Denise Duncan

MY HAIR, MY TERRITORY (working title) This theatrical exploration delves into the complex meanings of afro hair as a social, personal and political statement. Using a collection of personal photo archives, this project explores how afro hair shapes and reflects identity, and how it reveals our relationship to that identity. Afro hair is more than aesthetics: it is a living archive. It carries stories of resistance and beauty, of imposed norms and proud self-assertion. It is simultaneously battleground and crown-whether we straighten it, braid it, cut it or let it grow. Through performance, narrative and physical exploration, this work explores how hair becomes a place of memory, connection, violence and celebration.

Denise Duncan is a playwright, writer, director and teacher based in Barcelona. She is a member of the Spanish Academy of Performing Arts and co-founder of Col-lectiu Tinta Negra, a collective of artists with African roots active in the performing arts in Catalonia.
With a background in dramaturgy, directing and journalism, Denise moves smoothly between writing, directing and teaching. She received degrees in Journalism and Dramatic Arts from the University of Costa Rica, a master’s degree in Theater and Audiovisual Studies from the University of La Coruña, and graduated in Directing and Dramaturgy from the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona.
Her work is characterized by a sharp focus on colonial legacies, identity and representation, and has been seen internationally. She translated Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde and Letters to My Daughter by Maya Angelou, and wrote prologues for the Catalan editions of works by Debbie Tucker Green and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Denise received several awards, including the Ciutat de Manacor de Teatre Prize (2018), and was a 2020 house author at Sala Beckett.