{"id":45854,"date":"2026-05-08T16:36:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T23:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/?p=45854"},"modified":"2026-05-27T14:21:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:21:48","slug":"usc-school-of-dramatic-arts-announces-the-cynthia-erivo-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/usc-school-of-dramatic-arts-announces-the-cynthia-erivo-scholarship\/","title":{"rendered":"USC School of Dramatic Arts Announces the Cynthia Erivo Scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The USC School of Dramatic Arts has announced the Cynthia Erivo Scholarship, an award established to support a student at the School, which has trained generations of theatre artists at the heart of one of the world’s great entertainment capitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scholarship honors one of the most celebrated performers of her generation. A Tony Award winner and Academy Award nominee, Erivo has built a career defined by transformative roles and has become an increasingly powerful voice for equity and opportunity in Hollywood. It is that combination of artistry and advocacy that this scholarship seeks to celebrate and inspire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award was unveiled on May 5 at a special event at the University of Oxford, where Erivo joined Dr. Stacy L. Smith of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative for a wide-ranging conversation on storytelling, creativity, and the future of entertainment. Erivo also received the inaugural Icon Award from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the event. Dean Emily Roxworthy traveled to Oxford to mark the occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Cynthia Erivo represents everything we aspire to cultivate in our students at the USC School of Dramatic Arts: extraordinary craft, fearless storytelling, and a deep sense of responsibility to the world,” said Roxworthy. “This scholarship sends a powerful message about what is possible, as well as what is required when those doors open. We hope our students look at Cynthia’s example and understand that opportunity is not the finish line, it is the starting point.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erivo, whose own path to the stage and screen was shaped by the mentors and opportunities that came her way, was equally direct about her commitment to the next generation. Speaking at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, she reflected on her own training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), which was not without its difficulties, and how those experiences became the very foundation of her commitment to serve the school as an alumna. “It came from knowing what my experience was and wanting to make sure no one else had that experience,” she said. She was clear that she did not want her involvement to be merely nominal. “I didn’t want to just be the face of it. I wanted to be purposeful,” she said. “I want to make sure those who came up behind me are supported the way they’re supposed to be supported.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cynthia
Cynthia Erivo in conversation with Dr. Stacy L. Smith of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the Sohmen Concert Hall, Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Oxford, May 5, 2026. Photo: Oxford Atelier \u00a9 Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Dr. Smith, who has spent decades documenting and challenging the barriers that keep underrepresented voices out of the industry, Erivo’s involvement signals something larger than a single award. “Cynthia Erivo is a leading voice whose work, advocacy, and ethos are resonant and necessary in today’s entertainment industry. Her commitment to supporting the next generation of filmmakers is extraordinary.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scholarship, which is designed to support multihyphenate students pursuing careers across film, theatre, and the creative industries, is funded by the Adobe Foundation, Jason and Yvonne Huff Lee, the USC School of Dramatic Arts, and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. A companion award, the Cynthia Erivo Film Bursary, was simultaneously announced for students at the University of Oxford, in partnership with the Schwarzman Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scholarship recipient is Brooklyn Norrington, a rising third-year MFA in Acting student at the USC School of Dramatic Arts. This season, Norrington has been seen in the new play Don’t Feed the Pigeons<\/em> at the Dick Wolf Drama Center\u2019s Sanctuary Theatre (directed by David Warshofsky) and in Twelfth Night<\/em> at the Bing Theatre (directed by Kate Burton and Paul Urcioli), both on USC’s campus. Norrington traveled to Oxford for the announcement, accompanied by her parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erivo’s message to Norrington and students like her was both a challenge and an invitation. “I want students to come away with an education and feel good about the education that they had,” she said. And to those just beginning their journey: “Be ready for the yes’s. We’re often told to be ready for the no’s; the no’s are easy, actually. The yes’s are harder because you have to be ready.” Her parting counsel was equally clear: “There’s only one you. You’re all made singularly. Don’t make yourself someone else.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brooklyn Norrington, a rising third-year MFA Acting student, named recipient of the award established to support USC dramatic arts students pursuing careers across film, theatre, and the creative industries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":45859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45854"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45891,"href":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45854\/revisions\/45891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dramaticarts.usc.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}