Shantez “Shae” Tolbut

Shantez “Shae” Tolbut is an Off-Broadway Stage Manager, Award-Winning Playwright, Poet, Arts Educator, and Artivist hailing from the South Chicagoland area. Shantez has worked with some of the most notable people in the industry like Stevie Walker Webb, Amber Iman, James IJames and Saheem Ali. She has also worked in some of the most the most renowned theatres, venues and festivals across the country such as The Public Theater, The Flea Theater, Black Ensemble Theatre and National Black Theater.

As an emerging playwright, she was also the recipient of the 2022 Lorraine Hansberry Theater Writing Award by the Next Wave Initiative led by Broadway playwright and actor Douglas Lyons for her play Blue InGreen. Shantez is thankful to Jim, her cast and crew to be making her Gulfshore debut! “The future of theater is inclusivity and accessibility! Can’t wait to celebrate the Tech, the Femmes, and all the Color on the stages of the present and the future!” BA-NEIU; MFA-SFC