David-Matthew Barnes

David-Matthew Barnes

David-Matthew Barnes (born September 3, 1970) is an American novelist, playwright, poet, screenwriter, filmmaker, director, actor, and teacher.

Barnes is the author of four young adult novels: Mesmerized (Bold Strokes Books, 2010), Swimming to Chicago (Bold Strokes Books, 2011), Wonderland (2012), and The Marijuana Mermaids (2013). In addition, he is the author of the literary suspense novel Accidents Never Happen (Bold Strokes Books, 2011), the rock 'n' roll gay love story The Jetsetters (Bold Strokes Books, 2012), and the women's novel Ambrosia (Diva D Publishing, 2012).

His forthcoming titles include the young adult novels Fifty Yards & Holding (2013), and Tidal Waves (2014); the provocative novel Mind Fields (2013), the romantic Backstrokes (2014), the spy thriller Love in the Shadows (2014), and A Woman's Place (2013) that chronicles a tender mother-daughter relationship from 1961 - 1972^[1].

Barnes is the writer and director of the coming-of-age film Frozen Stars, which received worldwide distribution in 2003^[2].

Barnes is the screenwriter of the upcoming horror film Scare Me, Kill Me^[3].

Barnes has written over forty stage plays that have been performed in three languages in eight countries^[4].

Currently, Barnes lives in Griffin, Georgia, where he is a faculty member at Southern Crescent Technical College^[5].

Barnes is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Biography

Early Life

As a child, Barnes was a performing arts student at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, where he studied drama and dance.

Barnes spent most of his teenage years in the Bay Area of California where he attended Berkeley High School (with classmate Rebecca Romijn).

During his sophomore year of high school, Barnes was cast by Eric B. Productions as a series regular on their Saturday morning television show Dance Floor 86. Barnes, who was the youngest cast member, appeared on the show for one year.

Barnes was then cast in a supporting role in a production of the comedic stage play Once a Catholic, written by Mary O'Malley, which was performed at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts.

Later that same year, Barnes published his first short story, "The Children Are Crying" (a socio-political fictional account of four teens caught in the aftermath of a nuclear war), in the literary anthology Across the Generations (also featuring early work of writer Kim Addonizio).

Barnes later lived in Sacramento, where he studied dance at the Visual and Performing Arts Center (VAPAC) at Sacramento High School.

Barnes opted to postpone college and spent a year living in Europe, primarily in Greece on Ios (island), where he worked as a dancer.

Education

Barnes briefly studied dramatic arts and creative writing at Sacramento City College, before attending American River College (with fellow writer Anthony Swofford)^[6].

After receiving a significant scholarship, Barnes moved to Chicago where he studied playwriting at the Theatre School at DePaul University (with classmates Judy Greer and Michael Muhney) and television production and fiction writing at Columbia College Chicago, before moving to the Atlanta area and graduating magna cum laude from Oglethorpe University with a degree in communications and English^[7].

He earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina, where he studied under the mentorship of Brighde Mullins, Ashley Warlick, Cathy Smith Bowers, Rebecca McClanahan, Kym Ragusa and Elissa Schappell^[8].

Barnes was nationally selected to study his craft in private workshop with Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman (‘night, Mother, The Color Purple, The Secret Garden) at the Southampton Writers Conference at Stony Brook Southampton in New York^[9].

In addition, Barnes has attended master classes instructed by Achy Obejas, Michelle Tea, Dorothy Allison, and Faye Dunaway.^[10]

Career

Barnes wrote and directed the motion picture Frozen Stars (adapted from his stage play), which was released in 2003 and received worldwide distribution^[11].

In 2008, Barnes was nationally selected to serve as the Emerging Writer in Residence at Pennsylvania State University in Altoona, Pennsylvania where he taught in the English program for one year^[12].

He was the Visiting Artist for the 2009-2010 season at the Lambda Players theatre company in Sacramento, California^[13].

Barnes' first novel, Mesmerized, was published in November 2010 ^[14]. The young adult novel (set in 1986 in Sacramento, California) tells the story of a seventeen-year-old young woman coping with grief and guilt she feels over the death of her older gay brother who was the victim of a hate crime.

