Photos by Trevon Brown
“Learn and absorb.”
Tanya Boucicaut is constantly learning and creating. She is an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). She graduated from William and Mary with a BA in English, earned her M.Div. from the School of Theology at Virginia Union University, and got her MFA in Theatre Pedagogy with a concentration in Dramatic Literature and Dramaturgy from VCU. She currently is a Writing and Rhetoric Ph.D. student at George Mason University. Tanya is an artist and minister, a playwright, and CEO and founder of the faith-based nonprofit Perfect Love Community Youth Theatre, which she is in the process of restarting. “My craft is multidimensional and rooted in my imagination, love for learning, and the desire for others and myself to see our lives depicted in narratives,” she says. “I am constantly taking film and production classes and workshops as well as completing self-study to perfect my craft.”
This past summer, Tanya was selected for the Television Academy Foundation Internship program, which was remote this year. It is one of the most prestigious internship programs in the industry. If you know the Emmys, then you know the Television Academy Foundation. She found it refreshing not to be in a position of authority. “Being a professor and returning to be an intern was such a breath of fresh air,” she says. “I was in a position to simply learn and absorb as much information as I could about children’s programming and television development.” Tanya currently is working on a podcast and educational series for college students.
TED-Ed Lesson – Can love and independence coexist?
Tanya’s most recent success story is the TED-Ed Lesson Can love and independence coexist? The lesson, written by Tanya, explores Zora Neale Hurston’s classic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. She details the theme of love and freedom and draws comparisons between Zora Neale Hurston and Janie Crawford, the novel’s protagonist. Zora Neale Hurston based the character on her own life experiences. The video currently has almost 200,000 views on YouTube. Now, Tanya is looking at other ways to create content. She is recording a podcast and an educational series for college students.
