Chris Shaw Swanson, Playwright

Welcome to the website of Chris Shaw Swanson. Her body of theatrical work consists primarily of one-act and full-length comedies and dramas which throw a spotlight on human connections—even when otherworldly characters take center stage. Chris is fascinated by the gray areas surrounding personal and social issues. Consequently, her plays are more apt to explore questions than provide easy answers. To date, more than one hundred theaters in the U.S. and abroad have presented Chris’ work, including companies in Canada, England, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, India and New Zealand.
 
In addition to writing her own plays, Chris enjoys nurturing the imaginations of others.  She has conducted playwriting workshops extensively in elementary and middle school classrooms in Ohio and Michigan and has been a guest artist working with students at colleges including Lourdes University in Toledo, Ohio, The Ohio State University in Columbus, and Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana.

After many years writing for the broadcasting and advertising industries, Chris is now focusing her creative energies exclusively on penning new plays and sharing her life-long passion for theater with others. She is grateful to the Ohio Arts Council for recognizing her work with an Individual Excellence Award/Fellowship for Playwriting and appreciates the more than thirty theater companies and institutions that have honored her plays with awards, including the Goshen Peace Play Prize. Chris’ publishers include Smith & Kraus, Meriwether, Next Stage Press, and the International Centre for Women Playwrights. She is a member of the International Centre for Women Playwrights as well as the Dramatists Guild of America. Her current home base is New Albany, Ohio.
 
If you’d like more information about Chris’ plays or her custom-tailored playwriting workshops, please reach out to her at [email protected].