Rachel E Nelson (she/her) is a Professor of Humanities for BECNO, and has been an adjunct professor at the University of Maine, Hollins University, and an artist in residence at the Pacific Northwest College of the Arts. Her academic interests dwell in the intersections of culture, identities, and the arts, with a special focus on issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality. As a playwright, her work has been shown at The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Sugar Space for the Arts, Performance Works Northwest, the Oregon Contemporary Shakespeare Festival, Baby Crow Productions, and The SOUND OFF Festival of New Works. In 2015, she recieved the Rosa Parks Playwrighting Award for Social Justice from the Kennedy Center, in 2018 she was a Featured Playwright at the Seven Devils Playwrighting Conference as well as at the Director’s Lab at Lincoln Center, and in 2019 she was a Featured Playwright at the Women’s Theater Festival. Her work has been published in BOMB Magazine and Damselfly Press. Locally, she has worked with Southern Rep Theater, as well as New Noise Theater and Mondo Bizarro. She is constantly inspired by the BECNO students, and is honored to be collaborating with them on a more equitable and joyful future for us all. Rachel lives in New Orleans with her partner and their two extremely badly behaved dogs.
