Carridder Rita Jones - Author and Playwright
Carridder "Rita" Jones, 84, of Henderson, Nevada transitioned Friday, May 8th, 2020 at Saint Rose Dominican Sienna Hospital.
Born in the South, she was raised on a small farm near the cotton and tobacco fields of Timmonsville, South Carolina. As a young girl, her love of reading began the day she attended the county’s three-room schoolhouse (built for children of freed slaves). After high school, she married Albert Jones and began to raise a family and travel. Her love of reading led to a major in English and Theatre Arts at the University of Louisville where she blossomed into a historical researcher and writer.
Sharing her love and talent for writing, Carridder co-founded Women Who Write, an organization started at the University of Louisville Women’s Center in Louisville, Kentucky for women writers.
Rita was a playwright and a published writer. Her plays were produced at Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Kentucky Center for the Arts Mex Theatre, University of Louisville Theatre and the Market House Theatre in Paducah, Kentucky.
She received grants from The Kentucky Foundation for Women, Tennessee Williams Playwright Scholarship, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Pilgrim Project of New York and the University of Louisville Women's Center. Her grants went toward the successful completion of several historical research projects.
In 2003, she completed a historical research project for the Filson Historical Society on Early African American Communities in Jefferson County. She co-produced a documentary in the Kentucky Bluegrass Region and adapted a play for the Oldham County History Center from “Narrative of the Life and Adventure of Henry Bibb, an American Slave.
In 2006, Rita received the Sallie Bingham Award from the Kentucky Foundation for Women for positive social change. She authored the 2009 book A Backward Glance and the 2015 book Voices: From Historical African American Communities near Louisville, Kentucky.
Her 2009 award-winning play, “Voice of the Fugitive” was presented at Actors Theatre of Louisville to a sold-out audience. She was also awarded the Elijah Marrs Award by the Oldham County Historical Society. One of her plays, “The Mark of Cain,” was chosen by the University of Louisville’s African American theater program for the Second Annual Juneteenth Festival of New Works.
Throughout her career as an established author and playwright, she presented her research and writings at conferences, programs, workshops, and productions.
Her parents were the late John & Esther (Lewis) Mashack.
She is survived by her children; Elizabeth DeRamus (William), Gwendolyn Hollins (Lawrence), Mark Jones (Carolyn), Anthony Jones (Jennifer) and Linda Hale (Jerry), grandchildren; Alexandra, Corry, William, Andrea, Brandy and Kailea and great grandchildren; Jordan and Derrell.
She was preceded in death by her husband Albert Jones, daughter Selina Griffith and sisters, Flossie M. Hickerson and Annie Dell McIntosh.
