Tanya Barfield

Tanya Barfield is an American playwright whose works have been presented both nationally and internationally.

Early life Barfield was born in San Francisco, California and raised in Portland, Oregon, where she attended the Metropolitan Learning Center. Barfield fell in love with theater at a young age. Her high school didn't have a theater program, so she sought acting electives at another school. While she was there, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival sent actors to her school to perform a condensed version of Macbeth. She walked away from that experience knowing that she wanted to have a career in the field of theater and making the decision to direct that very same play at her own high school months later. She starred in a one- woman show Without Skin or Breathlessness. She then attended the Juilliard School Playwrights program, receiving an Artist Diploma. At Juilliard, she was the drama division's literary manager and a member of The Lila Acheson Playwriting Program.

Career Her plays include: Bright Half Life, The Call, 121° West, Blue Door, She authored a book for a children's musical entitled Civil War: The First Black Regiment.

She taught playwriting at Primary Stages School of Theater and Barnard College, New York University and she served as the literary manager of the Juilliard Drama Division from 2009 to 2014. As of 2020 she replaced Marsha Norman as the co-director of The Acheson program. She is a proud alumna of New Dramatists and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America sitting on the council.

Plays Barfield's most nominated play Blue Door through the sponsorship of the National Endowment for the Arts. The play was an NAACP Theatre Awards nominee.

The Call opened Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in a co-production with Primary Stages in March 2013 to May 2013, directed by Leigh Silverman. The TheatreMania reviewer wrote that "...whatever the work's shortcomings, it's never a bad thing to leave the theater thinking about the problems of the world at large and looking at your own neighbors in a new light." The Call was a New York Times Critic's Pick.

Barfield's newest and self-proclaimed best play Bright Half Life explores the relationship between two women in love. According to press notes,

"Erica meets Vicky. Vicky marries Erica. Lives collide. Rewind. Pause. Fast forward. Bright Half Life is a kaleidoscopic new play about love, skydiving and the infinite moments that make a life together."

Bright Half Life ran Off-Broadway at the Women's Project Theater in February 2015 to March 2015, directed by Leigh Silverman. It was a "Time Out" Critic's Pick, and the script received the 2016 LAMBDA Literary Award.

Television Growing up, Barfield had little interaction with dramatic media on TV.

Barfield is now working as a television writer as well as a playwright, yet she still struggles with finding the time to balance the two mediums.

2016 Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Dramatic Series for The Americans on FX. Barfield shares this award with six other writers.

2005 Honorable Mention – Kesselring Prize for Drama

Nominations 2020 Primetime Emmy, Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special for Episode 3 Mrs. America entitled "Shirley" on FX. 2020 Primetime Emmy, Outstanding Limited Series for Mrs. America on FX.

Two Nominations for the Princess Grace Award.