Priestess of Twerk


Nia Witherspoon

Nia Ostrow Witherspoon is a black queer theater maker, vocalist and composer, and cultural worker investigating the metaphysics of black liberation, desire, and diaspora.

Artist Bio

Inspired by the “bad bitches” of hip hop, the reproductive justice movement, and the sacred sex workers that graced Egyptian temples, Priestess of Twerk is a black feminist temple of pleasure that presents women, queer, and trans-folks of color with opportunities to re-encounter their sexualities through the lens of the sacred, increasing bodily autonomy, and dispelling toxic masculinity.

Priestess of Twerk: A Black Femme Star Temple + Wisdom School Performance was presented by HERE at The Space at Irondale in Brooklyn, NY from May 18–June 8, 2024.


Award Year
2020
Status

Completed


2021 Artist Retreat Presentation

A bronze-skinned woman with fuscia lipstick, long locks, orange scarf framing her face smiles, exuding warmth, light, and renewal.

Nia Witherspoon

Brooklyn, NY

Nia Ostrow Witherspoon is a black queer theater maker, vocalist and composer, and cultural worker investigating the metaphysics of black liberation, desire, and diaspora. Witherspoon is the Multimedia Writer-in-Residence at Fordham University, a Jerome New Artist Fellow, an artist in residence at HERE Arts Center, BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and was a 2017-18 2050 Playwriting/Directing Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop. Her award-winning work has been featured by JACK, La Mama ETC, Playwright’s Realm, BRIC, HERE, National Black Theatre, BAAD, Movement Research, BAX, Dixon Place, Painted Bride, 651 Arts, and elsewhere. As a performer, Witherspoon appeared in Sharon Bridgforth’s River See, and in Cherríe Moraga’s La Semilla Caminante/The Traveling Seed. She holds a BA from Smith College and a PhD from Stanford University in Theatre and Performance Studies, and has held tenure-track professorships at Florida State University and Arizona State University.