“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”
UPDATE: I just read this bio and it’s so boring!! The truth is, I’m not doing a whole lot of writing these days. Currently, I’m doing some editing work for Smith & Kraus Publishers, but mostly I’m the caretaker for my spouse who was diagnosed with ALS in August 2021. Life has not been easy. People say I should write about this experience, but I’m too exhausted emotionally and physically to do anything but get through this time moment by moment and enjoy the time we have together. We try to laugh every day. Our beautiful SharPei/Lab rescue, Mrs. Zelda Goldfarb helps a lot with that. If you want to read the other stuff about what I’ve done, it’s all still here below.
Debbie is a playwright, editor, and teaching artist currently living in Portland, Oregon. Debbie’s books and plays have been published by Smith & Kraus, Inc., Heuer Publishing, Next Stage Press, and Applause Books.
Debbie's produced plays include phat girls, Triangle Logic, Eating in the Dark, Just Add Love, and Up the Fall. Debbie is the co-book writer for the musical How the Nurse Feels, which had staged readings at both the ASCAP/Disney workshop in Los Angeles, and New World Stages in New York City. Debbie's short play Mind Control was produced as part of the 35th Annual Samuel French Off-Broadway Short Play Festival in New York City.
In addition to her writing, Debbie has worked as an adjunct theatre instructor and guest director at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. She has also taught acting and writing classes at the Portland Actors Conservatory and Portland Center Stage. Debbie is a frequent guest teaching artist and has taught master classes in playwrighting and monologue workshops around the country.
In October 2021, Debbie participated in the Kennedy Center Playwrighting Intensive. She received her MFA in theatre from Brandeis University and is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild.
