Walter DeShields employs theatre to engage, explore, and educate as artist-in-residence

It all started with a speech contest and then a production of Shakespeare’s Pericles. That was just in 4th grade. Walter DeShields discovered his place in the theatre at a very young age. A teacher encouraged his participation in these activities to help develop his confidence. The acting bug bit.

The South Philly native earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Theatre at Penn State. Out of college and facing reality, he became a teacher. Elements of that job have figured into much of his work outside the classroom in the years since.

His work as an actor has taken him from William Shakespeare to Eugene O’Neill to Lorraine Hansberry to Lynn Nottage. If the role was good, he went for it. But being a Black man with an “activist spirit,” he started to gravitate toward theatre and material that represented his experience. Eventually, he and two friends who just wanted to do good work and have more control over the stories they were telling founded Theatre in the X in 2013. The company was created to provide West Philadelphia and the African-American community in general with the chance to see professional theatre in their own neighborhood for no cost, while also giving opportunities to theatre makers, technicians, and vendors of color. He also used his platform to mentor, share knowledge, and apply his skills to social services and community engagement.

This combination of work and experiences has played an important part in DeShields' theatrical career ever since, right up to his current endeavor as Guest Artist for the Department of Theatre & Dance’s 21|22 season. Friend and collaborator Lane Savadove, a Department faculty member, invited DeShields to apply for the position.

“I was surprised I got it,” he said, modestly. “Then I got really excited.”

He recognizes that theatres and institutions are looking for a diversity of thought, expanding the voices and stories they are telling, especially in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“We wanted someone who would be an example for our BIPOC students,” said Paule Turner, chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance, noting that DeShields had already created a hub for Black artists through Theatre in the X. “This is Walter’s world. He brings knowledge and resources, and he gets all of our departmental values.”

As a Department of Theatre & Dance mainstage director, DeShields is currently preparing for Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Our Lady of 121^st Street ahead of a February production. He looks forward to bringing his experience to a new cast and also taking it into a classroom as another part of his residency. In the Spring 2022 semester, DeShields will teach “African, African-American Theatre: Intercultural Definitions,” a course that has been waiting for the right person to teach it, according to Turner, who praised him for being “authentically himself in sharing his knowledge.”

“I’m a teacher in my spirit,” DeShields said, adding that it is important for him to share a diversity of work with these young actors. “I want them to see that they can tell the stories that are important to them.”

His role at Rowan brought DeShields at least one “first” so far, having already directed and collaborated with Savadove on the season opener: an original stage adaptation of Plum Bun, a 1928 novel by Jessie Redmon Fauset about a young Black woman struggling with her identity and seen as an important contribution to the Harlem Renaissance. DeShields had not read the book, nor had he ever heard of the author. He had also never adapted a work like this for the stage. Still, he embraced the challenge and saw the story’s correlation to our times. “We’re all grappling with identity,” he said.