Barnes' second novel, a literary suspense thriller set in Chicago titled Accidents Never Happen, was published in July 2011^[15].

Barnes' third novel, a young adult novel titled Swimming to Chicago (the first to feature a gay Armenian-American teen), was published in October 2011^[16].

Barnes' fourth novel, a comedic tale of a single woman searching for true love in Chicago titled Ambrosia, will be released exclusively in eBook editions on Valentine's Day in 2012.

Barnes' fifth novel, a rock 'n' roll gay love story titled The Jetsetters, is slated for release in September 2012^[17].

Barnes is currently working on his sixth novel, a supernatural young adult romance titled Wonderland ^[18].

Barnes' signature stage plays include Are You All Right In There?, Better Places to Go, Johnny Ramirez Really Wants to Kiss Me, Number 76, Pensacola, Sky Lines, Sloe Gin Fizz and the critically acclaimed Threnody.

Barnes' all-female stage play Sky Lines received an off-Broadway world premiere in The Grand Theater of The Producer's Club in New York City. Performances began on October 4, 2010. The production was directed by Margaret Champagne, produced by Tony White, and starred Meridith Nicholaev, Monica Lillian Jones, and Kasey Williams^[19].

Barnes' one-act play Baby in the Basement was an official selection for the NYC 15 Minute Play Festival, and was performed in the spring of 2011 at the American Globe Theatre, under the direction of Tony White.

Barnes received the 2011 Hart Crane Memorial Poetry Award (presented by Kent State University) for his poem Walking to K-Mart to Buy a Dolly Parton Album.

In 2011, Barnes wrote the screenplay for the upcoming horror film Scare Me, Kill Me. This project is currently in development^[20].

Filmography

• Frozen Stars (2003, worldwide distribution) - writer, director^[21]
• Just Before the Drop (2009) - written and directed by Sam Wagner (adapted from Barnes' stage play), official selection for The One in Ten Film Festival^[22]
• Scare Me, Kill Me (currently in development) - screenwriter
• Why So Fly? (2008, currently unreleased) - a documentary about Northern State (band) - producer, director^[23]

Television

• Better Luck Next Time (currently in development) - series creator/writer
• Malibu Mom (currently in development) - series writer
• Wishing on Mister Moon (currently in development) - series creator/writer

Novels

• Accidents Never Happen (Bold Strokes Books, 2011)
• Ambrosia (2012)
• Backstrokes (2014)
• The Jetsetters (Bold Strokes Books, 2012)
• Love in the Shadows (2014)
• Mind Fields (2013)
• A Woman's Place (2013)

Young Adult Novels

• Close Your Eyes and Count to Infinity (2014)
• Fifty Yards & Holding (2013)
• The Marijuana Mermaids (2013)
• Mesmerized (Bold Strokes Books, 2010)
• Swimming to Chicago (Bold Strokes Books, 2011)
• Tidal Waves (2014)
• Wonderland (2012)

• 

  Accidents Never Happen

Short Stories

• Backfire (2010)
• Bruised (2007)
• Defenseless (2011)
• Easy on My Grave (1999)
• Fifty Yards & Holding (2001)
• I Think We're Alone Now (2011)
• Kitchen (2000)
• Little Monsters (2012)
• The Marijuana Mermaid (2001)
• Patience is Waiting (2006)
• Star, Dust, and Lullaby (2011)
• Stronger Than This (2011)

Poetry

• Roadside Attractions (TBA)
• Sins of the Flesh (Word Riot Press, 2002)

Stage Plays

• Better Places to Go (Production Scripts, 2003)
• The Bray of the Belles (2012)
• A Darling Among the Maidens (Production Scripts, 1998)
• Fractured (2011)
• Frozen Stars (Production Scripts, 1998)
• Hell with the Lid Off (2012)
• Pensacola (JAC Publishing, 1996)
• Sky Lines (2008)
• Sloe Gin Fizz (JAC Publishing, 2000)
• Somebody's Baby (Heuer Publishing, 1996)
• Temporary Heroes (Brooklyn Publishers, 1996)
• We Never Made it to Paris (2009)

