LYDIA R. DIAMOND

Lydia R. Diamond is a Huntington Playwriting Fellow and a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists. Her plays include Stage Black (Premiered at Arts Consortium of Cincinnati, 3rd Place Theadore Ward Prize), The Gift Horse (Premiered at Goodman Theatre, 2nd place Kesselring Prize, 1st Place Theadore Ward Prize); Stick Fly (Premiered at Congo Square Theatre Company, ’06 Joseph Jefferson Award nominated – best new work, ‘06 BTAA Award, Best Play); and The Inside (premiered at MPAACT Theatre Company), and published in TriQuarterly, where she is a contributing editor; Voyeurs de Venus (premiered at Chicago Dramatists, ’06 Joseph Jefferson Award - Best New Work, ’06 BTAA Award – Best Writing, commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre Co.) Ms. Diamond’s adaptation of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre, won the Black Arts Alliance Image Award for Best New Play, and was recently remounted at the Steppenwolf and moved to a co-production with New Victory in New York. Theatre Alliance, D.C., Playmakers Rep, N.C., and Plowshares, MI, have also produced productions of The Bluest Eye. The Gift Horse is anthologized in 7 Black Plays, edited by Chuck Smith, Northwestern University Press. Ms. Diamond’s third Steppenwolf Theatre commission, a play based on the life of Harriet Jacobs, was recently workshopped and presented at The Kennedy Center’s New Visions New Voices festival, and at the UK’s Old Vic theatre (New Voices Program). Currently she is working on new commissions with The McCarter Theatre Company and Chicago Children’s Theatre Company. Stick Fly and The Bluest Eye are scheduled for various productions in 2007 across the country. The Bluest Eye, The Gift Horse, and Stage Black will all be published by Dramatic Publishing in 2007. Ms. Diamond holds a B.S. in Theatre and Performance Studies from Northwestern University. Lydia has taught playwriting at Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University, Loyola University, and currently at Boston University.


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