Shaina Lynn

Shaina Lynn Simmons is an actress writer director and producer from New Orleans, Louisiana. She studied Acting at Marymount Manhattan College. And will receive her Masters in Acting from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in May 2017. Her art reflects the realities of the black woman's experience. And hopes to honor the covert legacy of black women while birthing new possibilities of existence for all women of color. She is the recent recipient of the 2016 Theater Grant from The Puffin Foundation for her recent project AfroFuturo. Shaina's passion for the black diaspora is prominent in her local, national, and international initiatives. Shaina's latest project AfroFuturo has exhibited at the Ludwig Foundation in La Havana, Cuba and Plaza de La Raza in Los Angeles, CA in collaboration with El Acercamiento. Her one-woman show Bayou Blues was shortlisted for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award. It has been produced at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, New Orleans Fringe Festival, Capital Fringe Festival, Emerging Artists Theatre Fall New Works Series at TADA! in NYC. Shaina's performed poetry at Bowery Poetry Club, The Inspired Word NYC, BusBoys and Poets, Spit Dat, and featured at the infamous La-Ti-Do. In 2015, Shaina was named the RAW DC Performer of the year. In 2014, she was a SheRocks Honoree.