Nia Ostrow Witherspoon is a Black Queer theatremaker, vocalist and composer, and a cultural worker investigating the metaphysics of Black liberation, desire, and diaspora. She is currently a member of the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP) at HERE in Lower Manhattan and a Resident Artist at BerkleeNYC and the Mercury Store. Nia was a Jerome Foundation New Artist Fellow (2019 to 2021) and a Musical Theatre Factory XR Maker (2020 to 2022). Her current project, Priestess of Twerk, received grants and awards from Creative Capital; New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theatre Project; NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre; and National Performance Network. Nia has co-created, co-directed, and served as dramaturg on a variety of theatre-based projects seen on stages across the country, including National Black Theatre, La MaMa E.T.C., New York Theatre Workshop, and Signature Theatre Company. Fellowships and additional residencies include the 2025 Fellowship in Directing at New York Theatre Workshop (2017-18), an Emerging Playwriting Fellowship at Lambda Literary in Los Angeles (2015), and as a Resident Scholar-Artist at Williams College in Massachusetts (2022). Nia earned a B.A. in American Studies from Smith College and a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies from Stanford University.
