some words about me

I like being in rooms with people making live performances filled with joy.

I create intimate and explosive environments for new plays, opera and dance, aiming to unearth the human condition and consciousness of our surroundings.

I produce, manage, design and organize toward an American theater that is equitable, intersectional, antiracist and innovative.

I care about employee-centric labor practices and pay transparency.

I believe in fostering generous and collaborative workplaces that value a diversity of approaches and ideas.


a more traditional bio

BarbaraSamuels (she/her) is an Obie and Henry Hewes Design Award winning queer  lighting designer, producer, and organizer. Barbara uses a diversity ofapproaches to create design-forward live events – aiming to unearth the human  condition while destabilizing harmful power structures in and out of thetheater.

New Yorkcredits include designs at Soho Rep, MCC, Lincoln Center, Ars Nova, NYTW, Target  Margin, TFANA, Playwrights Horizons, 2ST, WP Theater, The Bushwick Starr, BethMorrison Projects, New Georges, and Clubbed Thumb. Regional: Pig Iron, BardSummerscape, The Alley, Long Wharf, ACT., Woolly Mammoth, Playmakers, Kansas  City Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Shakespeare Theater Company, and Trinity Rep.

Barbara isgrateful to have recently served as Creative Producer for Snatch Adams &  Tainty McCracken Present It’s That Time of the Month! at Soho Rep. Barbara served  as the General Manager of Obie Award-winning 13P from 2008-2012, and as  Producing Director of Morgan Gould and Friends from 2014-2018.

Barbara is a member of the 2022-24 WP Producers Lab,and currently organizes the Wingspace Mentorship Program. Barbara is a New  Georges Affiliated Artist and was a 2016 Target Margin Institute Fellow.  Barbara holds a BA from Fordham University and an MFA in Lighting Design from  NYU. She is a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. 

Using Format