Author of over 40 plays that delight in the wisdom and witlessness of the human condition.
Welcome to the Official Site of
Award-Winning Playwright
CELESTE BEDFORD WALKER
Coming soon!
"Black Spurs"
In the 1870s, a young Black man named Sam Pete Stubblefield sets out to save the family farm by joining one of the last great trail rides up the famous Chisholm Trail. From Fort Worth, TX, to Dodge City, KS, these Black spurred cowboys and other characters share the hardships and happy times of the trail along the way. Laughter, love, and the bond of friendship keep this cast of crazy characters together on a wild Western musical adventure.
Black Spectrum Theatre's recent interview with Celeste:
How Houston playwright Celeste Bedford Walker uses the Bayou City as a stage for historical drama
Award-winning Houston playwright wrote 'Camp Logan' more than three decades ago. Her work often deals with difficult history.
By Andrew Dansby
Dec 8, 2023
Playwright Celeste Bedford Walker poses for a portrait in Memorial Park on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, in Houston. Last year, Walker was awarded the Texas Institute of Letters Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement.
For nearly a century, flora has grown over the site of what once was Camp Logan.
The military training camp was shut down in 1919, two years after a protest march by Black soldiers collided violently with a white mob, resulting in 17 deaths. A court-martial brought about more than 100 mutiny convictions for the soldiers and another 19 deaths, these by execution. Memorial Park was developed over the site in 1924.
“I feel like there should be something more, something bigger to denote what happened here,” she says. “That little old marker, I’ve been here and seen it before. And today, I still drove right past it.”
Camp Logan, the Army, and America's conscience (Opinion)
After more than 100 years, justice was done
By Celeste Bedford Walker
Dec 1, 2023
On Nov. 13, at a Buffalo Soldiers Museum event recognizing the legacy of Camp Logan's Black soldiers, a man dressed as a Buffalo Soldier salutes during the national anthem.
On Nov. 13, the Army overturned the 1917 convictions of Black soldiers convicted of mutiny in Houston. I was overjoyed: After more than 100 years, this miscarriage of justice had finally been corrected.
After the U.S. entered World War I, the all-Black 24th Infantry Regiment, a unit of the well-known Buffalo Soldiers, was dispatched to Houston, a city where Jim Crow laws were in effect. The 156 soldiers were ordered to guard the construction of Camp Logan, a training base located in what’s now Memorial Park. Houston’s white citizens — including police — were hostile.
On Aug. 23, 1917, a little more than a month after the 24th arrived, during a police raid on a craps game in downtown Houston, one soldier stood up for a Black woman he believed police were abusing. He was arrested. After a respected corporal went to talk with police about the matter, he was pistol-whipped, arrested and beaten.
"Sassy Mamas and Other Plays"
A collection of 5 of Celeste's top plays!
"Sassy Mamas and Other Plays"
By Celeste Bedford Walker
Foreword by EILEEN J. MORRIS
Introduction by Sandra M. Mayo
Celeste Bedford Walker, one of the most accomplished contemporary playwrights in Texas, crafts dramas from history and everyday life that illuminate the African American experience in all its variety, tragedy, pathos, and hilarity. The topics treated by Walker are timelier than ever. Collected here are five of her most acclaimed plays: Sassy Mamas, Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed, Reunion in Bartersville, Distant Voices, and Camp Logan. Wittliff Collections Literary Series.
AWARDS
Date: June 4, 2024
Location: The Lambs
"The LPTW Lucille Lortel Award is given annually to an aspiring woman in any discipline of theatre who is showing great creative promise and deserves recognition and encouragement in her efforts.
The award was established in 2000 with a bequest from the Lucille Lortel Estate.
Each year, the Lucille Lortel Committee chooses recipients from a pool of recommendations through a collective review process."
Guggenheim Fellow 2023 Award
for "Drama and Performance Art"
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Celeste Bedford Walker
Fellow: Awarded 2023
Field of Study: Drama and Performance Art
"A prolific and oft-awarded playwright, Celeste Bedford Walker has enjoyed particular renown recently for her great body of work. Many of her works were developed and performed at historic and important black theatres that share her vision to bring to life the rich history and authentic experiences of African Americans in Texas and beyond."
“The new class of Fellows has followed their calling to enhance all of our lives, to provide greater human knowledge and deeper understanding. We’re lucky to look to them to bring us into the future.”
— Edward Hirsch, President of the Guggenheim Foundation
Celeste Bedford Walker: Feminist and Historical Dramatist
by Sandra M. Mayo
Click image below to read the interview!
2022
Lon Tinkle Award
for Lifetime Achievement
Winner:
Celeste Bedford Walker!
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2019 AUDELCO AWARD
Best Revival of a Play
Reunion in Bartersville
(Hilarious Murder Mystery)
performed by Black Spectrum Theatre Co.
TIL Lifetime Achievement Award
“Author Celeste Bedford Walker has been named the winner of the Texas Institute of Letters’ prestigious Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement. This is the highest honor given by the TIL, which was established in 1936 to recognize distinctive literary achievement.
“Celeste Bedford Walker has been at the forefront of literary Texas for years, and her expertly crafted plays combine surprising drama, sharp and incisive dialogue, and the revelation of opening a new world for fans of the theatre.”
— TIL President Sergio Troncoso
Celeste Walker accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Texas Institute of Letters
April 23, 2022
El Paso, Texas
PRODUCTIONS / EVENTS
"A Star Without a Star: The untold story of Juanita Moore"
Written by: Celeste B. Walker, Kirk E. Kelleykahn, and J.W. Nutting
Directed by: Kirk E. Kelleykahn
Winner! Best Documentary Feature
18th Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF)
