Biography
Carolyn Boriss-Krimsky is a playwright, visual artist, arts writer and award-winning co-author of Yoko Ono: Collector of Skies. She graduated from New York University, where she worked with printmaker Robert Blackburn, and painter and founder of the New York Studio School in Greenwich Village, Mercedes Matter. Exploring multi-media throughout her life, Boriss-Krimsky sees playwriting as a collaborative extension of visual art, incorporating words instead of paint. A member of The Playwright and Directors Unit at the Actors Studio in New York, as well as Writers@LargeNYC in NYC and Write On in Boston, she also attends HB Studio's playwriting practice in the West Village. Her work explores art, love, loss, boundaries, and obsession.
Among her plays are:
Women in Flux, five short plays, reading at the Lambs Club, NYC 2018
Fractals (one-act) reading at the Lambs Club, NYC 2018; reading at the Players Club, NYC 2017
Angela, reading at the Lambs Club, NYC 2018
Numbers (full-length), included in "Transgressions," HB Studio Staged Readings of New Works, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC 2018; reading at the Lambs Club, NYC 2017; reading at the Players Club, NYC 2016
Painting Circles, reading at Boston Playwrights Theater, Boston, MA 2018
Variations (full-length), reading at the Players Club, NYC 2016
Flying, included in The Central Park Plays, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC, directed by Eli Thacker Taylor, reading at Guild Hall, NYC 2015
Perfectly Safe, included in The Office Plays, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC, directed by Peter Zinn 2014
Numbers, (ten-minute), included in The Kitchen Plays, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC directed by Peter Zinn 2013, finalist for Estrogenius Festival, Manhattan Theatre Source, NYC 2011
Last Night, included in The Bedroom Plays, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC directed by Jessica Shotwell 2012, Bank Street Project, HB Studio's first-floor performance space, directed by David O'Connor 2011
Movie Date, and One Night Stand, included in Woman as Mother, Roy Arias Theater, NYC, directed respectively by Mary Fassimo, and Mark Forlenza 2010
For Art, included in The Restaurant Plays, HB Playwrights Theatre, NYC, directed by Karen Ludwig 2010
Taxi Dreams, included in The Ingenious Festival, Manhattan Theatre Source, NYC 2010 and The Living Room Plays, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC both directed by Marcia Sheiness 2009
In 2015 Boriss-Krimsky co-wrote, with Ben Clossey, Little Mr. Wonderful, included that year in Best Contemporary Monologues for Kids 7-15, published by Applause Theater and Cinema Books, Milwaukee, WI, and edited by Lawrence Harbison.
Among her plays are:
Women in Flux, five short plays, reading at the Lambs Club, NYC 2018
Fractals (one-act) reading at the Lambs Club, NYC 2018; reading at the Players Club, NYC 2017
Angela, reading at the Lambs Club, NYC 2018
Numbers (full-length), included in "Transgressions," HB Studio Staged Readings of New Works, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC 2018; reading at the Lambs Club, NYC 2017; reading at the Players Club, NYC 2016
Painting Circles, reading at Boston Playwrights Theater, Boston, MA 2018
Variations (full-length), reading at the Players Club, NYC 2016
Flying, included in The Central Park Plays, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC, directed by Eli Thacker Taylor, reading at Guild Hall, NYC 2015
Perfectly Safe, included in The Office Plays, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC, directed by Peter Zinn 2014
Numbers, (ten-minute), included in The Kitchen Plays, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC directed by Peter Zinn 2013, finalist for Estrogenius Festival, Manhattan Theatre Source, NYC 2011
Last Night, included in The Bedroom Plays, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC directed by Jessica Shotwell 2012, Bank Street Project, HB Studio's first-floor performance space, directed by David O'Connor 2011
Movie Date, and One Night Stand, included in Woman as Mother, Roy Arias Theater, NYC, directed respectively by Mary Fassimo, and Mark Forlenza 2010
For Art, included in The Restaurant Plays, HB Playwrights Theatre, NYC, directed by Karen Ludwig 2010
Taxi Dreams, included in The Ingenious Festival, Manhattan Theatre Source, NYC 2010 and The Living Room Plays, HB Playwrights Theater, NYC both directed by Marcia Sheiness 2009
In 2015 Boriss-Krimsky co-wrote, with Ben Clossey, Little Mr. Wonderful, included that year in Best Contemporary Monologues for Kids 7-15, published by Applause Theater and Cinema Books, Milwaukee, WI, and edited by Lawrence Harbison.
She also co-wrote with Nell Beram, an award-winning biography of Yoko Ono, titled Yoko Ono: Collector of Skies, published by Abrams Books, NYC in 2013. The book made the Amelia Bloomer Project List in 2014, selected as one of the best books with significant feminist content for young adult readers. Jack Feerick in Popdose describes the book as "an invitation to consider a world in which Yoko Ono the artist can be considered in herself, not as half of a famous marriage." See full review. And Ann Angel, author of Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing, wrote, "This stunning biography is of a beautiful soul whose impact spans the globe and whose art has forged new ways of seeing the world." See full review.
Focusing primarily on the multimedia work of women artists, Boriss-Krimsky has also written for arts magazines. Selections from her published arts writings include: Multimedia Pioneer: An Interview with Yoko Ono, (Ruminator Review, 2002), Yoko Ono: Art of the Mind (Art New England, October/November 2001), Self-taught Art; Who are the Outsiders in 'Outsider' Art?' (Art New England, December 2000/January 2001) and The Art of Public Conversation: A Look at Anna Deavere Smith and the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, (ArtsAround Boston, Summer 2000).
After teaching in public school, college, art studios, mental health centers and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, she wrote a highly regarded art education book called The Creativity Handbook, published in 1999 by Charles C. Thomas Publisher in Springfield, IL. The book is meant to demystify the art experience, and support the artistic vision of the child/adolescent. In Cambridge, MA, Boriss-Krimsky co-founded and co-directed the Sacramento Street Gallery, a community platform for art exhibits and poetry readings. She also created and ran an innovative art salon for young children and teens, called Artspace. As an artist, she's best known for monotypes that merge painting, printmaking and collage into fragmented visual dialogues. Like her plays, they examine boundaries, connections and the search for wholeness.
Focusing primarily on the multimedia work of women artists, Boriss-Krimsky has also written for arts magazines. Selections from her published arts writings include: Multimedia Pioneer: An Interview with Yoko Ono, (Ruminator Review, 2002), Yoko Ono: Art of the Mind (Art New England, October/November 2001), Self-taught Art; Who are the Outsiders in 'Outsider' Art?' (Art New England, December 2000/January 2001) and The Art of Public Conversation: A Look at Anna Deavere Smith and the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, (ArtsAround Boston, Summer 2000).
After teaching in public school, college, art studios, mental health centers and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, she wrote a highly regarded art education book called The Creativity Handbook, published in 1999 by Charles C. Thomas Publisher in Springfield, IL. The book is meant to demystify the art experience, and support the artistic vision of the child/adolescent. In Cambridge, MA, Boriss-Krimsky co-founded and co-directed the Sacramento Street Gallery, a community platform for art exhibits and poetry readings. She also created and ran an innovative art salon for young children and teens, called Artspace. As an artist, she's best known for monotypes that merge painting, printmaking and collage into fragmented visual dialogues. Like her plays, they examine boundaries, connections and the search for wholeness.
