PENNY JACKSON
Novelist, Playwright, and Screenwriter.
Bio & Resume
Biography
Penny Jackson is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist who lives in New York City.
Jackson has written and produced two award-winning short films: MY DINNER WITH SCHWARTZEY and GREETINGS FROM SARAJEVO, both adapted from her two published short stories. MY DINNER WITH SCHWARTZEY has been presented to the world with screenings in England, Mexico, Sweden, Italy, Japan, Australia, France, Bermuda, Canada and multiple cities in The United States including Austin, Marina Del Rey, Fort Worth, Las Vegas, San Diego and New York City. The film has received over 30 nominations and 24 awards. GREETINGS FROM SARAJEVO, Jackson’s newest film, recently had its world premiere at YoFi Festival in Yonkers, November 2020 and has already won several awards including seven for best screenwriting. Both films are currently still in the festival circuit.
Selected plays include THE BATTLES OF RICHMOND HILL, I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT, SAFE, and LOUISE IN CHARLESTOWN. Her play, I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT was chosen by the theater review site "Theater Is Easy" as one of the best choices for Off-Broadway Theater. I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT was also chosen as one of the best plays in an Off Broadway production theater by NYTHEATER.COM and was the best-selling play in 2014 for Indie Theater Now. THE BATTLES OF RICHMOND HILL was awarded best play at The Southwest Theater Productions Playwright Competition in Austin, Texas. The play is published by Next Stages Press.
SAFE, which won best new play at the Planet Connections Theater Festivity in New York City was produced at The Edinburgh Fringe at the Space/North Bridge Theater and The Theater at The 14th Street Y in New York City.
Applause Theatre chose Jackson’s play BEFORE as one of the best American short plays in 2016. BEFORE won first prize in the gun control play competition sponsored by The University of Illinois-Urbana, and was featured in Necessary Exposure, an exhibit at Dixon Place Theater focusing on female playwrights.
Jackson’s novel, BECOMING THE BUTLERS, published by Bantam Books, was chosen as one of the best novels for young adults by The New York Public Library and was optioned for film by Warner Brothers.
Her short stories are published in literary magazines in The United States, England, Ireland and Scotland. Her short story collection, L.A. CHILD, published by Untreed Reads, features the title story that won a Pushcart Prize for best story in a literary magazine.
Awards include The Elizabeth Janeway Prize for writing from Barnard College, a Mirrelieis Fellowship for writing from Stanford University and a MacDowell Colony Fellowship. She is a proud member of The Actor/Directors Unit of The Actors Studio, The Dramatists Guild, The League of Professional Theatre Women and The International Center of Women Playwrights.
Resume
Penny Jackson
Playwright & Screenwriter
Resident Playwright: New York Madness Theater Company
pennybjackson@gmail.com • 914-844-5559 • pennybrandtjackson.com
Short Films
My Dinner with Schwartzey, (2019) Writer/Producer
Since the film’s premiere at the Oscar qualifying Bermuda International Film Festival in March 2019, My Dinner With Schwartzey has been presented to the world with screenings in England, Mexico, Sweden, Italy, Japan, Australia, France, Canada, and multiple cities in The United States including Austin, Marina Del Rey, Fort Worth, Las Vegas, and New York City. The film has received over 30 nominations and 22 awards including winning top honors at The French International Film Festival, The Manhattan Film Festival, NYC TV and Film Festival, Long Island International Film Festival, and Top Indie Awards.
Greetings From Sarajevo, (2019) Writer/Producer
Greetings From Sarajevo, Jackson's second short film, is based on the play Directions which premiered in New York City at Nylon Fusion Theater in 2012. The world premiere of the film was at YoFi Festival in Yonkers, New York this November. Other festivals that the film has been accepted so far: Austin Revolution (screenplay competition), Borrange Springs Festival (San Diego), Golden Door International Film Festival (New Jersey), and the International Sound and Film Music Festival (Croatia), Changing Face International Film Festival. Awards for the film include from The Southern Shorts Awards: Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Musical Score, Best Production Design and Best Sound. Screenplay awards include Winner, Festigious International Film Festival, Los Angeles, Winner, Six-Pages Screenplay Competition, Atlanta Film Festival, Chicago Screenplay Competition, Independent Shorts Awards and Top Indie Film Awards.
Select Full-Length and Short Plays w/Productions
Full-Length:
The Battles of Richmond Hill
HERE Performing Arts Theater, New York, New York, April 2019
Published by Next Stage Press, 2021.
Winner - Southwest Theater Productions Playwrights Competition, Austin, Texas, 2020.
Monologue from play published in Applause Books anthology Later Chapters:
The Best Monologue and Scenes For Actors Over Fifty.
Safe
The Theater at the 14th Street Y, New York, New York, September 2016
Space UK, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland, August 2013
59E59 Theaters, East to Edinburgh Festival, New York, New York, July 2013
Winner - Outstanding Playwright, Planet Connections Theater Festivity. New York, New York, 2012
I Know What Boys Want
The Lion Theatre, Theatre Row, New York, New York, July 2015
The Workshop Theater, New York, New York, March 2013
Published by Next Stages Press, 2014
Going Up
International Gay Dublin Theater Festival, Teacher Clubs Theater, May 2015
Published in Applause Books Contemporary Monologues for the New Theater, 2016
One Acts:
Directions
Nylon Fusion Theater, New York. New York, 2013
Warner International Theater Festival, Torrington, CT, 2021
Award Winner
Phoenix
Emerging Artists Theater, New York, New York, March 2018
The Hudson Theaters, Los Angeles, March 2018
A Different Place
Kraine Theater, FRIGID Festival, New York, New York, 2017
Winner - The 2017 Gary Garrison Award for A Different Place
A Gift from the Memorial Shop
The Hudson Theaters, Los Angeles, 2017
The Glorious Gloria (short play)
Schreiber Shorts 2016: T. Schreiber Studios, New York, New York, 2016
Louise in Charlestown (full length solo show)
The Hudson Theaters, Los Angeles, 2017
United Solo Festival, New York, 2015
Before
Playwrights for a Cause, Atlantic Theater, New York, 2016
Published in Applause Theater Books: Best Plays of 2016
Winner - Gun Control Play Competition for Before The University of Illinois-Urbana, 2016
Fellowships & Awards
- Kenneth Branagh Award for Drama, UK, Finalist for Bitten
- Applause Theater Books, Best One Act Play 2016 for Before
- New York Public Library, Awarded Best Book of the Year for Young Adults for Becoming the Butlers (Novel)
- Stanford University, Palo Alto, Mirielees Fellowship in Creative Writing
- The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough NH, Fellowship in Creative Writing
- Barnard College, New York, First Prize, One Act Play Contest