Clare Barron
{{short description|American dramatist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Clare Barron
| image =
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| birth_date =
| birth_place = Wenatchee, Washington
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|education = Yale University {{small|(BA)}}
| occupation = Playwright, actor
| nationality = American
| period = Contemporary
| movement =
| website =
}}
Clare Barron is a playwright and actor from Wenatchee, Washington.{{Cite web|url=http://newdramatists.org/clare-barron|title=Clare Barron|website=New Dramatists|language=en|access-date=2017-03-21}} She won the 2015 Obie Award for Playwriting for You Got Older. She was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama 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’s mother, Sherry Schreck." She attended the Tisch Summer Program while in high school, where she took a writing workshop.[https://www.playwrightshorizons.org/shows/trailers/artist-interview-clare-barron/ "Artist Interview. Claire Barron"] playwrightshorizons.org, retrieved April 20, 2019 Barron graduated from Yale University.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/theater/clare-barron-discusses-her-new-play-you-got-older.html|title=Clare Barron Discusses Her New Play, 'You Got Older'|last=Soloski|first=Alexis|date=October 22, 2014|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-03-24|issn=0362-4331}} After acting for some time, she attended a workshop taught by Annie Baker 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 (New York City) in 2012 as Marina and The Essential Straight and Narrow at The New Ohio Theatre (New York City) in May 2014.[http://www.abouttheartists.com/artists/373683-clare-barron "Clare Barron"] abouttheartists.com, retrieved April 20, 2019 Barron appeared in the play by Heidi Schreck The Consultant at the Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven in January 2014.Minor, E. Kyle. [https://www.nhregister.com/entertainment/article/The-Consultant-at-Long-Wharf-Theatre-has-a-11369467.php " 'The Consultant’ at Long Wharf Theatre has a head-scratching sticking point"] nhregister.com, January 18, 2014
=''You Got Older''=
Barron was a member of Soho Rep's 2013/14 Writer/Director Lab, where she developed her play You Got Older.{{Cite web|url=http://sohorep.org/introducing-wd-lab-member-clare-barron|title=Introducing W/D Lab Member…Clare Barron! {{!}} Soho Rep.|website=sohorep.org|access-date=2017-03-24}} 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 and featured Reed Birney and Brooke Bloom.{{Cite web|url=https://www.page73.org/show-pages/yougotolder|title=Page 73 Productions "You Got Older|website=www.page73.org|date=October 29, 2014 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-20}} In 2015, You Got Older was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. She was featured on the 2015 Kilroys' List.{{Cite news|url=http://thekilroys.org/list-2015/|title=THE LIST 2015 {{!}} The Kilroys|date=April 27, 2015|work=The Kilroys|access-date=2017-03-24|language=en-US}} The New Yorker 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."[https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/theatre/got-older You Got Older] The New Yorker, retrieved April 20, 2019 She received the 2015 Obie Award for Playwriting for You Got Older.{{Cite news|url=http://www.obieawards.com/events/year-2015/|title=2015 {{!}} Obie Awards|work=Obie Awards|access-date=2017-03-21|language=en-US|archive-date=August 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815055350/http://www.obieawards.com/events/year-2015/|url-status=dead}}
=''Baby Screams Miracle''=
Her play Baby Screams Miracle was produced Off-Off-Broadway by Clubbed Thumb in their Summerworks Festival in May to June 2, 2013.{{Cite web|url=http://www.clubbedthumb.org/the-plays/the-plays-2013/|title=SUMMERWORKS 2013 {{!}} clubbed thumb|website=www.clubbedthumb.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-03-24}} Reviewer Sherri Kronfeld wrote: "...is a satisfyingly peculiar family-nightmare-mystery-storm-freakout-session, almost more dream than play at times."[http://www.clubbedthumb.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/SW13-Reviews.pdf "Reviews"] clubbedthumb.org, retrieved April 20, 2019 The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Washington, DC) produced the play early in 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.woollymammoth.net/event/baby-screams-miracle|title=Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company – Event|website=www.woollymammoth.net|access-date=2017-03-24}}
=''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, who wrote "...recalls the anguishing mysteries of sex and love during adolescence."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/27/theater/review-ill-never-love-again-from-a-teenage-girls-diary.html|title=Review: 'I'll Never Love Again,' From a Teenage Girl's Diary|last=Brantley|first=Ben|date=February 26, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-03-24|issn=0362-4331}} 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."Shaw, Helen. [https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/ill-never-love-again-a-chamber-piece " 'I'll Never Love Again' (a chamber piece): Theater review"] Time Out, March 14, 2016
=''Dance Nation''=
Barron's play Dance Nation received its world premiere Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in April 2018. The play was the winner of the 2017 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, which included a $25,000 award.{{Cite web|url=http://www.americantheatre.org/2017/03/06/clare-barrons-dance-nation-wins-blackburn-prize/|title=Clare Barron's 'Dance Nation' Wins Blackburn Prize|last=Editors|first=American Theatre|date=March 7, 2017|website=AMERICAN THEATRE|access-date=2017-03-21}} The play involves pre-teen competitive dancers and their competition at the Boogie Down Grand Prix.
It was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. 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."[https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/clare-barron "Clare Barron"] pulitzer.org, retrieved April 20, 2019
The reviewer for The New York Times Ben Brantley noted the "insanely talented playwright" and named the play a Critics Pick: "... conjures the passionate ambivalence of early adolesence..."Brantley, Ben. [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/theater/review-dance-nation-clare-barron.html "Review. ‘Dance Nation,’ the Power and the Terror of Girls at 13"] The New York Times, (subscription required), May 8, 2018
The play received the 2019 Drama Desk Award, Ensemble Award.McPhee, Ryan. [http://www.playbill.com/article/nominations-for-the-2019-drama-desk-awards-announced# "Nominations for the 2019 Drama Desk Awards Announced; 'Oklahoma!', 'Tootsie', 'Rags Parkland' Lead the Pack"] Playbill, April 25, 2019 The play received a 2019 Obie Award special citation for Clare Barron (playwright) and Lee Sunday Evans (director).Clement, Olivia; McPhee, Ryan. [http://www.playbill.com/article/heidi-schrecks-constitution-new-york-theatre-workshop-among-2019-obie-award-winners# "Heidi Schreck's Constitution, New York Theatre Workshop Among 2019 Obie Award Winners"] Playbill, May 20, 2019
Personal
Clare Barron currently lives in Brooklyn.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}
Honors
- Pulitzer Prize in Drama Finalist, 2019, Dance Nation
- Whiting Award in Drama, 2017 (which includes a monetary award of $50,000){{Cite web|url=http://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/clare-barron#/|title=Whiting Awards|website=www.whiting.org|access-date=2017-03-28}}
- Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2017, Dance Nation{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackburnprize.org/home/2017-winner/|title=2017 Winner {{!}} The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize|website=www.blackburnprize.org|access-date=2017-03-23}}
- Relentless Award, 2015, Dance Nation{{Cite web|url=http://www.americantheatre.org/2015/11/09/clare-barron-and-sara-delappe-win-inaugural-relentless-award/|title=Clare Barron and Sarah DeLappe Win Inaugural Relentless Award|last=Editors|first=American Theatre|date=November 9, 2015|website=AMERICAN THEATRE|access-date=2017-03-24}}
- Obie Award for Playwriting, 2015, You Got Older
- Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, 2014{{Cite news|url=http://www.vineyardtheatre.org/paula-vogel-playwriting-award/|title=Paula Vogel Playwriting Award {{!}} Vineyard Theatre|work=Vineyard Theatre|access-date=2017-03-23|language=en-US}}
- Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship, 2014
Plays
References
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Category:Obie Award recipients
Category:American women dramatists and playwrights
Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:Yale University alumni
Category:Writers from Brooklyn
Category:People from Wenatchee, Washington