My name is a Elizabeth Whitney, and I am a New York City-based writer/performer and actor with a penchant for campy comedy.  Growing up in the charming hamlet of Tallahassee, Florida, I dreamed of being discovered while delivering singing telegrams as “The Singing Heart.”   Every once in a while I still get an intense craving for boiled peanuts and the Waffle House—proof that you can take the girl out of the south, but you cannot take the south out of the girl.

I have performed original work at Dixon Place, Ars Nova, HERE, PS122, Emerging Artists Theater, Galapagos, Fresh Fruit Festival and The Duplex (NYC), The Kitchen Theatre (Ithaca, NY), Athica Art Space (Athens, GA), Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (Toronto), The Mae West Fest (Seattle), Bailiwick Repertory (Chicago), Living Art Space (Tulsa), ABSOLUT Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival, Mickee Faust Co. (Tallahassee, FL), Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, DramaRama, and Saints & Sinners (New Orleans).  I have a Ph.D. in Performance Studies & Communication and have been an instructor and invited artist at numerous colleges and universities.  Along with my partner/collaborator Lea Robinson I tour THE MISCEGENATIONS PROJECT, an educational theatre piece about intersections of cultural identity.

Some of my favorite shows I’ve done in New York thus far include “Sophie” in LET THEM EAT CAKE at Dixon Place (nominated for 2010 GLAAD Media Award), “Patty” in  THE SECRETARIES in the 2010 Fringe Festival (Winner of Best Ensemble), and “Megan” in ROOM FOR CREAM at La MaMa, ETC. (Two-Headed Calf Productions).

I’ve been awarded GO Magazine’s “Dyke Drama” and “100 Women We Love”; Best Newcomer Playwright 2010 in Curve Magazine; nominated for Best Actress at the 2009 ABSOLUT Dublin Gay Theatre Festival; featured artist in Bitch Magazine; Lesbian Theatre Awards from Curve Magazine; “Best Performance” at the New York City Fresh Fruit Festival;  “Best Solo Performance” at the Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival.

I believe in continuing education, and I have participated in some excellent workshops and residencies, including Tectonic Theatre Project’s Moment Work Intensive, The Eugene O’Neill Cabaret Theatre Conference, Sarah Lawrence Playwriting Workshop, The Center for Digital Storytelling, ARTSCAPE Toronto’s International Artist Residency, and LaMama ETC.’s Italy Playwriting Residency with Lisa Kron.

My writing on performance is published in anthologies and journals, including Singular Voices: Monologues from the International Centre for Women Playwrights (JAC Publishing), Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, and Text and Performance Quarterly.  I am a member of The Dramatists Guild, Theatre Communications Group, Fund For Women Artists, International Centre for Women Playwrights, TOSOS Theatre Co. The Famous Lesbian Comedy Road Show* (*famous lesbians not included), and The Femme Show.