Cheryl Foggo

{{Infobox writer

| name = Cheryl Foggo

| image = CherylFoggo 1 CalgaryCNPhotoBooth 10072022 - 52517471171.jpg

| birth_place = Calgary, Alberta, Canada

| occupation = {{hlist|Author|journalist|director|playwright|screenwriter}}

| genre = {{hlist|Memoir|bildungsroman|realistic fiction|journalism}}

| awards =

| website = {{URL|https://www.facebook.com/Cheryl-Foggo-author-page-140200542746860/}}

| language = English

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1956}}

}}

Cheryl Dawn Foggo {{postnominals|country=CAN|AOE}} is a Canadian author, documentary film director, screenwriter and playwright.

Biography

Born in Calgary, Alberta in 1956,{{Cite book|last=Vernon|first=Karina|title=The Black Prairie Archives : An Anthology.|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press|year=2020|isbn=978-1-77112-376-1|pages=232}}{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Dawn P.|title=Who's who in Black Canada 2: Black Success and Black Excellence in Canada : a Contemporary Directory|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinblackca0000will|url-access=registration|date=2006|isbn=978-0973138412}} she is descended from Black Oklahomans who settled in Maidstone, Saskatchewan in 1910.{{cite web|title=Cheryl Foggo|url=http://www.blackincanada.com/2010/12/28/cheryl-foggo/|website=Black in Canada|access-date=5 February 2017}} She also had ancestors who lived in Amber Valley, Alberta and Campsie, Alberta. Foggo knew CTrain designer Oliver Bowen when she was growing up in Calgary and her mother's bridesmaid and close friend was Violet King Henry, the first Black woman lawyer in Canada.{{cite news|last1=Hunt|first1=Stephen|title=Thanks to The Real McCoy, Andrew Moodie found a way to celebrate our black heroes|url=https://calgaryherald.com/entertainment/theatre/thanks+real+mccoy+andrew+moodie+found+celebrate+black+heroes/9579769/story.html|access-date=5 February 2017|work=Calgary Herald|date=5 March 2014}}{{Cite web|title=Cheryl Foggo {{!}} Black In Canada|url=http://www.blackincanada.com/2010/12/28/cheryl-foggo/|access-date=2020-12-03|website=www.blackincanada.com}}

Advocacy

A keen researcher and voice for Black pioneers in Western Canada, Foggo recently served on the advisory board for Black on the Prairies, a multi-platform archive and resource initiated and curated by journalist Omayra Issa and CBC Radio host Ify Chiwetelu on CBC [https://cbc.ca] and has also had multiple presentations of her multi-media creations: Ranchers, Rebels and the Righteous, Creole, Travelling On, Five Voices and Unlocking Sacred Codes.{{cite web|title=Cheryl Foggo|url=https://www.playwrightsguild.ca/playwright/cheryl-foggo|website=Playwrights Guild of Canada|access-date=5 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215131215/https://www.playwrightsguild.ca/playwright/cheryl-foggo|archive-date=15 December 2016|url-status=dead}} She began work on the play John Ware Re-Imagined, hoping to bring attention to the Black Albertan cowboy and rancher John Ware in time for the centennial of the Calgary Stampede in 2012.{{cite news|last1=White|first1=Ryan|title=Reintroducing Albertans to John Ware|url=http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/reintroducing-albertans-to-john-ware-1.1968205|access-date=5 February 2017|agency=CTV News|publisher=CTV News|date=20 August 2014}}{{Cite web|last=Klaszus|first=Jeremy|date=June 6, 2020|title=Sprawlcast: Cheryl Foggo on Black life in Alberta|url=https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/sprawlcast-cheryl-foggo-on-black-life-in-alberta|access-date=2020-12-03|website=The Sprawl|language=en}}

She has been profiled in Who's Who in Black Canada.

She volunteers on multiple boards as an advocate for writers and Black artists and is an active mentor and lecturer.

Journalism

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

Her work has been anthologized in multiple collections, including [https://wlupress.wlu.ca]The Black Prairie Archives: An Anthology edited by Karina Vernon, Calgary Through The Eyes of Writers edited by Shaun Hunter, Alberta Encore, One Step Over The Line, Directions-The Bicentenary of the Abolition of the British Slave Trade, Remembering Chinook Country and Unsettled Pasts.

Plays

Her short play The Sender was commissioned as part of Obsidian Theatre Company's 21 Black Futures, now streaming on CBC Television Gem.

Her play Heaven is scheduled for production at the Citadel Theatre in summer 2021.

