Awards
NPN Documentation &
Storytelling Fund Award
2024
Full Circle is the story/documentation of the origins of what began as an exploration of a political moment and became a family quest for belonging and safety in the Caribbean. What is behind and what lies ahead for Yankee Bajan, a play with music that challenges the limitations imposed by racism in America and the agenda of "The Right", and proposes the expat experience as the solution. The origins of Yankee Bajan are both political and personal.
https://npnweb.org/2024-documentation-and-storytelling-fund-awards/
Doris Duke 10th Anniversary Grant
2023
Unrestricted
Knoxville Arts & Culture Alliance,
Ann and Steve Bailey Opportunity Grant
2021
For Project Support
Creative Capital
Artist Fellow
2019
For Musical Theater
Women of the Year 2017-2019
Iota Phi Lambda Sorority,
Alpha Xi Chapter
2017-2019
For Leadership
East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame
2018
For Playwriting
Doris Duke Foundation Theater Fellows Award
2015
For Theater
Creative Exploration Fund Fellowship
2009
For Theater
Carson-Newman College
Education Service
to Appalachia Award
2008-2009
For Education
Otto René Castillo Award for Political Theatre
2005
For Political Theater
Circle of Change Awards – Heart of Change Award
2005
For Art and Activism
Long Haul Award – Tennessee Alliance for Progress
For Art and Activism
Arts Council of Greater Knoxville, Artist of the Year
1999
For Art
Professional Organizations
National Black Theater Alliance
Member
(Current)
Women Playwrights International (WPI)
Senior Advisor
(Current)
NEFA
(New England Foundation for the Arts)
Advisor
(Current)
East Tennessee Caribbean Community Association
Committee Member
(Current)
International African American Museum
Charter Member
Alternate ROOTS
Founding Member
WOCA
(Women of Color in the Arts)
Member
NET
(Network of Ensemble Theaters)
Board Member
(Former)
The Knoxville Arts and Cultural Alliance
Board Member
(Former)
NPN
(National Performance Network)
Southern Regional Representative
Board Member
(Former)
Black Curators in Dance and Performance (BCDP)
Member
(Current)
Open Channels: Caribbean Popular Theater at the Crossroad.
An online encounter as part of the Teatro Ma Cuba’s 40th Annual Teller de Teatro Popular
Advisor
(Former)
Press
Conch Shell Productions Artist Chat with Linda Parris-Bailey
an interview with Conch Shell Productions Artistic Director Magaly Colimon-Christopher
February 20, 2026
Legacy, Storytelling, Yankee Bajan, and Caribbean Futures:
In this CSP Artist Chat, acclaimed playwright Linda Parris-Bailey joins Conch Shell Productions Artistic Director Magaly Colimon-Christopher for an intimate conversation about storytelling, cultural identity, and legacy.
A Bajan-American playwright and recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award, Creative Capital Award, and a National Theatre Project Award (NEFA), Linda discusses her creative journey, the origins of her play Yankee Bajan, and why Caribbean-diaspora stories matter now more than ever. This conversation explores craft, audience, history, and the responsibility of artists shaping narratives rooted in lived experience.
Linda Parris-Bailey: Yankee Bajan at Su Teatro Project Premiere
Creative Capital Awardee Events
September 19–20, 2025
"Linda Parris-Bailey’s Creative Capital project, Yankee Bajan, is a performance work exploring memory, identity, and the search for safety within the African Diaspora... 'My grandparents, immigrants from Barbados, left me with a curiosity about their journey to America. I wanted to explore a reverse migration and a new identity for a family of Black Americans in search of the modern return—or Sankofa,' says Parris-Bailey."
Yankee Bajan Explores What It Means to Return to Ancestral Roots
by Artburst Miami in Miami New Times
November 1, 2023
“...Parris-Bailey hopes that the play will spark discussions while ultimately causing audience members to look closely at their heritage and how that translates into where they want to be.
‘We have choices,’ she says. ‘We have mobility. We have the ability to decide to be where we are. And I think that sometimes that is lost on many of us. That we think we're kind of stuck where we are...'"
A last hurrah: The Ko Festival of Performance, a Valley summer theater staple since 1992, will end this summer
July 15, 2022
"...Still, the 2022 festival is opening with a production that dovetails nicely with Hamilton’s decision to move on.
'Flushing (Make Room for Someone Else)', which takes place July 22-24, is the story of two theater directors readying to step down from their ensembles and pass leadership to the next generation — sparking a reflection, as program notes put it, on what it means to retire and what it might mean to inherit.”
NEFA 2020 National Theater Project Advisors
April 15, 2020
"NTP is thrilled to welcome four new advisors: Pia Agrawal, Micah Ariel James, Edgar Miramontes, and Linda Parris-Bailey. We are so excited to work with these amazing individuals! Thank you in advance for all that you do for NTP and the field!"
Curating Freedom and Power for Women of Color in Leadership
An Interview with Diane Rodriguez & Linda Parris-Bailey
September 26, 2019
"We pass the same point many times in our lives but hopefully we’re a little further expanded. That expansion is what makes progress and what gives me hope for the future. We’ll hit this same point in time but we’ll hit it with an expanded knowledge and more experience."
-Linda Parris-Bailey
SWOPERA: Behind The Scenes of the Spoken Word Opera
Knoxville Weekend
SWOPERA tells a contemporary story of gentrification, one family’s efforts to save their business, Lowell’s Soulfood Cafe, in light of changing community dynamics, and finding unexpected leadership in the youngest member of the family, Lem. The text is delivered in spoken word, poetry and rhyme, accompanied by elements of hip-hop and soul.
'River' author's 'refereeing' pays off
by Geoff Gehman of The Morning Call
May 25, 2008
Another River Flows "follows local blacks who settled nurturing neighborhoods, fought urban renewal and are uniting a divided community through tales of feisty faith. Parris-Bailey weaves a kind of Joseph's technicolor coat from archived and collected stories, some of which are spoken by the Spirit Kissed Women, a Greek chorus of soul sisters. She's more than a playwright; she's a referee for cheerleaders for the revolution."
Funders
