Woman. from Ray’s oral history of the Brooklyn project When she appeared: Season 6, Episode 8, “What Will We Do This Time About Adam?“Who she was: A longtime Brooklyn resident (Venida Evans) 2017
After Hermie’s (Colin Quinn) death, Ray decided to record his own oral history project about Brooklyn and what it was like before gentrification. So then they let the old Black woman in Brooklyn speak.
Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe added to TV’s memorable canon of Thanksgiving episodes with this funny, heartwarming installment that followed their characters, Dev and Denise, over holiday dinners with Denise’s mother (Angela Bassett), grandmother (Venida Evans), and aunt (Kym Whitley).
ARCHIVIST, EDUCATOR, HISTORIAN, and ARTiST
Dale Shields is a professor of theatre, director, and actor (Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and Regional).
Research Accomplishments:
The 2017 winner of The Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award®, 2017 and 2015 Tony® award nominee for the Excellence in Theatre Education Award, and the winner of the 2017 AUDELCO/"VIV" Special Achievement Award. In 2020 He was also awarded The Actors Fund / Encore Award
On the web, he is the archivist and historian of Iforcolor.org and Black Theatre/African American Voices [Facebook] (theatre, music, and art). He has taught classes and workshops at SUNY Potsdam, Susquehanna University, Denison University, Randolph-Macon College, Macalester College, The College of Wooster, Ohio University, Wayne State University, and the Joseph Papp Public Theatre (New York Shakespeare Festival).
Education
B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from Ohio University.