In August 2014, her play John Ware Reimagined premiered in Calgary,{{Cite web|last=Bonikowsky|first=Laura Neilson|date=June 28, 2019|title=John Ware {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia|url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/index.php/en/article/john-ware|access-date=2020-12-03|website=thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}} produced by Ellipsis Tree Collective Theatre Company. John Ware Reimagined had its second production at [https://workshopwest.org] Workshop West Theatre Company in 2017. An early version of the play had its first public reading in 2012.

The script won the Writers' Guild of Alberta 2015 Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama.

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

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.

Heaven was first produced by [https://lunchboxtheatre.com] Lunchbox Theatre Company in 2001 and aired on CBC Radio Sunday Showcase and Monday Night Playhouse in 2004.

Her play Turnaround, co-written with Clem Martini, was produced by Lunchbox Theatre and Quest Theatre Company in 1999.

Books

Her first book Pourin’ Down Rain: A Black Woman Claims Her Place in the Canadian West is a memoir about five generations of her family and talks about growing up Black on the Canadian prairies. It was a finalist for the Alberta Culture Non-fiction Award in 1990. In 2020, [https://brusheducation.ca] Brush Education released the 30th anniversary edition.{{Cite web|title=Pourin' Down Rain|url=https://brusheducation.ca/books/pourin-down-rain|access-date=2020-12-03|website=Brush Education|language=en}} The audio version of the 30th anniversary edition is read by acclaimed actor Karen Robinson.

Her three children's/YA books - One Thing That's True (1998), I Have Been in Danger (2001), Dear Baobab, (2011) - offer positive representations of Black and mixed-race childhoods.

Filmmaking

Foggo made John Ware Reclaimed, a documentary film about legendary Black cowboy John Ware with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/john-ware-rancher-freed-slave-film-1.4247426|title=Freed slave who became Alberta rancher to be featured in National Film Board production|date=15 August 2017|work=CBC News|access-date=15 August 2017|language=en}}John Ware Reclaimed had its world premiere at the Calgary International Film Festival in 2020, where it received the CTV Alberta Feature Audience Choice Award.Eric Volmers, [https://www.nugget.ca/entertainment/movies/finding-john-ware-documentary-separates-the-man-from-the-myth/wcm/c68176ae-82d4-420e-86db-9d3679c45197 "Finding John Ware: Documentary separates the man from the myth"]. North Bay Nugget, September 22, 2020.

In 2019 she wrote and directed the short film Kicking Up A Fuss: The Charles Daniels Story, which was a finalist for an AMPIA in 2020.

In 2002, she wrote and directed the NFB documentary film The Journey of Lesra Martin.

She has been a consultant on several other films and was a member of the story team on the CBC drama North of 60 for 2.5 seasons.

= Filmography =

class="wikitable"

!Years

!Title

!Role

!Ref.

1992

|Carol's Mirror

|Screenwriter

1997-1998

|North of Sixty TV series

|Screenwriter

2002

|The Journey of Lesra Martin

|Screenwriter

Director

2019

|Kicking Up A Fuss: The Charles Daniels Story

|Screenwriter

Director

2020

|John Ware Reclaimed

|Screenwriter

Director

Screenwriting

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

Awards

2021 Grand Prize Regards d'ici category Vues d'Afrique Festival Internationale for John Ware Reclaimed
2021 Calgary Black Chambers Arts, Entertainment and Media Award
2020 Calgary International Film Festival CTV Alberta Feature Audience Choice Award for John Ware Reclaimed.
2015 Writers Guild of Alberta Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama for John Ware Reimagined.
2015 Obsidian Black Achievement Award for Professional Excellence.
2014 Writers Guild of Canada Sondra Kelly Screenplay Award
2008 national [https://harryjeromeawards.com Harry Jerome Award For The Arts]
Merit Award, Fort Calgary (2004)
Chris Award for Journey of Lesra Martin, Columbus International Film Festival (2003)
Best Education Program, Gold Apple Award & Short Drama Award, for Carol's Mirror (1992)
Great North TV Writing Competition (1995)
Achievement Award, BAASA (1998)

Award nominations

Writers Guild of Canada documentary script
Governor General
Silver Birch
Blue Heron
Mr. Christie
The Writers Guild of Alberta R. Ross Annett
finalist in Theatre BC's National Playwriting Competition
Love Hurts, finalist, Alberta Motion Picture Industry Awards
Kicking Up a Fuss: The Charles Daniels Story, finalist, Alberta Motion Picture Industry Awards