Faculty

Taylor A. Blackman is a playwright, actor, producer, director, and educator from Chicago, Illinois. His work centers bold, culturally resonant storytelling across theatre, television, and film. His plays include To Infinity, commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Ensemble Studio Theatre; It’s Karen, B***!*, developed through The Fire This Time Festival, produced for PBS/ALL ARTS, published in We/Ourselves: Plays Celebrating Gender Diversity by Smith & Kraus, and licensed through Tiny Scripted; Riverside Drive, a 5th Floor Theatre New Works Grant finalist and Hi-ARTS residency project; and Silicon(e) Valley, developed with The Fire This Time Festival and Baltimore Center Stage.

Taylor is a 2025–2026 Yes, And… Laughter Lab Fellow, where he developed the television adaptation of It’s Karen, B***!*, and currently serves on the organization’s Executive Committee. He has also been a playwright with the Uptown Collective Renaissance Residency and New York Playground, continuing a body of work dedicated to developing audacious new stories across mediums.

Taylor currently serves as Director of New Work at the Wonderlust Storytelling Institute, where he leads new-play development, dramaturgical processes, and artist support for the institute and its New Works Festival. He is also a professor at The New School’s School of Drama, teaching across performance, professional development, and new-work processes, as well as serving as a Co-Director for the BFA New York Showcase. 

As an actor and collaborative artist, Taylor has worked with Roundabout Theatre Company, The Public Theater, The Movement Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, New York Stage & Film, Playwrights Horizons, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Page 73, Signature Theatre, and others. His television credits include Raising Kanan (STARZ), FBI (CBS), and Alternatino (Comedy Central). His directing and movement work includes Sweet Chariot with The Movement Theatre Company and The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, as well as the 48Hours in Harlem Festival.

Across his work as a playwright, producer, educator, and new-work leader, Taylor is committed to creating collaborative spaces where ambitious storytelling and historically marginalized voices can thrive.

Oklahoma City University | Bachelor Of Fine Arts in Acting

City College of New York | Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

WE/US