Meet Our Scholars
Deen Rawlins-Harris
University of Texas at Austin
Theater and Dance
They/Them
BIPOC
Deen Rawlins-Harris is an educator, community organizer, and theatremaker who believes that theater can be used to imagine radically liberated worlds. Their approach to creating theater is multidisciplinary and pulls from their experience as a special education teacher and LGBTQ facilitator for youth. Whether organizing queer-affirming city-wide youth art events or teaching theater in public schools, Deen partners with young people to empower them as change-makers. Deen co-instructs the Collective Liberation and Performance for Students of Color Workshop and Applying Collective Liberation for BIPOC Artist Workshop to help artists identify liberating practices for creating art. Currently, Deen is developing Traces/Remain: Contagious Healing, a public intervention that explores the importance of building deep celebratory relationships in public spaces to encourage communal healing. Deen is a Master of Fine Arts candidate in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas at Austin with a focus in drama and theater for youth and communities. At the University of Texas at Austin, Deen will work with youth artists to create youth-led theatre festivals and examine how art programs prepare youth to be community leaders.