Barbara Kahn is a playwright, actor and director. She has appeared in plays at La MaMa E.T.C., Bastiano’s Playwrights Workshop, Theater for the New City, Dixon Place, the Side Walk Café, International Women Artists Salon, and Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Some of those plays are by Tom Eyen GIVE MY REGARDS TO OFF-OFF BROADWAY (1966), Ted Harris PLAYSTREET (1966), Bob Quinn BRIDGEJUMPERS (1994), Carolyn Gage CALAMITY JANE SENDS A MESSAGE TO HER DAUGHTER (2003), Susana Cook NON-CONSENSUAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH GHOSTS (2017), and her own plays HEAVEN AND EARTH (1999), THE TEMPEST-TOSSED (2001), CYMA’S STORY (1990s), and CO-OP (various).  

Kahn directed plays by Nancy Dean BURNING BRIDGES (1993), Bev Thompson LATE AFTERNOON and YARDLIGHTS AHEAD (1990s); Kevin Brofsky SHVESTERS and SECRETS AND ORPHANS (1990s); Nina Kethevan THE DIARY OF NIJINSKY (1980s: Lincoln Center; Theatre Lucernaire, Paris; The National Theatre, London); and the premiere productions of her own plays at Theater for the New City. 

Kahn’s plays have been presented in the U.S. and Europe. Historical plays include UNORTHODOX BEHAVIOR (1995), WHITHER THOU GOEST (1997), HEAVEN AND EARTH, CYMA’S STORY, CROSSINGS, WHERE W 11^TH MEETS WEST 4^TH STREET GREENWICH VILLAGE (1998), JOANNA (2000), THE TEMPEST-TOSSED  (2001), THE LADY WAS A GENTLEMAN (2003), WALKING FROM RUMANIA (2009), THE SPRING AND FALL OF EVE ADAMS  (2010), CROSSING PATHS IN WASHINGTON SQUARE (2013), WOMEN OF THE WIND (2015), THE THREE-MILE LIMIT (2016), GHOST LIGHT NOW AND THEN (2017), VERZET AMSTERDAM [Resistance Amsterdam] (2018), WHERE DO ALL THE GHOSTS GO? (2019), THEY CAME TO THE CASTLE (2020). Non-historical plays include HELL’S KITCHEN HAS A TUB IN IT (1988), SEATING AND OTHER ARRANGEMENTS (1993), PEN PALS (1994), CO-OP (1990s) and 25+ short plays for the Annual LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS at Theater for the New City.

Collaborators include Ray Hagen GRAVE DIGGERS OF 1971 (1971) and Colleen Curtis THE FORGOTTEN TRUTHS (1980s). As book writer and lyricist, she collaborated with composers Jay Kerr PYRATES! THE COURT SHIP CHRONICLES (2004) and WAR BONDS (2002); Allison Tartalia 1918: A HOUSE DIVIDED (2007) and BIRDS ON FIRE (2011); Nicola Barber THE BALLAD OF BAXTER STREET (2005); Arthur Abrams UNREACHABLE EDEN (2012); and Noelle LuSane (co-book writer) ISLAND GIRLS (2014). Plays with music include PEN PALS with a song by Marianne Speiser; THE GHOSTS OF 14^TH STREET and THEY CAME TO THE CASTLE with composer Allison Tartalia; and LONG TIME PASSING (2006) with composer Alicia Svigals.

Numerous awards include The Torch Of Hope (1995) for “Work in Non-Profit Theater;” The James R. Quirk Award (1996) for “Contributions to American Theatre;” The Fresh Fruit Festival Award (2005) “Best Play” (PEN PALS); The Downtown Urban Theater Festival (2011) “Best Short Play” (CO-OP); The Robert Chesley Foundation/Helen Wurlitzer Residency in Taos, NM (2011); the Acker Award (2017) for work in downtown theater; and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award/NY Innovative Theater Foundation (2019).

Kahn’s father was a child refugee from Eastern Europe. The family legacy of resisting oppression influenced his children’s efforts to make the world a better place. When she told her younger sister, a human rights activist for Amnesty International, that “I wish I could do what you do,” Phyllis replied, “Do what you do best.” Kahn’s subsequent playwriting has been devoted to exposing injustice, portraying people whose lives have been forgotten or distorted in popular culture—women, LGBT, immigrants, refugees, and religious and racial minorities. She co-founded (1990-94) Sisters On Stage (SOS), an organization sponsoring lesbian theater artists. She is a member of Parity Productions’ the Women and Transgender Artists Database; 365 Women a Year, a playwriting project devoted to the lives of women in history; Honor Roll! advocacy group for women playwrights over forty; the Actors Fund Performing Arts Legacy Project; The Dramatists Guild; and SAG-AFTRA.