny’s Daughters: 9 Voices of P.J. Gibson. 1st Books, 2003. (Link)

WEEDING (1998)

Summit of an ancient mountain. A mother of two despicable adult children, who are a scourge on the family, community and society, calls upon her ancestors to assist in the difficult act of weeding. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 5 (4f, 1m)

Characters: Azania, Airzena, Aleta, Candace, Daniel

Publication: Weeding. Alexander Street Press, 2003. (Link)*

Destiny’s Daughters: 9 Voices of P.J. Gibson. 1st Books, 2003. (Link)

THE TAKING CIRCLE (1998)

A mother has made the painful decision to take the life of her newborn infant child in a manner which can not be detected by her master. She is comforted by the loving arms of her slave and ancestral mothers. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 7 (7f)

Characters: Shula, Japera, Letta, Odell, Velma, Thessa, Mahdia

Publication: The Taking Circle. Alexander Street Press, 2003. (Link)*

Destiny’s Daughters: 9 Voices of P.J. Gibson. 1st Books, 2003. (Link)

LOOKING FOR HEZEKIAH (1998)

Things are disappearing in the Michael’s household. The finger is pointed at the daughter-in-law. But when Hezekiah disappears, things have really gone too far. But…is the daughter-in-law the culprit? (Source)

Cast Requirement: 4 (3f, 1m)

Characters: Albertha Louise Michaels, Estaphine Tucker, Portia Jewels, Dupree Michaels

Publication: Looking for Hezekiah. Alexander Street Press, 2006. (Link)*

BLOOD ON THE SEATS (1999)

Two women, fearing the sacrifices and deaths of ancestors have been negated and forgotten by the "I've pulled myself up by my bootstrap” generation, and they call upon the heavens, their ancestors to hold the arrogant accountable. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 6 (4f, 2m)

Characters: Naomi, Willa, Abebi, Kokayi, Cloie, Dupont

Publication: Blood on the Seats. Alexander Street Press, 2003. (Link)*

Destiny’s Daughters: 9 Voices of P.J. Gibson. 1st Books, 2003. (Link)

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PASSION CURTAIN (2001)

A princely Nubian male, whose amorous reputation precedes him, enters the village. He catches the eye of a young virtuous villager young woman of means. For them to succumb to their passions is to have dire consequences. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 3 (2f, 1m)

Characters: Najii, Pahroonee, Runakuu

Publication: Destiny’s Daughters: 9 Voices of P.J. Gibson. 1st Books, 2003. (Link)

DINNER AT AUNT LUCY’S (2002)

Aunt Lucy has money; she also has a will. The catch to financial gain?… Family members must dine at her home, once a month. The problem… Aunt Lucy can’t cook, that is excluding her two edible dishes. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 6 (3f, 3m)

Characters: Aunt Lucy, Evelyn, Taylor, Chanel, Robert, Walter Reed McFarlen

Publication: Dinner at Aunt Lucy’s. Alexander Street Press, 2006. (Link)*

JESSE (2004)

Married couple Tauna and Gareth Randolph recount the elaborate birthday surprises that they plan for each other.

Cast Requirement: 2 (1f, 1m)

Characters: Tauna Randolph, Gareth Randolph

Publication: Jesse. Alexander Street Press, 2006. (Link)*

A writer, with newly acquired wealth and fame, invites friends from the past over, for a painting party. The arrival of a missing member of this old college clan, now a "bag lady" type, redefines that which has driven them all to a world of monetary success. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 5 (3f, 2m)

Characters: NA

Publication: NA

A MAN, MASCULINE AND GLASS FIST

A married couple is stuck in the routine of their relationship. The wife, in anger and frustration, demands that her husband "be a man." This results in her finding the true meaning of the man she has married. (Source)

Cast Requirement: 2 (1f,1m)

Characters: NA

Publication: NA

Resources

GIBSON INTERVIEWS

Hatch-Billops Collection, “Artist and Influence” (Link)*

“Long Time Since Yesterday.” Brownstone, May 1985. (Link)