Additional Information Teaching Areas: Managing Director, Playwriting, Theatre History, Directing
Tenured faculty
Date of Hire: August 2003
Biography
Jennifer Blackmer is a playwright and director, and Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance at Ball State University. A graduate of the MFA program in Directing at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Jennifer also received a graduate minor from the renowned program in the history of science and technology under the direction of Dr. Michel Janssen. Jennifer’s work has been seen at theatres and museums in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., Minneapolis and Indianapolis, Ball State University, and the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, where she currently serves as Playwright in Residence for the International Theatre in Museums workshop. Recent plays include the first stage adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s
Alias Grace, currently in development; O’Neill finalist
The Human Terrain (also selected for Playwrights’ Week at The Lark Play Development Center);
Elegy No. 5 (Manhattan Shakespeare Project Emerging Female Voices); and
Delicate Particle Logic (Playwrights’ Center, Minneapolis). Other notable work includes directing the American premiere of Cathy Ostlere’s
Lost at Indiana Repertory Theatre, and four productions written collaboratively with undergraduates:
Daughters of Trinity (Playwrights’ Center and Ball State University);
The Human Faustus Project (Indiana Repertory Theatre, CUR Dialogues, and Ball State University);
Middletown (Muncie Civic Theatre) and the original film/television/web event
Reality TV Bytes (nominated for two Billboard Magazine Digital Entertainment Awards). In 2010, Jennifer received two of Ball State’s most prestigious awards: the Excellence in Teaching Award, and the Outstanding Creative Endeavor Award. Her articles have appeared in the
New England Theatre Journal,
Insights, and the
CUR Quarterly. Jennifer is a member of the Dramatists’ Guild, the Mid-America Theatre Conference, the International Museum Theatre Alliance and The Playwrights’ Center.