Nan Barnett is a new play developer and producer and an advocate for theater-makers and the theater they make. She is the Executive Director of National New Play Network, the country's alliance of more than 100 theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays.

During her previous tenures on NNPN’s Executive Committee and as its President she worked to create and implement several of the organization’s revolutionary initiatives, including the acclaimed NNPN Rolling World Premiere and Residency programs. She took over the Network’s administration full time in 2013 and guided NNPN through the development and launch of its field-altering database, the New Play Exchange, now home to information on more than 36,000 plays by living writers. Under Nan’s leadership, NNPN received The Washington Post’s Award for Innovative Leadership in the Theater Community, quadrupled its membership, built a strong base of nationwide support, and dramatically increased both earned and unearned income.

Most recently she led the Network’s constituencies through a two-year strategic planning process that resulted in a complete renovation of the organization’s governance structure to achieve racial and gender parity at the Board level and evaluate every aspect of the organization through a lens of equity, diversity, and inclusion. She is also currently spearheading collaborative partnerships between the Network and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, The Kennedy Center, other new play development and national service organizations, and the nation's major foundations focusing on theater, in addition to growing and strengthening NNPN’s programs and support.

Nan was the Coordinating Producer for the 2015 and 2018 iterations of the nationally acclaimed Women’s Voices Theater Festival in the nation's capital region. She was a founding company member and the long-time Managing Director of the nation’s largest regional theater producing exclusively new and developing plays and musicals, Florida Stage. During her twenty-four seasons there she oversaw the development and production of hundreds of new works for both emerging and veteran playwrights and won the Theatre League of South Florida’s Remy Award for service to the theatrical community and the Fallon Award for Excellence from the Florida Professional Theatre Association.

A graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts Professional Actors Training Program, Nan was a three-time nominee and twice won South Florida’s Carbonell Award as an actress. She was a member of the inaugural Helen Hayes Awards’ New Play Panel for the national capital region is on the Artistic Council of the O’Neill Theater Center and was inducted into the National Theatre Conference in 2017.

Nan regularly leads board and artist training sessions across the country and is a frequent featured guest, speaker, and panelist at events ranging from podcasts to national convenings. Recent appearances include Theatre Communications Group, National Alliance of Musical Theaters, TYA/USA, StateraArts, and Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations National Conferences, and dozens of new play festivals, including KCACTF, Bay Area Playwrights, Samuel French Off-Off Broadway, and Humana.