David Barr III is an American writer and playwright of African descent.

Career

As an actor, Barr received a

Joseph Jefferson Joseph Jefferson III (February 20, 1829 – April 23, 1905), often known as Joe Jefferson, was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous 19th century American comedians ...

Citation for an Actor In A Principal Role for his portrayal of Philip Mbuso in the drama ''Victims'' at the Organic Theatre Greenhouse in 1992. In 1994 he was a principal actor in the Chicago Theatre Company production of ''Pill Hill'', which was the recipient of a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Ensemble. Additional acting accolades that David has received include the Best Actor Award from the Association Of Theatre Artists & Friends in 1989 for his portrayal of Creon in the Stage Left production of Antigone. Barr's first full-length play was ''The Death of the Black Jesus'', which premiered at the Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, Mo. in January 1995. Playbill from Unicorn Theatre production, January 1995. (In the theater's pre-season booklet "21st Season of Plays," the title is given as ''Betrayal of the Black Jesus''.) The success of this play led to an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship (1995) and the Black Theater Alliance Awards. The play was the winner of the National Playwriting Award sponsored by the

Unicorn Theatre The Unicorn Theatre is a children's theatre in the London Borough of Southwark, in England. It is a custom-built, RIBA Award–winning building on Tooley Street, which opened in 2005. The theatre was designed by Keith Williams, built by Arup an ...

, and the winner of the ''Mixed Blood Versus America National Playwriting Contest'' sponsored by the Mixed Blood Theatre. His adaptation of the

Walter Mosley Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private in ...

novel ''A Red Death'' had its world premiere in September 1997. It won the 1998

Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...

, sponsored by the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the E ...

in the Best New Play category. Barr's two-act drama, ''Black Caesar'', was the winner of the 1997

Theodore Ward James Theodore Ward (September 15, 1902 – May 8, 1983) was a leftist political playwright and theatre educator during the first half of the 20th century and one of the earliest contributors to the Black Chicago Renaissance. Often referred ...

Contest for Playwriting, sponsored by Chicago's Columbia College. PerformInk, Chicago's entertainment trade paper, published ''Black Caesar'' in October 1999. In January 1999, Barr received his second Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for Playwriting/Screenwriting. His play ''Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit'', based on the life of

Marian Anderson Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897April 8, 1993) was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United S ...

, was the winner of the 1999 ''Unicorn Theatre National Playwriting Award''. It opened at the Unicorn Theatre in June 1999 and at Pegasus Players in November 2000."theater reviews"
''Windy City Times'', 2001-11-14 In September 1999, his full-length play ''The Face of Emmett Till'' (formerly ''The State of Mississippi vs Emmett Till'') debuted at Pegasus Players. The play was developed with Mrs. Mamie Till Mobley and is based on the life and tragic death of her son

Emmett Till Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an African American youth, who was 14 years old when he was abducted and Lynching in the United States, lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman, ...

and was revived in the fall of 2003, again at Pegasus Players.

2000 To Present

Barr is a co-adapter of ''The Journal of Ordinary Thought'', a stage adaptation of poems and monologues written by members of the Neighborhood Writing Alliance. The Journal of Ordinary Thought had its world premiere at the Chicago Theatre Company in September 1999. It was voted one of the best plays of 1999 by both the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

and the

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

. In March 2000 it was named winner of the Festival of Emerging American Theatre (FEAT) National Playwriting Competition, sponsored by Phoenix Theatre Company in Indianapolis, and played there in the spring of 2000. In 2001, Barr received his third Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for Playwriting/Screenwriting. His play ''Bronzeville'' opened at the Pegasus Players Theater, but reviews were negative. Barr's screen adaptation of the

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...

short story " The Gilded Six Bits" was selected for the 2008 International Black Harvest Film Festival. The film was aired on the Chicago and

Gary, Indiana Gary ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 69,093 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it Indiana's List of municipalities in Indiana, eleventh-most populous city. The city has been historical ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

affiliates

WTTW WTTW (channel 11) is a PBS member television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by not-for-profit broadcaster Window to the World Communications, Inc., it is sister to commercial classical music radio station WFMT (98.7 FM). ...

and

WYIN WYIN (channel 56), branded on-air as Lakeshore PBS, is a secondary PBS member television station licensed to Gary, Indiana, United States, serving the Chicago area. It is owned by Northwest Indiana Public Broadcasting, Inc., as a sister station ...

. The movie was screened at several 2006 and 2007

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

s across the United States and was named

Best Picture The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

at the 2006 Twin Cities Film Festival. It was screened at the annual "Zora Fest" in

Eatonville, Florida Eatonville is a town in Orange County, Florida, United States, six miles north of Orlando. It is part of Greater Orlando. Incorporated on August 15, 1887, it was one of the first self-governing all-black municipalities in the United States. ( Bro ...

earlier that same year. Barr's play ''The Upper Room'' was performed at Truman College in 2005."Theater: The Upper Room"
by JONATHAN ABARBANEL, ''Windy City Times'', 2005-03-16 http://www.btaawards.org/index.html His

Civil Rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

docudrama ''My Soul is a Witness'', produced by The Jena Company, New York City toured nationally in 2005 and 2006 and a Pegasus Players production of the work was included in the Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Arts Festival in

Chennai, India Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian censu ...

during the Summer of 2007. ''My Soul is a Witness'' subsequently played in the cities of Kolkata, New Delhi and Mumbai. His second engagement with The Jena Company was the biopic ''Jackie, Vi, and Lena'' which toured nationally during the Winter of 2007. In the Spring 2006 he co-authored the vaudevillian production "Point Of Revue", a composite shot of

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

through a collection of short plays and original songs, with several artists including Kia Corthron,

Don Cheadle Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (, ; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his roles in film and television, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Don Cheadle, multiple accolades including two Golden Globe Award ...

and

Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage (born November 2, 1964) is an American playwright whose work often focuses on the experience of working-class people, particularly working-class people who are black. She has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for he ...

. Barr's screenplay ''

Death of Innocence ''Death of Innocence'' is the first album by the American punk rock band Legal Weapon. It was independently released in 1982 on Arsenal Records. Critical reception ''Trouser Press'' wrote that "''Death of Innocence'' catapulted Legal Weapon int ...

'' was co-written with Christopher Benson, Associate Professor of

Studies, and Journalism at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, and with

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

-winning director

James Moll James Moll is an American director and producer of film documentaries and television documentaries. His documentary work has earned him an Academy Award, two Emmys, and a Grammy. Moll's production company, Allentown Productions Inc., was b ...

. It was adapted from a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

co-written by Benson and the late,

activist Mamie Till-Mobley. It was optioned for development by

HBO Films HBO Films (formerly called HBO Premiere Films and HBO Pictures) is an American production and distribution company, a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. The division produces fiction and non-f ...

in 2007.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20100603181550/http://www.neiu.edu/~mystery/barr.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Barr, David American dramatists and playwrights Living people Year of birth missing (living people)