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Staff Bios

Barry Kornhauser (Playwright-In-Residence/Associate Director) was the recipient, in 2009, of America's preeminent TYA playwriting award, the Charlotte B. Chorpenning Cup, honoring "a nationally known writer of outstanding plays for children [in recognition of] a body of distinguished work." Other honors include the Helen Hayes Outstanding Play Award, the Ivey Award for Playwriting, AATE Distinguished Play Award, Bonderman Playwriting Prize, an ASSITEJ "Best Plays of the Decade" commendation, and fellowships/grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, TYA/USA, and National Endowment for the Arts. Barry's plays have been performed around the world and at such Tony-Award winning stages as The Shakespeare Theatre and Children's Theatre Company. His work as a playwright and/or director has taken him to the San Diego Theatre of the World Festival, the Provincetown Playhouse New Play Festival, the Smithsonian, and the Kennedy Center's "New Visions/New Voices" and "One Theatre World" Events. 2009 saw the world premiere of Barry's Bert & Ernie, Goodnight, which opened the 09-10 season of The Children's Theatre Company under the direction of Peter Brosius, and for the first time ever presenting the two iconic characters as real-life figures. Barry was also one of three playwrights (along with David Ives and former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky) commissioned by The Shakespeare Theatre to create new "American" adaptations of classic plays, his project being Moliere's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. The Fulton's nationally renowned Youtheatre project for at-risk and disabled teens, founded by Barry, was recently honored at a White House ceremony with the 2008 "Coming Up Taller" Award of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, recognizing the program as one of the top arts-education initiatives in the country. Barry was the first recipient of Pennsylvania's Educational Theatre award for "outstanding service by an individual to the Commonwealth." He also created an HIV/AIDS project that won the state's "Best Practices" Honor, and teaches theatre arts from the pre-school to the university level. In 2008 he became the United States nominee for the ASSITEJ International Award for Artistic Excellence. Barry has served as a dramaturg for the Denver Theatre Center and as a panelist for three state arts councils, the Heinz Endowments, and the NEA. He writes the "Epilogue" column for Incite/Insight magazine, sits on the board of TYA/USA, on the Pennsylvania Department of Education Standards-Aligned System Model Curriculum committee, and on the PA Cultural Access Project. He is also the AATE Pennsylvania state representative, and a member of the Dramatists Guild. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of F&M, Barry shares an enthusiasm for the college with his wife Carol, who works there, and kids Max, Sam, and Ariel - Fummers all.