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Screenwriter/Co-Producer Velina Hasu Houston is an internationally acclaimed playwright with a well-rounded body of work as a published screenwriter, essayist, and poet. She has written for Columbia Pictures, PBS, Sidney Poitier, and Lancit Media. In 2006, she co-produced a documentary film (Desert Dreamers), which premiered on PBS and was narrated by Peter Fonda.
Dr. Houston has published two anthologies of Asian American drama, and is the recipient of numerous commissions from distinguished institutions such as Asia Society, Manhattan Theatre Club, Los Angeles Opera, Mark Taper Forum, and Silk Road Theatre Project. Her many honors and awards include the Remy Martin New Vision Screenwriting Award from Sidney Poitier and the American Film Institute, the Japanese American Women of Merit by the National Japanese American Historical Society, and the East West Players Made in America Award.
Having written over 20 original plays, Dr. Houston draws from her multiracial experience, as well as the experiences of her family. Dr. Houston is Japanese on her maternal side and African American, Native American, and Cuban on her paternal side. Her plays have granted her two national first prize awards, Off-Broadway world premieres, and recognition as a Japan Foundation Fellow, Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, a Sidney F. Brody Fellow, James Zumberge Fellow, California Arts Council Fellow and a Los Angeles Endowment for the Arts Fellow.
Currently, Dr. Houston is a Commissioner for the U.S. Department of State’s Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, a member of the Japan-US Bridging Foundation, and a member of the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange. Her professional memberships include the Writers Guild of America, The Dramatists Guild and The Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema Arts, a Master of Fine Arts from University of California Los Angeles’ School of Theater, Film, and Television, and a Bachelor of Arts in journalism, mass communication and theater from Kansas State University.
