Billicia Hines
Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Billicia Hines
Office Phone
313-577-3508Office Location
3325.5 Old Main
4841 Cass Ave.
Homepage URL
www.billicia.comPrimary E-mail
billicia.hines@wayne.eduBiography
Billicia Charnelle Hines is the CFPCA Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Co-Artistic Director of the Black Theatre and Dance Collective, and Associate Professor of Theatre. Hines attended NC Agricultural & Technical State University (BFA, Professional Theatre) and University of Missouri at Kansas City (MFA, Acting) .She is a Certified Teacher of the Michael Chekhov Technique from the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium, an organization in which she proudly holds the position of Teacher Associate.
Hines’ research has been intrinsically woven into the fabric of her teaching. Her research (practical and theoretical) is focused on Deconstructing the Performing Arts. She continues to use her passion and current research to create more inclusivity and equitable change within performing arts programs. Specifically, her research examines the impact of social categorizations on self-identity, how theatre can be used for personal empowerment, and how performance can create a larger impact by enlightening individuals to better themselves and their communities. Thus, her projects working with students, who are individually exploring self-identify, are utilized for the creation of larger performative pieces to be shared in community settings. These pieces can then inform a secondary level of research that results in publication. She uses performance as a method for exploring and interrogating the African American experience. She has an innovative and impactful program of creative scholarship that explores how social justice is conceived and embodied throughout the African Diaspora. She has a particular interest and expertise in the use of liberatory and anti-racism practices in theatre. She was awarded a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council for her year-long project, Detroit 1967: Page to Stage. It allowed her to use Dominique Morisseau’s play “Detroit ‘67” as a way to teach high school students about the Detroit Rebellion. Took the Freedom Players (the Social Justice Ensemble) to Edinburgh, Scotland to perform in the Edinburgh Theatre Festival. She along with her colleague Dr. Ras Mikey Courtney created the “I Am” Project expanded the project’s global span by taking students to Trinidad and Tobago for the BATT Artist Residency to study the Philbert Kalinda Technique with the world-renowned Jamie Philbert. She recently was awarded the Career Development Chair Grant. With that she will be doing research in Pretoria South Africa called “A Space for Empowerment Project.” Professor Hines plans to research how social justice is conceived and embodied throughout the African Diaspora. The Space of Empowerment Project aims to use liberatory and anti-racism practices with theatre to unearth those necessary ingredients of oneself. This project will connect all of the past projects Professor Hines has collaboratively created with Dr. RAS Mikey Courtney in the “ I AM…Project”.
While in Michigan, her directing credits include Mr. Joy (Theatre Nova), Resisting ( (Theatre Nova), Colorblind ( Obsidian Theatre Festival) ,A Song for Coretta, Marcus or the Secret of Sweet, Harriet Jacobs, and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, Colored Museum, Venus, and many others. Also, she has directed numerous productions and performs various one-woman shows that deal with social issues that encompasses domestic violence, healthcare, and empowerment. In addition, she is Executive Director of Unify Productions. A Theatre and Media Company that engages the community through social justice.”Engage.Create. Empower”.
Area of Expertise
Black Theatre
Theatre of Social Change
Michael Chekhov Acting Technique
Degrees and Certifications
NC Agricultural & Technical State University (BFA)
University of Missouri at Kansas City (MFA)
Certified Teacher and Associate Teacher of the Michael Chekhov Technique from the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium (https://www.greatlakesmichaelchekhovconsortium.com)
Mental Health First Aider (https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/take-a-course)
Recent Publications
Hines, Billicia Charnelle and Courtney, Ras Michael (2019) "The ‘I Am…’ Experience: Social Justice Art from Process to Product," Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal: Vol. 4 , Article 3.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ptoj/vol4/iss1/3
Anderson, M. and Billicia Hines. “On the Corner of 12th and Clairmount: Conversations with Playwright Domnique Morisseau, Actor Breayre Tender, and the Ghosts of Detroit ’67," Texas Theatre Journal (2019).
Anderson, M., Billicia Hines and Richard Haley. “Detroit ’67: Temporalities of Theatrical Representation in the Context of Memorialization,” Body, Space &Technology(2018) https://www.bstjournal.com/article/10.16995/bst.301/
Production Review of “ The Movement” by Kathy D. Harrison Continuum The Journal of African Diaspora Drama, Theatre and Performance http://continuumjournal.org/index.php/component/content/article/49-volumes/issues/vol-2-no-2/2-2-productions-reviews/121-the-movement-by-kathy-d-harrison
Awards and Honors
Chair Development Grant 2023-24 Awardee
Humanities Fellowship 2020-2021
Humanities Residency Scholars Program 2019-20
Humanities Working Group 2018-19— $800
Humanities Residency Scholars Program 2018-19- $800
2018 Wilde Award, Best Original Production – Director, Resisting, Theatre Nova, Anna Arbor, M
2017, Sue Nine Award for Outstanding Faculty, Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Humanities Residency Scholars Program 2017-18- $800
Humanities Working Group 2019-20- $800
Faculty Creative Research Grant, 2016 “The Voices of Morisseau, Salter, and Kelley: In their Own Words”
President’s Research Enhancement Program, 2016- “ The Voices of Morisseau, Salter, and Kelley: In their Own Words