Claudia Allen is an American
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
and educator based in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
. She is known for writing
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
characters in her plays, for
Hannah Free,
Claudia Allen Papers
'' DePaul University Special Collections and Archives. Accessed March 10, 2017. and for her association with the
Victory Gardens Theater
Victory Gardens Theater is a theater company in Chicago, Illinois dedicated to the development and production of new plays and playwrights. The theater company was founded in 1974 when eight Chicago artists, Cecil O'Neal, Warren Casey, Stuart Go ...
.
Life
Claudia Allen was born on October 2,
1954, and grew up in
Clare, Michigan
Clare is a city mostly in Clare County in the U.S. State of Michigan. A small portion of the city extends south into Isabella County. The population was 3,254 at the 2020 census.
Clare was settled as early as 1870 and contains two listings on ...
. She attended the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, graduating with a
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
and a
Master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in English.
In 1979, Allen left Michigan for
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. Allen began writing, depicting the
lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
and
bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
characters she felt were absent from media. 11 of Allen's 24 produced plays (as of 2010) have lesbian themes or lesbian or bisexual main characters.
Allen is "
out
Out may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
* ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander
* ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese film ba ...
and proud."
Allen wrote throughout the 1980s without getting produced.
Her works have been featured and produced around Chicago, such as her play ''They Even Got the Rienzi,'' which was one of only two works by women in the Great Chicago Playwrights Exposition by Victory Gardens and Body Politic theaters in 1987.
In the late 80s and early 90s, Allen developed a relationship with the creative team at Victory Gardens, and saw her plays produced there in number.
Allen's most produced lesbian play is ''Hannah Free'', which premiered at Chicago's
Bailiwick Repertory Theatre in 1992.
Allen co-produced and wrote the screenplay of the 2009 film,
Hannah Free, starring Sharon Gless. She also wrote the novelization, ''Hannah Free: the Novel'' (2010).
Allen has taught at
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...
,
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
,
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
,
Lake Forest College
Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts inst ...
,
and
Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...
.
Claudia Allen has collections of scripts, drafts, programs, and other documents with DePaul University Special Collections and Archives,
and with the Chicago Public Library.
Victory Gardens Theater
Allen is an original member of the Victory Gardens Playwrights' Ensemble, which was founded in 1996. She often partnered with Sandy Shinner, the associate artistic director of Victory Gardens.
Allen premiered many works at Victory Gardens, including ''I Sailed with Magellan, Winter ''and ''Fossils ''(both starred
Julie Harris
Julia Ann Harris (December 2, 1925August 24, 2013) was an American actress. Renowned for her classical and contemporary stage work, she received five Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play.
Harris debuted on Broadway in 1945, against the wish ...
), ''Cahoots ''(starring
Sharon Gless
Sharon Marguerite Gless (born May 31, 1943) is an American actress and author, who is known for her television roles as Maggie Philbin on ''Switch'' (1975–78), Sgt. Christine Cagney in the police procedural drama series ''Cagney & Lacey'' (198 ...
), ''Deed of Trust, The Long Awaited ''and'' Still Waters ''(all starring
Deanna Dunagan
Deanna Dunagan (born May 25, 1940) is an American actress. While principally active as a stage actress, she has also worked in television and film. She is best known for her Tony Award-winning portrayal of Violet Weston in Tracy Letts' '' Augus ...
), ''Unspoken Prayers,'' and ''Hanging Fire.''
Awards
Allen has won two
Jeff Award
The Joseph Jefferson Award, more commonly known informally as the Jeff Award, is given for theatre arts produced in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are named in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson, a 19th-century American theater star ...
s for New Works, for ''The Long Awaited'' in 1989 and for ''Still Waters'' in 1991. Allen's Jeff nominations for New Works include ''Winter'' in 1999, ''Xena Live Episode 2: Xena Lives! The Musical'' in 2002, and ''I Sailed With Magellan'' in 2007. Allen's play ''I Sailed With Magellan'' is an adaptation of
Stuart Dybek
Stuart Dybek (born April 10, 1942) is an American writer of fiction and poetry.
Biography
Dybek, a second-generation Polish American, was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Chicago's Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods in the 1950s a ...
's book,
I Sailed with Magellan.
Allen was named Best Playwright by
Chicago (magazine)
''Chicago'' is a monthly magazine published by Tribune Publishing. It concentrates on lifestyle and human interest stories, and on reviewing restaurants, travel, fashion, and theatre from or nearby Chicago. Its circulation in 2004 was 165,000, l ...
in 1999.
In 2000, Allen received a Trailblazer Award from Bailiwick Repertory Theatre.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Cludia
1954 births
Living people
DePaul University Special Collections and Archives holdings
Writers from Chicago
American women dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
LGBT theatre in the United States
American LGBT writers
University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni
People from Clare, Michigan
LGBT people from Michigan
20th-century American women writers
LGBT academics
21st-century American LGBT people
21st-century American women