AHRC Council member
Patricia Cumper is a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Council.
Patricia is an award-winning playwright who has written for theatre and radio for more than 30 years.
Patricia’s plays have toured the Caribbean, Canada and the US. She has also written award-winning radio drama for BBC Radio 4 and World Service including original series, plays and adaptations. She recently adapted four of the six volumes of Maya Angelou’s autobiographies and won an Outstanding Contribution award at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2020.
From 2006 to 2012, Patricia was Artistic Director and CEO of Talawa Theatre Company, the UK’s largest Black-led theatre company and produced work with West Yorkshire Playhouse, the Victoria and Albert Museum and English Touring Theatre.
From 2013 to 2017 Patricia led StrongBack Productions. Her play ‘Chigger Foot Boys’ about Jamaican soldiers in World War One was produced at Tara Arts Theatre in London. She has been a trustee of English Touring Theatre, Spare Tyre, Utopia Theatre Company and, by Prime Ministerial appointment, the British Museum. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and was awarded an MBE for services to Black British Theatre.
She is a regular contributor to Radio 4 arts and World Service news programming.
Last updated: 25 August 2023