penny jackson

Penny Jackson is a playwright and a screenwriter who lives in New York City. ​ Selected plays include THE BATTLES OF RICHMOND HILL, I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT, SAFE, and LOUISE IN CHARLESTOWN. Her play, I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT was chosen by the theater review site "Theater Is Easy" as one of the best choices for Off-Broadway Theater. I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT was also chosen as one of the best plays in an Off Broadway production theater by NYTHEATER.COM and was the best-selling play in 2014 for Indie Theater Now. THE BATTLES OF RICHMOND HILL was awarded best play at The Southwest Theater Productions Playwright Competition in Austin, Texas. The play is published by Next Stages Press. Applause Theatre chose Jackson’s play BEFORE as one of the best American short plays in 2016. BEFORE won first prize in the gun control play competition sponsored by The University of Illinois-Urbana, and was featured in Necessary Exposure, an exhibit at Dixon Place Theater focusing on female playwrights. Awards include The Elizabeth Janeway Prize for writing from Barnard College, a Mirrelieis Fellowship for writing from Stanford University and a MacDowell Colony Fellowship. She is a proud member of The Actor/Directors Unit of The Actors Studio, The Dramatists Guild, The League of Professional Theatre Women and The International Center of Women Playwrights. 
​
WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Website: https://www.pennybrandtjackson.com
Twitter: @pennyplaywrirght
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pennyjack

MORE ABOUT ME
I keep doing theater because I love to tell stories that move people. Many of my plays deal with social issues: bullying, racism, homophobia and sexism. I want my audience to see my plays and leave with questions. As a former teacher, I particularly love talk backs with my audience. I am now fully committed to writing female characters who are over the age of 40. My last play, The Battles of Richmond Hill, had a 75 year old woman as the lead character. As a 60 year old woman, I am desperate to see more women of a certain age represented in the theater we watch. 

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
Dramatizing a prize-winning short story about a mother and a daughter into a one woman show.

KEYWORDS
Women, Young Audiences, Elderly women, teenagers, mothers, bullying, drug addiction, alcoholism, Jewish, Irish, drama, comedy