Clare Barron is a playwright and actor from

Wenatchee, Washington Wenatchee ( ) is the county seat and largest city of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925, and was estimated to have increased to 34,360 as of 2019. Located in the north-central part ...

. She won the 2015 Obie Award for Playwriting for ''You Got Older''. She was a finalist for the 2019

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...

for ''Dance Nation.''

Early life

In an interview, Barron said that she became interested in theatre in her early teens. "I was in a Shakespeare troupe for children in my hometown of Wenatchee, Washington, which was run by the playwright

Heidi Schreck Heidi Schreck (born September 26, 1971) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actress from Wenatchee, Washington. Her play ''What the Constitution Means to Me'', which she also performs in, was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Dr ...

’s mother, Sherry Schreck." She attended the Tisch Summer Program while in high school, where she took a writing workshop."Artist Interview. Claire Barron"
playwrightshorizons.org, retrieved April 20, 2019 Barron graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. After acting for some time, she attended a workshop taught by

Annie Baker Annie Baker (born April 1981) is an American playwright and teacher who won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for her play ''The Flick.'' Among her works are the Shirley, Vermont plays, which take place in the fictional town of Shirley: ''Circle Mirror Tr ...

and wrote ''a boy put this girl in a cage with a dog and the dog killed the girl.'' This led to Barron joining a writer's group at the Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Career

Acting

As a performer, Barron has appeared in several plays. Among others, she appeared in ''Uncle Vanya'' at the

HERE Arts Center HERE Arts Center is a New York City off-off-Broadway presenting house, founded in 1993. Their location includes two stages specializing in hybrid performance, dance, theater, multi-media and puppetry in addition to art exhibition space and a cafe ...

(New York City) in 2012 as Marina and ''The Essential Straight and Narrow'' at The New Ohio Theatre (New York City) in May 2014."Clare Barron"
abouttheartists.com, retrieved April 20, 2019 Barron appeared in the play by Heidi Schreck ''The Consultant'' at the

Long Wharf Theatre Long Wharf Theatre is a nonprofit institution in New Haven, Connecticut, a pioneer in the not-for-profit regional theatre movement, the originator of several prominent plays, and a venue where many internationally known actors have appeared. Fou ...

, New Haven in January 2014.

''You Got Older''

Barron was a member of

Soho Rep The Soho Repertory Theatre, known as Soho Rep,The official website'now use "Soho", with a lowercase h, as do most articles from th''New York Times''/ref> is an American Off-Broadway theater company based in New York City which is notable for prod ...

's 2013/14 Writer/Director Lab, where she developed her play ''You Got Older''. She received the Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship in 2014, and Page 73 produced ''You Got Older'' in October to November 2014 at the HERE Arts Center, New York City. The production was directed by

Anne Kauffman Anne Kauffman is an American director known primarily for her work on new plays, mainly in the New York area. She is a founding member of the theater group the Civilians.Grode, Eric"Meet the Directors"''New York Times'', January 31, 2013 Early lif ...

and featured

Reed Birney Reed Birney (born September 11, 1954) is an American actor. Birney is known for his performances on stage and screen often acting on and off Broadway. Birney gained acclaim in 2016 for his role in '' The Humans'' winning the Tony Award for Best F ...

and Brooke Bloom. In 2015, ''You Got Older'' was nominated for the

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play is an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre among Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions. The award was initially introduced in 1955 as the Vern ...

. She was featured on the 2015 Kilroys' List. ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' reviewer wrote: "This terrific new play by Clare Barron, directed by Anne Kauffman for Page 73, offers a hilarious and painfully affecting blend of oddball dialogue, beautifully observed family dynamics, and a preoccupation with the weird ways of the body." She received the 2015 Obie Award for Playwriting for ''You Got Older''.

''Baby Screams Miracle''

Her play ''Baby Screams Miracle'' was produced Off-Off-Broadway by

Clubbed Thumb Clubbed Thumb is a downtown theater company in New York City that commissions, develops, and produces "funny, strange, and provocative new plays by living American writers." Since its founding in 1996, the company has earned five OBIES (including t ...

in their Summerworks Festival in May to June 2, 2013. Reviewer Sherri Kronfeld wrote: "...is a satisfyingly peculiar family-nightmare-mystery-storm-freakout-session, almost more dream than play at times." The

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is a non-profit theatre company located at 641 D Street NW in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1980, it produces new plays which it believes to be edgy, challenging, and thought-provoking. ...

(Washington, DC) produced the play early in 2017.

''I'll Never Love Again''

In 2016 her play ''I'll Never Love Again'' was produced at Bushwick Starr in Brooklyn, New York. It was a New York Times Critics' Pick by

Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...

, who wrote "...recalls the anguishing mysteries of sex and love during adolescence." The ''Time Out'' reviewer wrote: "Barron is a sharp, clear, virtuosic voice in the neorealist movement downtown.... The theme is Barron's awakening sexuality; at one point, she uses her body as an instrument."

''Dance Nation''

Barron's play ''Dance Nation'' received its world premiere Off-Broadway at

Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. Under the ...

in April 2018. The play was the winner of the 2017

Susan Smith Blackburn Prize The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is the largest and oldest playwriting prize for women+ writing for English-speaking theatre. Named for Susan Smith Blackburn (1935–1977), alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer. W ...

, which included a $25,000 award. The play involves pre-teen competitive dancers and their competition at the Boogie Down Grand Prix. It was a finalist for the 2019

. The committee wrote: "A refreshingly unorthodox play that conveys the joy and abandon of dancing, while addressing the changes to body and mind of its preteen characters as they peer over the precipice toward adulthood." The reviewer for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Ben Brantley noted the "insanely talented playwright" and named the play a Critics Pick: "... conjures the passionate ambivalence of early adolesence..." The play received the 2019

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

, Ensemble Award. The play received a 2019

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

special citation for Clare Barron (playwright) and Lee Sunday Evans (director).

Personal

Clare Barron currently lives in Brooklyn.

Honors

* Pulitzer Prize in Drama Finalist, 2019, ''Dance Nation'' * Whiting Award in Drama, 2017 (which includes a monetary award of $50,000) *

, 2017, ''Dance Nation'' * Relentless Award, 2015, ''Dance Nation'' * Obie Award for Playwriting, 2015, ''You Got Older'' * Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, 2014 * Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship, 2014

Plays

* ''Shhhh'' (2022) * ''The Three Sisters'' (2020) * ''Dance Nation'' (2018) * ''I'll Never Love Again'' (2016) * ''You Got Older'' (2014) * ''Baby Screams Miracle'' (2013) * ''Solar Plexus'' (2013) * ''Dirty Crusty'' * ''a boy put this girl in a cage with a dog and the dog killed the girl''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barron, Clare Living people Obie Award recipients American women dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights Yale University alumni Writers from Brooklyn People from Wenatchee, Washington Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women writers