Teresa Coleman Wash (she/her/y’all) is a producer, writer, racial equity practitioner, and thought leader on bias and racism in the American Theatre. Several of her essays have been published in the Dallas Morning News and Howlround Theatre Commons. She is the founder and executive artistic director of Bishop Arts Theatre Center (BATC), and she holds an MA in Arts Management from Goucher College and a BS in Business Administration from Albany State University. Wash is a National Arts Strategies fellow who studied at Harvard Business School.

She is the recipient of the Theater Communications Group’s Peter Zeisler Memorial Award for artistic integrity and ingenuity. She also received the National Guild for Community Arts Education’s Milestone Award and the Business Council for the Arts Obelisk Award in the category of Visionary Nonprofit Arts Leader. Mrs. Wash has also earned several Irma P. Hall Awards, including the 2020 Irma P. Hall Theatrical Excellence Medal. She is the 2023 recipient of the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce’s Quest for Success Award and Broadway Dallas’ Leah and Jerome Fullinwider Award. Teresa was elected to the Dramatists Guild of America Council in 2017, representing the Southern region, where she also served on the steering committee. She is a key collaborative leader in the local and national arts advocacy community and has long served on the steering committee of DACAC, the Dallas Area Cultural Advocacy Coalition, and the Professional Nonprofit Theatre Coalition planning committee.

In 2005, TeCo Theatrical Productions, Inc. (dba BATC) was the recipient of a 10,000-square-foot dilapidated building near the Bishop Arts District in Dallas, TX. Wash led her team of board, staff, and community members in securing over $1.2M in funding to renovate the blighted facility. Construction began in 2006 and, despite a downward spiral economy, was completed in 2008. Today, BATC is an intimate 165-seat proscenium theatre with dressing rooms, an art gallery, executive offices, a learning lab, two skyboxes, and an arts business incubator center. The theatre receives critical acclaim and has been nationally recognized for its innovative programming, which includes a banned books festival, a world-class jazz series, and year-round award-winning arts education programs for youth and seniors.

Published Essays & Features:

Bishop Arts Theatre presents third banned books festival - KERA, February 23, 2024
Women leaders of color are leaving arts groups. Here are 6 ways to change that. - KERA, January 3, 2023
A Time of Interrogation – HowlRound, July 26, 2020
The Ugly Truth About Arts Organizations Led by Women of Color – HowlRound, May 9, 2018
How the arts give Dallas an economic boost – Dallas Morning News, May 12, 2017
How the arts can support public safety – Dallas Morning News, April 4, 2017
It’s Time To Give More Women and Playwrights of Color The Spotlight – Role Reboot, May 20, 2016