Xandra Clark

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Xandra Nur Clark (they/she) is a playwright, actor, journalist, educator, and community-builder. Raised in an interracial, interreligious, intercultural household, they are committed to investigating multiple perspectives simultaneously. Their work, which fuses theater and journalism, seeks to raise comfort levels around difference and urge public conversation forward around the “taboo.” Xandra’s work asks audiences to confront themselves—not through a punch in the gut, but through a gentle yet persistent invitation into active dialogue. They aim to cultivate intimate community by revealing what is relatable about the “other” and what is ultimately mysterious about the self.

BIOGRAPHY:

Xandra’s award-winning work has been called “brilliant” by The New Yorker, and “thoughtful, layered, smirk-free…[and] tender” by The New York Times. Works include POLYLOGUES (2021 World Premiere Production with Colt Coeur, 2020 Kilroys List, 2022 New Dramatists Princess Grace Fellowship Semi-Finalist, 2020 Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts); EVERYTHING YOU’RE TOLD (2021 Chesley/Bumbalo Playwriting Award, 2023 O’Neill NPC Semi-Finalist, 2019 La MaMa Reading); SEPARATED (2021 O’Neill NPC Semi-Finalist); ANTHOLOGY: CROWN HEIGHTS (2016 Production at Weeksville Heritage Center; 2016 Grants from Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn Community Foundation, and Stanford Arts); and RETURNING HOME: VOICES FROM THE FRONT (2013 General Oliver P. Smith Award for Local Reporting from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, 2012 Production at Stanford University).

Xandra is a member of the 2022-23 Civilians R&D Group, a 2018-19 Queer|Art Fellow (with mentorship from playwright Mashuq Mushtaq Deen), a singer with folk choir Ukrainian Village Voices, a Company Member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and Poetic Theater; as well as a former experience designer for immersive performance collective Odyssey Works and a former member of The Bats at The Flea (and Founding Member of its counterpoint The Fled). Xandra has had residencies at MASS MoCA, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Blue Mountain Center, and Roundabout Theater Company/Berkshire Theatre Group. As a performer, they have worked at theaters including Lincoln Center, BAM, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Lark/Noor Theatre, HERE Arts Center/Colt Coeur, and The Flea; and they’ve done voiceover work for Radiolab, UNICEF, and FilmNation/Transmitter Media. As a journalist and radio producer, they have worked for StoryCorps, The Atlantic, and the BBC; had articles featured in Poynter, the San Francisco Chronicle, and KQED; and co-founded the podcast True Story (over 6 million downloads). Xandra is an avid volunteer as a certified Crisis Counselor for the Anti-Violence Project’s 24/7 LGBTQ hotline. Currently, they are under commission through the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation / Ensemble Studio Theatre, and they are an Adjunct Professor in Playwriting at the University of Rochester. BA Theater, MA Journalism: Stanford University.