David-Matthew Barnes


 

 close to my heart

Adrienne Shelly Foundation

Americorps

amfAR: AIDS Research  

Amnesty International

ASPCA

Breast Cancer Network of Strength

Free Rice

Griffin Technical College

Human Rights Campaign

Humane Society

Let's Say Thanks

Million for Marriage

Saints & Sinners Literary Festival

Shambala Preserve & Roar Foundation

Southampton Writers Conference

South Carolina Writers Workshop

Split This Rock Poetry Festival

Stop Violence Against Women

United Church of Christ

Youth for Understanding

for fellow artists

Academy of American Poets

Actors' Equity

AFTRA

Associated Writing Programs

Dramatists Guild of America

Lambda Literary Foundation

National Endowment for the Arts

Poetry Society of America

Screen Actors Guild

Theatre Communications Group

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

Writers Guild of America

favorite films

Camille Claudel
Cinema Paradiso
Gas Food Lodging
Girls Town
The Good Girl
Grease
La Misma Luna
Mermaids
Mommie Dearest
Smithereens
Star Struck
Terms of Endearment
Thelma & Louise
Untamed Heart
Wish You Were Here

favorite novels

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
by Fannie Flagg

Last Exit to Brooklyn
by Hubert Selby, Jr.

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself
by Judy Blume

Daughters of Eve
by Lois Duncan

Up in Seth's Room
by Norma Fox Mazer

Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York
by Gail Parent

favorite albums

Belly Star
Berlin
Pleasure Victim
Book of Love
Book of Love
Concrete Blonde
Bloodletting
Crystal Lewis
Beauty for Ashes
Cyndi Lauper
She's So Unusual
Divinyls
Desperate
Fetchin' Bones
Monster
The Go Go's
Beauty and the Beat
Hole
Live Through This
Juliette & the Licks
Your Speaking My Language
Lone Justice
Lone Justice
Lone Justice
Shelter
Maria McKee
Maria McKee
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge
Northern State
Dying in Stereo
Pat Benatar
In the Heat of the Night
Pat Benatar
Seven the Hard Way
Patsy Cline
Heartaches
Possum Dixon
Possum Dixon
Rebecca St. James
Transform
Sinead O'Connor
The Lion and the Cobra
The Sounds
Living in America
Throwing Muses
The Real Ramona
Tori Amos
Little Earthquakes
Transvision Vamp
Pop Art
Voice of the Beehive
Let it Bee
Wendy MaHarry
Fountain of Youth
Yaz
Upstairs at Eric's
10,000 Maniacs
In My Tribe

David-Matthew Barnes is the author of three forthcoming young adult novels Mesmerized (2010), Swimming to Chicago (2011), and The Marijuana Mermaids (2012). He is also the author of the forthcoming literary novel Accidents Never Happen (2011) and the forthcoming romantic spy thriller Love in the Shadows (2012). He wrote and directed the motion picture Frozen Stars, which received worldwide distribution. To date, he has written over forty stage plays that have been performed in three languages in eight countries.

David-Matthew's literary work has been featured in over one hundred publications including The Best Stage Scenes, The Best Men's Stage Monologues, The Best Women's Stage Monologues, The Comstock Review, Men of Mystery: Homoerotic Tales of Intrigue and Suspense (Lambda Literary Award nominee), Rite of Passage: Tales of Backpacking ‘Round Europe, Small Town Gay: Essays on Family Life Beyond the Big City (Lambda Literary Award nominee), Young Women’s Monologues From Contemporary Plays  and more.

In 2008, David-Matthew won the World AIDS Day Writing Contest, earning double awards for poetry and playwriting, and the 2008 Slam Boston Award for Best Play. He received national awards in the 2008 Split This Rock Poetry Contest and the 2007 New Works for Young Women playwriting competition. In 2007, he also received the Carrie McCray Literary Award in recognition of his two-woman play Bracelets and Boyfriends. He has received two Elly Awards for Best Original Script from the Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance and additional awards from Writer’s Digest and the Florida Freelance Writers Association.

David‐Matthew has directed theatrical productions of Eric Laneʹs Dancing On Checkersʹ Grave, John Patrick Shanleyʹs Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Cherie Vogelsteinʹs Date with a Stranger, Michel Tremblayʹs Les Belles‐Soeurs, Robert Harlingʹs Steel Magnolias, Patricia Joudryʹs Teach Me How To Cry and more.

As an actor, he has performed in over twenty‐ five theatrical productions including roles in Once a Catholic at the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley, The Furthest Room at the Stella Adler Theatre in Los Angeles, Big Love at The Merriam Theatre in Philadelphia, in the west coast premiere of Sam Schwartz’s Vito on the Beach, and most recently as Mark in Michael Cristofer's Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play The Shadow Box.

David-Matthew graduated magna cum laude from Oglethorpe University with a degree in communications and English. He received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina.

In 2007, David-Matthew was nationally selected to study his craft in private workshop with Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman (‘night, Mother, The Color Purple, The Secret Garden) at the Southampton Writers Conference in New York.

His major writing influences include Judy Blume, Norma Fox Mazer, Lois Duncan, Fannie Flagg, Hubert Selby, Jr., John Patrick Shanley, Dorothy Parker, and Tennessee Williams.

David-Matthew was the 2008 Emerging Writer in Residence at Penn State where he taught in the English program for one year. He served as the Visiting Artist for the 2009-2010 season at the Lambda Players theatre company in Sacramento.

Currently, he is a full-time faculty member at Southern Crescent Technical College in Griffin, Georgia, where he teaches courses in English, speech and theatre.

David-Matthew lives in a suburb of Atlanta with his partner, Edward Ortiz, and their Cairn Terrier, Lucy.

 David-Matthew Barnes at age 2 David-Matthew Barnes at age 8 David-Matthew Barnes at age 13

"I am a playwright, poet, novelist, filmmaker, actor, dancer, cheerleader, choreographer, director, teacher, and former model...for life."

David-Matthew Barnes
 

David-Matthew Barnes at age 16 David-Matthew Barnes in Ios, Greece David-Matthew Barnes on the set of IN THE RAW

"In the Tennessee Williams flavored
Threnody, the dialogue sings
with poetic flashes."

The Sacramento News & Review

 

David-Matthew Barnes David-Matthew Barnes David-Matthew Barnes

"Truthfully, my dream job is to write
for
The Young and The Restless. My
life has often paralleled a soap opera,
so I figure why not put my experiences
to dramatic use..."

David-Matthew Barnes

 

 David-Matthew Barnes David-Matthew Barnes

"Frozen Stars is an ultra sincere
depiction of young people,
passionately performed..."


The Chicago Reader

 

David-Matthew Barnes David-Matthew Barnes

"I'm nothing more than a satellite,
collecting words and stories
every place I go."

David-Matthew Barnes

 

David-Matthew Barnes David-Matthew Barnes David-Matthew Barnes

"Pensacola is an eclectic collection
of Southerners in the tradition of
Tennessee Williams written by
up-and-coming phenom David-Matthew Barnes."

The Independent News

 

Nance Haxton and David-Matthew Barnes Tara Henry and David-Matthew Barnes

"My favorite quote is from Susan
Seidelman's film
Smithereens...
I just want to be in a swimming pool, eating tacos and signing autographs."


David-Matthew Barnes

 

Deborah Gibson and David-Matthew Barnes David-Matthew Barnes and Eve Ensler

"David-Matthew Barnes'
award-winning plays speak
with emotional fervor. His
characters refuse to be ignored,
driving at the heart of the human
condition with their intense desire
and longing."

Word Riot Press

  

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