One-Act Plays

• And The Winner Is (Playscripts, 2000)
• Are You All Right In There? (Playscripts, 1995)
• Baby in the Basement (Production Scripts, 2003)
• Boxcar (2011)
• Bracelets and Boyfriends (JAC Publishing, 2006)
• Clean (JAC Publishing, 2001)
• The Clutch (2011)
• Don't Mention It (JAC Publishing, 2008)
• False Hopes (JAC Publishing, 1999)
• Hour Glass (Production Scripts, 2006)
• I Ate Lunch Alone Today (2000)
• It's A Pleasure to Be Sad (Production Scripts, 2007)
• Johnny Ramirez Really Wants to Kiss Me (2006)
• Just Before the Drop (Production Scripts, 2006)
• Let's Not Confuse the Situation (2005)
• No Boys Allowed (2005)
• Number 76 (Production Scripts, 1999)
• Punch Bowl (Production Scripts, 2006)
• A Rum Cake for Rita (Production Scripts, 2005)
• The Seventh of August (2011)
• Stay (1996)
• Taking Off (Production Scripts, 2006)
• That Bitch Brenda Stole My Lip Gloss, and I Want It Back (2011)
• This is My Last Date with the Boogey Man (2005)
• Threnody (Production Scripts, 1999)
• Unrequited (Brooklyn Publishers, 2004)

Featured Work

• 60 Seconds to Shine: 221 One-Minute Monologues for Men (Smith & Kraus, 2006; edited by John Capecci and Irene Ziegler Aston; featuring a monologue from Better Places to Go)
• 60 Seconds to Shine: 221 One-Minute Monologues for Women (Smith & Kraus, 2006; edited by John Capecci and Irene Ziegler Aston; featuring monologues from And The Winner Is and Baby in the Basement)
• A&U: America's AIDS Magazine (September/October 2008; edited by Chael Needle; featuring the one-act play Don't Mention It)
• Audition Arsenal for Men in Their 20s (Smith & Kraus, 2005; edited by Janet B. Milstein; featuring monologues from I Ate Lunch Alone Today and Sloe Gin Fizz)
• Audition Arsenal for Women in Their 20s (Smith & Kraus, 2005; edited by Janet B. Milstein; featuring monologues from Better Places to Go, Pensacola, Sky Lines, Temporary Heroes, and Threnody)
• Audition Arsenal for Women in Their 30s (Smith & Kraus, 2005; edited by Janet B. Milstein; featuring a monologue from Better Places to Go)
• The Best Men's Stage Monologues of 1999 (Smith & Kraus, 1999; edited by Jocelyn Beard; featuring a monologue Threnody)
• The Best Stage Scenes of 1999 (Smith & Kraus, 1999; edited by Jocelyn Beard; featuring a scene from Threnody)
• The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 1999 (Smith & Kraus, 1999; edited by Jocelyn Beard; featuring monologues from Are You All Right in There? and Threnody)
• The Best Men's Stage Monologues of 2000 (Smith & Kraus, 2000; edited by Jocelyn Beard; featuring two monologues from Sloe Gin Fizz)
• The Best Stage Scenes of 2000 (Smith & Kraus, 2000; edited by Jocelyn Beard; featuring Number 76)
• The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 2000 (Smith & Kraus, 2000; edited by Jocelyn Beard; featuring a monologue from False Hopes)
• The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 2002 (Smith & Kraus, 2002; edited by D.L. Lepidus; featuring three monologues from Frozen Stars)
• The Comstock Review (Winter 2008; edited by John M. Bellinger; featuring the poem Rapture)
• inscape (2009; edited by Michelle Lassiter and Leif Anderson; published by Washburn University; featuring the poem El Novio)
• Men of Mystery: Homoerotic Tales of Intrigue and Suspense (Haworth Press, 2007; edited by Sean Meriwether and Greg Wharton; featuring the short story Bruised; Lambda Literary Award nominee)
• Polari (Issue 3, April 2011; edited by D.J. Baker and Sharon Dunne; featuring the one-act play Johnny Ramirez Really Wants to Kiss Me)
• Red Booth Review (Volume 6:3, September 2011; edited by W.T. Pfefferle; featuring the poem Harm's Way)
• Review Americana (Fall 2010, Volume 5, Issue 2; edited by Leslie Kreiner Wilson; featuring the one-act play It's a Pleasure to Be Sad)
• Rite of Passage: Tales of Backpacking 'Round Europe (Lonely Planet, 2003; edited by Lisa Johnson; featuring the memoir essay And I Loved A Soldier)
• Saints & Sinners 2011: New Fiction from the Festival (Rebel Satori Press, 2011; edited by Amie M. Evans and Paul J. Willis; featuring the short story Backfire)
• Small-Town Gay: Essays on Family Life Beyond the Big City (Kerlak Publishing, 2004 ; edited by Elizbaeth Newman; featuring the essay The Lady of the House; Lambda Literary Award nominee)
• Time Intertwined (Kerlak Publishing, 2006 ; edited by Mark Fitzgerald; featuring the short story Patience is Waiting)
• Winners Competition Series V.4: Award-Winning, 90-Second Comic Scenes Ages 13-18 (Smith & Kraus, 2010; edited by Janet B. Milstein; featuring the scenes One Stupid Moment and Backstage Pass)
• Young Women's Monologues from Contemporary Plays #2 (Meriwether Publishing, 2008; edited by Gerald Lee Ratliff; featuring a monologue from Better Places to Go)

