Cheryl Foggo

Cheryl Foggo is a Canadian author, documentary film director, screenwriter and playwright.

Biography

Born in Calgary, Alberta,[1] she is descended from black Oklahomans who settled in Amber Valley, Alberta and Maidstone, Saskatchewan in 1910.[2] Foggo grew up with CTrain designer Oliver Bowen and her mother's bridesmaid was Violet King Henry, the first black woman lawyer in Canada.[3]

Advocacy

A keen researcher and voice for black pioneers in Canada, Foggo has also had multiple showings of her multi-media presentations: Ranchers, Rebels and the Righteous, Creole, Travelling On, Five Voices and Unlocking Sacred Codes.[4] She created the play John Ware Re-Imagined,[3] hoping to bring attention to the Black Albertan cowboy and rancher John Ware in time for the centennial of the Calgary Stampede in 2012.[5]

She has been profiled in Who's Who in Black Canada.[4]

Journalism

Foggo has written for Reader's Digest.ca, Avenue, AlbertaViews, Alberta Ventures, Calgary, Western Living, Sunday Magazine, Arts Bridge, Muse, Canadian Consumer, the Calgary Herald, The Globe and Mail and Legacy.[4]

Plays

In August 2014, her play John Ware Reimagined premiered in Calgary, produced by Ellipsis Tree Collective Theatre Company. John Ware Reimagined had its first public reading in February 2012.[4] The script won the Writers' Guild of Alberta 2015 Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama.[4]

In August 2012, The Devil We Know, her play co-written with Clem Martini, premiered at the Blyth Theatre Festival.[4]

In 2010, she created a stage adaptation of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, receiving workshops and staged readings during Theatre Calgary's Fuse Festival and Afrikadey.[4]

Books
  • I'll Tell You The Good Things First, a novel[2]
  • Hiding Place, essays on the Black prairie experience[2]
  • Dear Baobab, This is What Happened To Me, a children's book[2] 2011, Second Story Press[4]
  • Pourin' Down Rain[2]
  • One Thing That's True[2]
  • I Have Been in Danger[2]

Filmmaking

As of August 2017, Foggo is in production on John Ware: Reclaimed, an upcoming National Film Board of Canada (NFB) documentary film about Ware. Dramatic recreations are being shot on Ware's former ranch in southern Alberta, with African American rodeo champion Fred Whitfield in the title role.[6]

In 2002, she directed the NFB documentary film The Journey of Lesra Martin.[2]

Screenwriting
  • Carol's Mirror (1992), winner of national and international educational film awards[2]
  • member, story-writing team, North of Sixty TV series, for 2.5 seasons[2]
  • "The Higher Law", co-written for North of Sixty[2]
  • Love Hurts (1998), finalist, Alberta Motion Picture Industry Awards[2]
  • consultant, NFB's Race is a Four Letter Word (2006)[2]
  • researcher, National Film Board's (NFB), Mighty Jerome (2010)[2]

Awards
  • 2008 national Harry Jerome Award For The Arts[2]
  • 2015 Writers Guild of Alberta Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama for John Ware Reimagined.[4]
  • Merit Award, Fort Calgary (2004)[2]
  • Chris Award for Journey of Lesra Martin, Columbus International Film Festival (2003)[2]
  • Best Education Program, Gold Apple Award & Short Drama Award, for Carol's Mirror (1992)[2]
  • Great North TV Writing Competition (1995)[2]
  • Achievement Award, BAASA (1998)[2]

Award nominations
  • Governor General[2]
  • Silver Birch[2]
  • Blue Heron[2]
  • Mr. Christie[2]
  • The Writers Guild of Alberta R. Ross Annett[2]
  • finalist in Theatre BC's National Playwriting Competition (2000)
  • Love Hurts (1998), finalist, Alberta Motion Picture Industry Awards

References
  1. Williams, Dawn P. (2006). Who's who in Black Canada 2: Black Success and Black Excellence in Canada : a Contemporary Directory. ISBN 978-0973138412.
  2. "Cheryl Foggo". Black in Canada. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  3. Hunt, Stephen (5 March 2014). "Thanks to The Real McCoy, Andrew Moodie found a way to celebrate our black heroes". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  4. "Cheryl Foggo". Playwrights Guild of Canada. Archived from the original on 15 December 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  5. White, Ryan (20 August 2014). "Reintroducing Albertans to John Ware". CTV News. CTV News. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  6. "Freed slave who became Alberta rancher to be featured in National Film Board production". CBC News. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
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