Tracey Scott Wilson received a Joyce Award to work with the Pillsbury House Theatre to write Prep, a play about a group of teachers changing their students’ test scores to receive yearly bonuses. Racial and sexual tensions arise as the teachers try to cover their transgressions. To weave Minneapolis’s own racial tensions into the performance, Scott Wilson will interview residents from a local conflict that pitted white dog owners against longtime African American residents. For one year, the two groups battled over the proposal to place an off-leash area in a park named for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Like her other works, Scott Wilson’s goal is to spark a real conversation about race—devoid of political correctness and off-limits topics. Production is planned for the fall of 2015.
Scott Wilson's current work includes The Story, which was first produced at The Joseph Papp Public Theater/NYSF, and transferred to the Long Wharf Theatre. The Story has since been produced at thirty theatres nationwide. Additional productions include Order My Steps for Cornerstone Theater's Black Faith/AIDS project in Los Angeles; and Exhibit #9, produced in New York City by New Perspectives Theatre and Theatre Outrageous; Leader of the People produced at New Georges Theatre; two ten-minute plays produced at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis; and a ten-minute play produced at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Ms. Wilson has had readings at the New York Theatre Workshop, New Georges Theatre, The Joseph Papp Public Theater and Soho Theatre Writers Centre in London. She earned two Van Lier Fellowships from the New York Theatre Workshop, a residency at Sundance Ucross, and is the winner of the 2001 Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, the 2003 AT&T Onstage Award, the 2004 Whiting Award and as well as the 2004 Kesserling Prize. Ms. Wilson holds a Master's degree in English Literature from Temple University.