Vivian J.O. Barnes

Vivian J.O. Barnes

Vivian is a playwright from Virginia. Her work has been produced at Actors Theatre of Louisville's 44th Humana Festival and developed at Clubbed Thumb, Montana Repertory Theatre, and UC San Diego. Her play The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes will be developed at the 2021 Ojai Playwrights Conference. She is currently a third-year MFA playwright at UC San Diego and was recently a staff writer on an upcoming Amazon series.

Plays

  • Let It Use You by Vivian J.O. Barnes
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    It's summer 2006 in a tiny Virginia town and a group of teenage girls are stuck together at vacation bible school. Haniah wants to catch the holy spirit, Cece wants out, Ruth wants her tortuous thoughts to stop, and Denise is just happy to be here. They debate. They bond. They fight. They tap into the divine. Or maybe it's something else.
  • Farside: An Audio Play by Vivian J.O. Barnes
    Cast: 
    3–4
    ·
    Genre: drama, fantasy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: audio play, audio drama + 5 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy, mystery/thriller, radio drama
    Keyword: audio play, audio drama, aerospace, moon, NASA, science, Black astronauts
    Pam spends her days orbiting the Earth and collecting space trash in quiet solitude. Except when she’s fielding calls from her sister about their declining estranged mother. But Pam’s not focusing on that. She’s focusing on the moon. When she finally gets the chance for her long coveted moon orbit, she makes a discovery that upends her solitary existence and sends seismic ripples through every part of her life.
  • HEAP by Vivian J.O. Barnes
    Cast: 
    6–9
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: Suburbs, Biblical views of women + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: Suburbs, Biblical views of women, apocalypse, coming of age
    Do you believe in curses? On a quiet street, a foul smell fills the air. Animals start dropping dead. A child is hurt. Maybe its just an off day. Or maybe the world is ending. HEAP is a kaleidoscopic imagining of the book of Job seen through the eyes of his nameless wife and the denizens of their present-day, suburban cul-de-sac.
  • The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes by Vivian J.O. Barnes
    Cast: 
    10–50
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, horror + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: HBCU, black womanhood + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, horror, movement/physical, science fiction
    Keyword: HBCU, black womanhood, dance, marching band, disappearance, extinction
    The Sea Mink-ettes are the best dance team around and homecoming is their time to shine. As the big day creeps closer, petty infighting and the quest for perfection threaten to tear the group apart--and then three of their teammates suddenly go missing. And the darkness around them keeps growing. And the world keeps going and going and going.  
  • Duchess! Duchess! Duchess! by Vivian J.O. Barnes
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: monarchy, royalty
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: monarchy, royalty
    A Royal Wedding is looming. The Duchess and The Soon-to-be-Duchess are meeting face to face for the first time to go over everything you ever needed to know to become a duchess. There are rules. There’s a way of doing things. Remember, everybody is watching. And you don’t want to know what happens if you step out of line. Duchess! Duchess! Duchess! looks at the hidden costs of being the “luckiest girl in the world.”
  • Jezebels by Vivian J.O. Barnes
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: coming of age, sexuality + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, faith-based, movement/physical
    Keyword: coming of age, sexuality, black girlhood, black Christianity, black women and girls
    Emily is a model of purity — everyone thinks so: her parents, the faculty at her exclusive Christian boarding school, and her best friends on the cheerleading team. So why can’t she stop thinking about sex? When one thought leads to another and another…and thoughts start to become actions, suddenly all Emily knows — and all she is thought to be — is put on the line.