Gloria Bond Clunie is an award-winning playwright, director, and educator. She is the founding artistic director of the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in Evanston and a founding member of the Playwriting Ensemble at Chicago’s Regional Tony Award winning Victory Gardens Theater. Clunie’s work lifts up the voices and stories of Black Americans and the African diaspora. Today in Evanston, the Gloria Bond Clunie Playwrights Festival honors her contributions to the arts.
Significance
Clunie’s love for theater and storytelling began at a very young age. She acted in her first play in kindergarten and wrote her first play in fourth grade. She found that people could understand the world around them better through stories, which has remained one of the guiding principles in her work. The integration of the schools in her hometown of Henderson, North Carolina was a pivotal moment in Gloria’s path to theater. The Black children in the drama department wanted to put on a play about Black History, but the white teacher had no knowledge of the subject. Naturally, the students turned to Gloria to write the play, which earned her a spot at the renowned Chatham Hall boarding school. The all-girls school fostered an environment of creativity and empowerment during the turbulence of the 1960s. After graduation, Clunie attended Northwestern University where she earned a B.S. in Theatre and a MFA in Directing.
After graduating from Northwestern, Clunie worked at Chute Middle School as a creative drama specialist for over thirty years. Though she did not intend to become an educator, her work with Anne Thurman inspired her to work in the classroom. Clunie found over the years that the students began to understand themselves and others more clearly through storytelling–a theme that resounds through Clunie’s work. At the same time, Clunie started the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre by transforming an old gymnasium in Evanston’s Cultural Arts Center. As the founding Artistic Director, she carved out a home for Black theater in Evanston, ensuring that Black stories would continue to be told. Clunie is also a founding member of the Playwriting Ensemble at Chicago’s Regional Tony Award winning Victory Gardens Theater.
Clunie’s commitment to telling Black stories is representative of her philosophies about theater and storytelling. One of her most produced and awarded plays, North Star, follows a young girl in 1960s North Carolina during the Civil Rights Movements, as her parents debate if she should participate in the demonstrations or shield her from the growing tensions. In 2018, the Chicago Children’s Theatre invited Clunie to write and direct a play addressing diversity and skin color. “My Wonderful Birthday Suit” gives children and parents the vocabulary to talk about race and difference and encourages those conversations, rather than emphasizing “race blindness.” Clunie’s work has been recognized by the NAACP, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta sororities, and the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. Her plays have also been included in multiple anthologies, workshopped, and produced in theatres across the country.
Chanting “Umjoa!” (unity) before performances is a ritual for Clunie. She emphasizes unity amongst the actors and crew for all of her productions, and seeks to inspire that same unity in the world through her art. Collaboration and partnership with the community of Evanston have enabled the longevity of the Fleetwood-Jourdain theatre. When budget cuts threatened to close the theatre, the public rallied around it to ensure its continued operation. The community support of the theatre can be credited to Clunie and her love for the people and city of Evanston. Though she tells Black stories, her audiences come from all walks of life and leave the auditorium with a new lens into the world. Today in Evanston, a new theatre festival, The Gloria Bond Clunie Playwrights Festival, honors her contributions to the arts by showcasing young and up-coming playwrights’ work over the course of two days. The festival continues Clunie’s legacy by uplifting new voices telling stories of Black Americans and the African diaspora.