Bonita Jackson is an actress, writer, and teaching artist. She hails from the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” (Minnesota!). At thirteen years old, while walking down the hallway of her junior high school she saw a bright fuchsia audition flyer for The Wiz. From the moment she stepped on stage as Addaperle (“the feel-good girl!) her calling to be a storyteller was solidified. And she has answered the call by training at Howard University and Pace University where she obtained her BFA in Acting. She also holds a Master’s in Acting from FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training.

Bonita has written, performed, and produced four one-woman shows, and has performed in theatres and festivals in NYC for over ten years. Her theatre credits include As You Like It (FSU Conservatory), Sweat (Asolo Rep.), Corey &Vanessa (The Tank),  The Niceties (Urbanite), Black Footnotes (Nuyorican Poets Café), and Adventures of Kieron & Jade (Bridge Street Theatre). Film credits include Beneath the Sound, Drowning Above Water, How Does That Make You Feel?, and The Old Man and The Fish.

She is interested in telling and writing plays about Black magic…and not in the traditional sense of the term “black magic” …but BLACK magic, as in narratives about Black people that blends realism and fantasy (and/or magical elements) because there is an inherent magic in Black people and culture. It is not so much Afrofuturism as it is Black now-ism and has-ism and can-ism and will-ism

She is the co-founder of BARE.
BARE is an interdisciplinary theatre and film-based organization that empowers artists, by cutting through fear and shame, to create transformative works of theatre and film. Doing so by diving in with both hands and big love to the depth of human experiences so as to expose truth and give voice to that which is silenced and/or hidden. We tell stories that bare the truth while bearing together. BARE’s film Beneath the Sound won Best Original Story at the 2021 FLOW Film Festival; and our film Drowning Above Water won the WE REEL BLACT Viewer’s Choice Award.