Tanya Barfield

Tanya Barfield (born in Portland, OR) is an African-American playwright and actress whose works have been presented both nationally and internationally with such festivals and companies as the Arena Stage, The Royal Court Theatre, the New York Theatre Workshop, Seattle Repertory Theatre, the Hartford Stage, The Guthrie Lab, and New York Stage & Film. [http://www.brooklynrail.org/2006/10/theater/blue-door-painting] Her plays include: "121° West", "Blue Door", "Defacing Patriotic Property", "Dent", "Foul Play", "The Houdini Act", "Medallion", "Of Girl & Wolf and Wanting North", "Pecan Tan", "The Quick", "Snapshot", "Without Skin or Breathlessness", and "The Wolves". [http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsB/barfield-tanya.html] [http://www.newdramatists.org/2006_2007_new_residents.htm] She is also the author of the book for a children's musical entitled "Kofi's Civil War". Before becoming a playwright, Ms. Barfield was a solo performer, appearing in her one-woman show "Without Skin or Breathlessness". She is a graduate of the Juilliard School's Playwriting Program and a recipient of the Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award. [http://www.playscripts.com/author.php3?authorid=196] [http://www.arts.gov/about/NEARTS/2007_v5/story.php?id=p4_centertheater]

She received a 2005 Honorable Mention for the Kesselring Prize for Drama, a 2006 Lark Play Development/NYSCA grant and she has been twice been a Finalist for the Princess Grace Award. She has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group, South Coast Repertory, Primary Stages and Geva Theatre Center. Ms. Barfield was an invited guest to the “Legacy” Tribute Dinner to the Civil Rights Generation on Capitol Hill hosted by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture.

In the 2006-2007 season, her play, "Blue Door", was produced at Playwrights Horizons, South Coast Repertory; Seattle Repertory, Berkeley Repertory, Harare International Festival of the Arts, Zimbabwe. "Blue Door" is published by Dramatists Play Service. On June 29, 2008, her play "Of Equal Measure" premiered at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, California through the sponsorship of the National Endowment for the Arts. She is currently working on a play, "The Force of Night", about four generations of black men that was commissioned by Playwrights Horizons. [http://www.playscripts.com/author.php3?authorid=196] [http://www.arts.gov/about/NEARTS/2007_v5/story.php?id=p4_centertheater]

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