Awards

• 2011: Hart Crane Memorial Poetry Award, Walking to K-Mart to Buy a Dolly Parton Album
• 2011: Saints and Sinners Short Fiction Contest, Finalist, Backfire (Selected by John Berendt)^[24]
• 2008: World AIDS Day Writing Contest, Don't Mention It (play) and You Wonder (poem)
• 2008: Slam Boston Award, Best Stage Play, Johnny Ramirez Really Wants To Kiss Me
• 2008 Split This Rock Poetry Contest, 3rd Place, Latin Freestyle
• 2007 New Works for Young Women, 3rd Place, Sky Lines
• 2007: Carrie McCray Literary Award, Bracelets and Boyfriends
• 2003: Elly Award, Best Original Script, Better Places To Go
• 1997: Elly Award, Best Original Script, Somebody's Baby

References

1. ^ http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com/biography.htm
2. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1498491/
3. ^ http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com/biography.htm
4. ^ http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com/biography.htm
5. ^ http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com/biography.htm
6. ^ http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com/biography.htm
7. ^ http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com/biography.htm
8. ^ http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com/biography.htm
9. ^ http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com/biography.htm
10. ^ http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com/biography.htm
11. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1498491/
12. ^ http://www.aa.psu.edu/academics/engal_cw.asp
13. ^ http://www.lambdaplayers.com/people/david-matthew_barnes.htm
14. ^ http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com
15. ^ http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com
16. ^ http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com
17. ^ http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com
18. ^ http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com
19. ^ http://www.broadwayblogspot.com/Articles/dm_barnes.html
20. ^ http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com/biography.htm
21. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1498491/
22. ^ http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/psupride/oneinten/archives2009.html
23. ^ http://www.northernstate.net/media/videos/whysofly.html
24. ^ http://sasfest.com/and-the-winner-is

External Links

• Article by David-Matthew Barnes on Playwriting
• Bold Strokes Books
• Brooklyn Publishers
• BlogTalkRadio Interview
• David-Matthew Barnes at the Internet Movie Database
• Heuer Publishing
• Interview with David-Matthew Barnes
• JAC Publishing & Promotions
• Official Website
• Playscripts, Inc.
• Production Scripts
• Public Radio Interview About Mesmerized
• Public Radio Interview About Pensacola

Persondata
Name	Barnes, David-Matthew
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 3, 1970
Place of birth	Torrance, California
Date of death
Place of death