Playwright

Kristen Adele
Calhoun

(she/her)

Kristen Adele Calhoun is a writer, actor, producer, and curator. She is currently a Staff Writer on HBO’s adaptation of Toni Morrison’s novel Sula and is also on the writing team for BLKNWS directed by Kahlil Joseph, produced by A24 and Participant. She is a co-producer of InterFest, an intersectional arts and ideas festival that began at Harlem School of the Arts and is the co-curator of BLKSPACE, a two-week, rest-centered residency for Black artists. She is also an I AM SOUL Playwriting Resident at Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre. Her plays include Black Cypress Bayou,Starshine & Clay, Now, She is Rising, Canfield Drive, A Pocket Full of Dandelions, With These Hands, and Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody. Her television and film acting credits include House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, Elementary, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, and Everything I Whispered to Dorothy. A native of Dallas, Texas, she is a graduate of the University of North Texas (Bachelor of Fine Arts) and the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (Master of Fine Arts). She splits her time between Ghana, Mexico, and the United States of America.