Jennifer Barclay

Jennifer Barclay is a Chicago actor-turned-playwright, now living in D.C. Her two primary missions as a playwright are to increase the canon of juicy, stereotype-busting roles for women, and to write intimate socio-political stories which inspire curiosity and empathy. While at MacDowell, Jennifer developed her play Ripe Frenzy, a Smith Prize for Political Theatre commission from the National New Play Network (NNPN). Ripe Frenzy was subsequently developed at Woolly Mammoth, the 2017 Ojai Playwrights Conference, and NNPN/PlayPenn. It won the 2018 Dramatists Guild Fund Writers Alliance Grant and had a 2018 NNPN Rolling World Premiere at New Rep in Boston, Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta and Greenway Court in Los Angeles. Her other plays include Hot Little Slice, Housebound, Obscura, Freedom NY, The Human Capacity, Danny, Red Helen, The Attic Dwellers, Eat It Too, and she is in the midst of developing a trilogy set in the national parks including Yellowstone, This Profound Abyss (set in Yosemite), and an untitled play set in Glacier National Park. She is also currently developing Bacchanal, a digital interactive, immersive, promenade party-play. Jennifer’s plays have been produced and developed by Steppenwolf, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, RedCat, The Kennedy Center, Center Stage, Boulder Ensemble Theatre Co, Andy’s Summer Playhouse, American Blues Theatre, The International Theatre of Vienna and The Edinburgh Fringe, among others. Other awards include: Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award, Kennedy Center National Science Playwriting Award, Pinter Review Gold Medal, BETC New Generations Award. Jennifer has had fellowships at the New Harmony Project, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Hawthornden International Writers Retreat in Scotland. She has been a playwright in residence at South Coast Rep (2009-10 Shank Playwright in Residence), Center Stage (2016 Playwrights Collective), and Arena Stage (2018-19 Playwrights Arena). She has a degree in theatre from Northwestern University and an M.F.A. in playwriting from UC San Diego, where she studied with Naomi Iizuka. She is proud to be an NNPN Affiliated Artist, a member of the Dramatists Guild, and an associate professor of playwriting and performance at the University of Maryland.