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Janine Nabers is an American playwright and television writer.


Early life

Nabers was born in
Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
to Janet and Cornelius Nabers. She attended
Alief Elsik High School Alief Elsik High School is a high school in the Alief region of Houston, Texas, United States. Elsik is divided into two campuses: the main campus (12601 High Star in Houston, zip code 77072), and the Alief Elsik Ninth Grade Center (located at ...
in Houston. Nabers has a BA in
theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
from
Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...
and an MFA in
playwriting 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 ...
from
The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...
. She is also a graduate of the
Lila Acheson Wallace Lila Bell Wallace (December 25, 1889 – May 8, 1984) was an American magazine publisher and philanthropist. She co-founded ''Reader's Digest'' with her husband Dewitt Wallace, publishing the first issue in 1922. Early life and education Born Li ...
American Playwrights Program at the
Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.


Career


Theater

Nabers was initially interested in becoming a stage actress but her frustration with the lack of black roles in plays encouraged her to try playwriting instead. In her time at Juilliard, her play ''Annie Bosh is Missing'' was chosen as a finalist for the 2012-2013 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. ''Annie Bosh is Missing'' follows 22-year-old drug addict Annie Bosh who wanders the tumultuous streets of Houston after
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
. The play had its premiere at the
Steppenwolf Theatre Company Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Unitarian church on Half Day Road in Deerfield, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on ...
in 2013. Nabers' play, ''Serial Black Face'', about a single mother coping with the disappearance of her son during the
Atlanta child murders Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, won the 2014 Yale Drama Series prize. The award included publication by the
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...
. ''Serial Black Face'' had its world premiere at the Actor's Express Theatre Company in
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
in 2016. Nabers' other works include ''A Swell in the Ground'', which premiered at the Gift Theatre in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
in 2017 and ''Welcome to Jesus'', which premiered at The American Theater Company in Chicago in 2017, ''Juniper; Jubilee'' and ''The Peterson Show''.


Television

Nabers' television writing credits include Bravo's first scripted series ''
Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce ''Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce'' (also known as ''Girlfriends' Guide to Freedom'' in season 3, ''Girlfriends' Guide to Bossing Up'' in season 4, and ''Girlfriends' Guide to Ever After'' in season 5) is an American comedy-drama television series ...
,'' Lifetime's ''
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'' and AMC's ''
Dietland ''Dietland'' is the debut novel by Sarai Walker that was first published on May 26, 2015 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The novel explores the beauty industry and society's obsession with weight loss. A television adaptation of the novel by M ...
.'' She is credited as Supervising Producer on the first and second episodes of HBO's ''
Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book Limited series (comics), maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 a ...
'' and Co-Executive Producer on Netflix's '' Away.'' She was a writer on the third season of ''
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
'', and in 2021 she signed an overall deal with Amazon Studios. In 2023, ''
Swarm Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by entities, particularly animals, of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving ''en masse'' or migrating in some direction. ...
'', the series Nabers co-created with
Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glove ...
, was released on Amazon’s Prime Video.


Honors and awards

In 2011, Nabers was the recipient of the Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship. In 2012, she was named a
New York Theatre Workshop __NOTOC__ New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) is an Off-Broadway theatre noted for its productions of new works. Located at 79 4th Street (Manhattan), East 4th Street between Second Avenue (Manhattan), Second Avenue and Bowery in the East Village, ...
Playwriting Fellow. Nabers won the 2013
New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...
Playwriting fellowship and was the 2013-2014 AETNA Playwriting Fellow at Hartford Stage. She is an alumna of the Ars Nova Play Group, the
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 ...
Writer/Director Lab, the
Dramatists Guild The Dramatists Guild of America is a professional organization for playwrights, composers, and lyricists working in the U.S. theatre market. Membership as an Associate Member is open to any person having written at least one stage play. Active Mem ...
Playwriting Fellowship, the MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and the 2010 and 2011 Sundance Theatre Labs. She is also a member of the MCC Playwrights Coalition and the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at
Primary Stages Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as an Off-Broadway not-for-profit theater company. In 2004, Primary Stages moved from its 99-seat home of 17 years at 354 West 45th Street to the 199-seat theater at 59E59 Theaters. In 2014, the ...
. As a 2015-2016 participant in the LA Writers' Workshop at Center Theater Group, she won the Fadiman Playwriting Award in 2018 for her play ''The Peterson Show.'' She was a 2016-2017 member of the Echo Theater Playwright's Lab. As a supervising producer on HBO's ''Watchmen,'' Nabers was nominated for
Writers Guild of America Awards The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility The ...
for Best New Series and Best Drama Series and won the Best New Series award in 2020.


Works


Theatre

* ''Juniper; Jubilee'' * ''Annie Bosh is Missing'' * ''Serial Black Face'' * ''A Swell in the Ground'' * ''Welcome to Jesus'' * ''The Peterson Show''


Television


Selected works

* Nabers, Janine. "Juniper; Jubilee." ''Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 33rd Series'', edited by Thomas C. Dunn. New York: Samuel French, 2008 *Nabers, Janine. ''Letters to Kurt'', Playscripts Incorporated, 2012 * Nabers, Janine. ''Decade: Twenty New Plays about 9/11 and Its Legacy,'' edited by Samual Adamson, London: Nick Hern Books, 2012 * Nabers, Janine. ''Serial Black Face.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015 * Nabers, Janine. "Serial Black Face''." The Kilroys List: 97 Monologues and Scenes by Female and Trans Playwrights. Volume One'', edited by Annah Feinberg for The Kilroys, New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2017


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nabers, Janine Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American television writers American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American writers 21st-century American women writers African-American screenwriters 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers