Dr. Claudia Barnett
Professor
Departments / Programs
Degree Information
- PHD, Ohio State University (1994)
- MA, Ohio State University (1990)
- AB, Cornell University (1988)
Areas of Expertise
- Modern and contemporary drama
- Playwriting
Biography
Claudia Barnett is a professor of English, the coordinator of In Process: A Creative Writing Event Series, and the advisor for the Writing Minor. She teaches Modern Drama (ENGL 4470), Playwriting (ENGL 3665), Science Plays (2020-Honors), and Women Who Kill (ENGL 2020-Honors)--a survey of plays by 20th-century American women. She is also a playwright.
Publications
Books of Plays
Witches Vanish. Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon UP, 2021.
No. 731 Degraw-street, Brooklyn, or Emily Dickinson’s Sister: A Play in Two Acts. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon UP, 2015.
I Love You Terribly: Six Plays. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon UP, 2012.
Plays in Literary Journals
Mice into Horses. Ponder Review 2.1 (2018): 61-67...
Read More »Books of Plays
Witches Vanish. Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon UP, 2021.
No. 731 Degraw-street, Brooklyn, or Emily Dickinson’s Sister: A Play in Two Acts. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon UP, 2015.
I Love You Terribly: Six Plays. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon UP, 2012.
Plays in Literary Journals
Mice into Horses. Ponder Review 2.1 (2018): 61-67.
Swimming in the Afternoon. River Styx 93 (2015): 61-68.
Highway 16. Qu Literary Magazine (2014): 48-58.
Kilometer 14. Poems & Plays 21 (2014): 81-88.
Till Death. Santa Clara Review 98.1 (2010): 17-28.
Emily Dickinson’s Sister. Poems & Plays 16 (2009): 35-43.
Sex Lessons. River Styx 80 (2009): 8-14.
Plays in Anthologies and Scene Books
"Six Feet." The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2023. Ed. Debbie Lamedman. Lyme, NH: Smith & Kraus, 2023. 22-29.
"Please Let Me Shoot You." Identiy, Culture, and the Science Performance, vol. 2. Ed. Vivian Appler and Meredith Conti, Bloomsbury Methuen, 2023.
"Palooka." The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2017. Ed. Lawrence Harbison. Lyme, NH: Smith & Kraus, 2018. 151-158.
"He Killed My Bird, or Now That We’re in Heaven." Old Stories, New Readings: The Transforming Power of American Drama. Ed. Alfonso Ceballos Muñoz and Miriam López-Rodríguez. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars P, 2015. 249-281.
"Absent Grace." The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2013. Ed. Lawrence Harbison. Lyme, NH: Smith & Kraus, 2013. 13-19.
"Lillie Meant Murder." The Best American Short Plays, 2011-12. Ed. William W. Demastes. Milwauki: Applause, 2013. 97-107.
"Henry" (excerpt). Duo! The Best Scenes for Two for the 21st Century. Ed. Joyce E. Henry et al. Milwauki, WI: Applause, 2009. 62-66.
"Ada" (a monologue from Feather). One on One: The Best Women’s Monologues for the 21st Century. Ed. Joyce E. Henry et al. New York: Applause, 2007. 65-68.
"Devoted." The Art of the One-Act. Ed. Arnold Johnston and Deborah Ann Percy. Kalamazoo, MI: New Issues, 2007. 441-459.
Journal Articles & Book Chapters
“‘More Life’: Ethel Rosenberg’s Ghost and Angels in America.” Women’s Studies 43.2 (2014): 131-54.
“AIDS=Purgatory: Prior Walter’s Prophecy and Angels in America.” Modern Drama 53.4 (2010): 471-494.
“A Moral Dialectic: Shelagh Stephenson’s An Experiment with an Air Pump.” Modern Drama 49.2 (2006): 206-222.
“‘An Evasion of Ontology’: Being Adrienne Kennedy” (includes an interview with Kennedy and her previously unpublished short story, “Milena’s Wedding”). TDR: The Drama Review 49.3 (2005): 157-186.
“Judith Thompson’s Ghosts: The Revenants that Haunt the Plays.” Canadian Theatre Review 114 (2003): 33-37. Rpt. as “Judith Thompson I Duchy” (in Polish) in Dialog 9 (2004): 141-147. Rpt. in Judith Thompson: Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English, Volume 3. Ed. Ric Knowles. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2005. 92-98.
“Painting as Performance: Charlotte Salomon’s Life? or Theatre?” TDR: The Drama Review 47.1 (2003): 97-126.
“Physical Prisons: Naomi Wallace’s Drama of Captivity.” Captive Audience: Prison and Captivity in Contemporary Theater. Ed. Thomas Fahy and Kimball King. New York: Routledge, 2003. 147-165.
“Dialectic and the Drama of Naomi Wallace.” Southern Women Playwrights: New Essays in Literary History and Criticism. Ed. Robert L. McDonald and Linda Rohrer Paige. Tuscaloosa: U Alabama P, 2002. 154-168.
“‘In Your Dreams’: Deb Margolin’s Fantasy/Drama.” Staging a Cultural Paradigm: The Political and the Personal in American Drama. Ed. Barbara Ozieblo and Miriam López-Rodríguez. New York: Peter Lang, 2002. 273-286.
“Mrs. Dalloway and Performance Theory.” English Language Notes 40.2 (2002): 57-68.
“‘Revengeance is gold mine, sweet’: Alchemy and Archetypes in Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker.” Essays in Theatre/Études théâtrales 19.1 (2000): 45-57.
“Phyllis Nagy’s Fatal Women.” Winner of the Burger Theatre Essay National Competition. Modern Drama 42.1 (1999): 28-44.
“Twice ‘Unmarked’: Jane Martin’s Drama of Identity.” Essays in Theatre/Études théâtrales 17.2 (1999): 129-138.
“A Prison of Object Relations: Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro.” Modern Drama 40.3 (1997): 374-384. Rpt. Drama for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Dramas. Vol. 9. Ed. David Galens. Detroit: Gale, 2000 and 2009. 115-120.
“Adrienne Kennedy and Shakespeare’s Sister.” American Drama 5.2 (1996): 44-56.
“‘This Fundamental Challenge to Identity’: Reproduction and Representation in the Drama of Adrienne Kennedy.” Theatre Journal 48.2 (1996): 141-155.
“The Death of Graffiti: Postmodernism and the New York City Subway.” Studies in Popular Culture 16.2 (1994): 25-38.
“Baudriflora: Celebrating History in the Heart of Simulation,” with Robert L. Davis. The American Journal of Semiotics 10.1-2 (1993): 245-269.
“The Metadramatic Prison of Betrayal.” The Pinter Review: Annual Essays (1992-93): 69-72.
Book (editor)
Wendy Wasserstein: A Casebook. New York: Garland, 1998.
Book Reviews
Rev. of The Theatre of Naomi Wallace: Embodied Dialogues, ed. Scott T. Cummings and Erica Stevens Abbitt. Modern Drama 58.2 (2015): 279-81.
Rev. of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Contexts, Identities, Affinities, and Performances, ed. Phyllis R. Brown, Linda A. McMillin, and Katharina M. Wilson. TDR: The Drama Review 49.3 (2005): 193-94.
Theatre Reviews
Rev. of Things of Dry Hours by Naomi Wallace. O’Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, 22 Apr. 2004. Theatre Journal 56.4 (2004). 670-672.
Rev. of Three Seconds in the Key by Deb Margolin, Performance Space 122, New York, 24 Feb. 2001. Theatre Journal 53.3 (2001): 501-503.
Rev. of Mr. Bundy by Jane Martin, Actors Theatre of Louisville Bingham Theatre, 14 Mar. 1998. Theatre Journal 50.3 (1998): 379-80.
Rev. of An American Daughter by Wendy Wasserstein, Lincoln Center’s Cort Theatre, New York, 17 Apr. 1997. Theatre Journal 49.4 (1997): 520-21.
Awards
MTSU:
- Distinguished Creative Activity Award, 2012, 2023.
- Outstanding Honors Faculty Award, 2013, 2017.
- Bob Womack Distinguished Faculty Award, 2006.
- Distinguished Research Award, 2003.
Creative:
- First Place, Science Playwriting Competition, Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony Brook University, 2024.
- Andaluz Award Jury Prize, Fusion Theatre, Albuquerque, NM, 2016.
Scholarly:
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, 2002.
- Burger Theatre Essay Prize, University of Wyoming, 1997.
Creative Activity
Productions, Workshops, and Readings: Full-length Plays
Aglaonike’s Tiger. Texas A&M University: Digital production, Nov. 2020; Western Kentucky University: Mainstage production, Feb. 2019; Venus Theatre, Laurel, MD: World premiere, Sept. 7-Oct. 1, 2017; University of Pittsburgh: Lab production, Oct. 12-16, 2016; 5th Wall Productions, Charleston, SC: Workshop production, July 15-17, 2016; Magic City Readings Series, Carver Thea...
Read More »Productions, Workshops, and Readings: Full-length Plays
Aglaonike’s Tiger. Texas A&M University: Digital production, Nov. 2020; Western Kentucky University: Mainstage production, Feb. 2019; Venus Theatre, Laurel, MD: World premiere, Sept. 7-Oct. 1, 2017; University of Pittsburgh: Lab production, Oct. 12-16, 2016; 5th Wall Productions, Charleston, SC: Workshop production, July 15-17, 2016; Magic City Readings Series, Carver Theatre, Birmingham, AL: Staged reading, Apr. 25, 2015.; March Forth Summer Salon, New York: Staged reading, Aug. 4, 2014.
Don't Kill the Angels. The Loom, Woven Theatre Company, Nashville: Staged reading, Sept. 6, 2019.
Kingdom (a play about Snow White and climate change). Tennessee Playwrights Studio Festival, Nashville: Staged reading, Nov. 25, 2018.
No. 731 Degraw-street, Brooklyn, or Emily Dickinson’s Sister. Stella Adler Studio of Acting, New York, August 22-26, 2021; Venus Theatre, Laurel, MD: World premiere, Nov. 7-Dec. 1, 2013; First Annual Truffle Hunt New Play Festival, Truffle Theatre Company, Brooklyn: Staged reading. Sept. 3, 2011; Ingram New Works Festival, Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Nashville: Staged reading, May 10, 2010.
Theodosia Redux. In Process: A Creative Writing Event Series, MTSU: Staged reading, Nov. 12, 2020; The Salon, Pipeline-Collective: Workshopped throughout 2019-20.
Witches Vanish. Borderlands of History: Gender, Violence, Memory, A Reading Series, University of Pittsburgh: Staged reading, Mar. 18, 2016; Venus Theatre, Laurel, MD: World premiere as part of the Women’s Voices Theatre Festival, Aug 20.-Sept. 20, 2015; 13th Annual Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage Festival: Staged reading by Venus Theatre, Sept. 1, 2014; Great Plains Theatre Conference: PlayLab reading, Omaha, NE, May 26, 2014; 8th Annual Women’s Work Festival, St. John’s, NL, Canada: Staged reading, Mar. 4, 2014; MultiStages New Works Finalist Festival, The West End Theatre, New York: Staged reading, Jan. 20, 2014; LeapFest 9, Stage Left Theatre, Chicago: Workshop production, May 17-June 1, 2012.
Special Projects
https://www.pipeline-collective.com/outside-of-here
