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Jenny Connell Davis’s plays have been developed or produced with Chautauqua, Court Theatre, the O'Neill, Playwrights' Center, ACT (Seattle), the Araca Group, The Gift Theatre, Ars Nova, Asolo Rep, NYSF, Ground Floor Theater, and SPACE at Ryder Farm, among others.
Her film and TV projects have been developed with Sony, Amazon Studios, Fox/Disney, Netflix, and Iconoclast/Anonymous Content. Jenny spent two years as in-house writer for Emmy-award-winning Baobab Studios, developing the stories that they iterate across TV, film, books for kids, graphic novels, Roblox games, and VR. Her short films have screened at festivals worldwide, including SxSW and Toronto; her first novel, STORM SEASON, is scheduled for publication in early 2027.
Finalist or semi-finalist: Seven Devils, BAPF, the Nicholl, and the Heideman. Nominations: Jeff Award , Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Lark/PONY fellowship. Resident Playwright at Palm Beach Dramaworks, and Chance Theatre, former member of Hyde Park Play Group, Ars Nova Play Group. Commissions: Opera House Arts, Chance Theater, Penfold Theatre, Palm Beach Dramaworks, Phillips Andover Academy.
She is currently working on screenplays for director Alonso Alvarez Barreda, and director/producer team Julia Max and Ian McDonald. Recent plays include ERASERS, I WANNA BE A F*CKING PRINCESS, ANTON CHEKHOV IS A TASTY SNACK, and THE MESSENGER (NNPN Rolling World Premiere).
FORMAL BIO
LESS FORMAL BIO
First -- thank you for reading this far! The best way to get to know me is over tea and some form of baked goods (I bake a LOT), but if you'd like to know a little more...
I grew up in Maine, with roots that run deep there, but with a mother "From Away" and close family friends who were refugees, many of my core memories are in Spanish...which might explain why the idea of living "between," and the process of adaptation feels like second nature.
As a teenager, I worked as a dishwasher, nanny and raspberry farm hand, where I saw the whole socioeconomic spectrum on a daily basis, which gave me a sense of economic justice that I carry to this day. Right after high school, I moved to Spain, where I lived with a French family and befriended a group of Valencian separatists (this is less extreme than it sounds, but there were a LOT of marches). When I returned to the US, I studied anthropology at The University of Chicago, trained as an actor at Steppenwolf and Court Theater, and helped found a theater company. Since college, between and around writing gigs, I've worked as a college counselor at private schools, and for families on six continents. There are NDAs, so I can't tell you much about that, but royal families are involved.
Most of the theater I've done is scrappy, and often experimental...which is why I was drawn to Austin for my MFA. I met my partner here, and after stints in New York (not his thing) and Baltimore (not mine) we settled in Texas, where I frequently find scorpions in the dishwasher and spend more time than I ever imagined fighting book bans.
I think stories are the maps that help us chart a path through life's hardest moments.
As a writer and a person...I'm restless! If there's a form or genre I haven't tried, I want to. If there's a place I haven't been, my bag is packed. My history in anthropology and social science makes me a natural detective...I want to learn new places and people, dive deep, and tell their stories!