Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance

About Tanya Palmer

Prior to joining the faculty at Indiana University, Tanya Palmer served as the Producer and Director of New Play Development at the Goodman Theatre and led the theatre’s new play programs for 14 seasons. She curated and produced New Stages, the theatre’s annual new play festival, and served as the production dramaturg on a number of world premieres including Dana H. by Lucas Hnath, directed by Les Waters; an original adaptation of Roberto Bolaño’s novel 2666 written and directed by Seth Bockley and Robert Falls; Smokefall by Noah Haidle directed by Annie Kauffman, The Happiest Song Plays Last by Quiara Hudes directed by Eddie Torres; The Long Red Road by Brett C. Leonard directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined by Lynn Nottage, directed by Kate Whoriskey. From 2000-2005 she served as the Director of New Play Development at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she led the reading and selection process for the Humana Festival of New American Plays. She is the co-editor, with Amy Wegener and Adrien-Alice Hansel, of four collections of Humana Festival plays, published by Smith & Kraus, as well as two collections of 10-minute plays published by Samuel French. As a playwright, her works include Spring, BodyTalk, Trash, The Memory Tour and Don’t Look Back, Must Look Back. A member of the Chicago-based playwrights collective MC-10, her work has been published by Samuel French, Playscripts Inc. and Smith & Kraus. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, she holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from York University in Toronto.