Dawn Bless
About
Dawn Bless is a dynamic playwright, performer, and arts educator whose work lives at the intersection of theater, ritual, and cultural reclamation. With over two decades of experience bridging performance, education, and creative writing, she crafts stories that honor the past, speak to the present, and imagine liberated futures for afro-diasporic and Bipoc peoples within the broader American narrative.
As a performer, Dawn has toured nationally in Waitress The Musical (Broadway National Tour) and starred in The Black Clown (Harvard’s American Repertory Theater, Lincoln Center). She is a 2018 Joseph Jefferson nominee and Black Excellence Award winner for her transformative portrayal of Patti LaBelle.
As a playwright, her original works include co-writing Don’t Shed a Tear: The Billie Holiday Story, Sounds So Good, and Tribute to the Black Crooner—musical celebrations that uplift the cultural legacy of Black music as a tool for education, healing, and joy. Whether on stage or in the classroom, Dawn Bless remains a visionary force, using storytelling as a sacred act to inspire, affirm, and awaken.
