David-Matthew Barnes (born on September 3, 1970 in Torrance, California) is an American writer and director who has become prominently known for his popular and often provocative stage plays. Many critics have compared his theatrical work to that of Tennessee Williams. While Barnes has yet to experience commercial success, his work has garnered a devoted following of readers, comprised mostly of women and teenagers. His work has also received considerable interest from the gay community and young Latin-Americans.

Barnes wrote and directed the independent coming-of-age film Frozen Stars (adapted from his stage play of the same title) that starred a then-unknown Lana Parrilla as a young woman named Lisa Vasquez. In the film, Lisa realizes that she is pregnant and is faced with a critical choice after being accepted into Harvard University. After the film was screened at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles, Frozen Stars was distributed on DVD by Liberty International Entertainment in November, 2003.

Barnes's screenplays have recently taken a more suspenseful turn and as a result he is quickly becoming a sought after writer of innovative thrillers and horror films. His current screenplays include: The Beautiful Lie, The Children of Sin, Death Do Us Part, Prey, Scare Me, Kill Me (predicted by many in the film industry to be his breakthrough project), and Under The Cellar Door, which was adapted from a short story of the same title that he wrote when he was thirteen.

Barnes is known for being a prolific writer as his work has been featured in nearly a hundred literary journals, magazines, anthologies and thematic collections. His first collection of poetry, Sins of the Flesh, was published in 2002 by Word Riot Press. He has written over fifty stage plays that are available from Brooklyn Publishers, Playscripts, Inc. and Diva D Publishing. His work has been produced on stages in Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Taiwan and in twenty-two American states. His signature plays include Are You All Right In There?, Better Places To Go, Bracelets and Boyfriends, Johnny Ramirez Really Wants To Kiss Me, Pensacola, Sloe Gin Fizz, This Is My Last Date With The Boogey Man and Threnody, a critical favorite that many of his fans consider to be his masterpiece.

After being rejected by numerous agents and publishing companies (one of whom reportedly told Barnes, "we just don't know how to market a male author who writes novels for women"), Barnes self-published his first novel, Ambrosia, and within three months the book was available for purchase in fifteen countries. Barnes is currently working on his second novel, a bittersweet exploration of a mother daughter relationship titled A Woman's Place.

Barnes has no qualms about writing popular fiction, as evident in his definition of literary elitism as "something I rebel against constantly." Of his own career he has stated, "Truthfully, my dream job is to write for a soap opera. My life has often paralleled them, so I figure why not put my experiences to dramatic use." He is an avid fan of the television show The Young and The Restless and has been since 1980.

Barnes has credited Judy Blume, Norma Fox Mazer, Lois Duncan and Gillian Armstrong's film Starstruck for having an impact on his writing while growing up. His
other influences include Dorothy Parker, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, Joyce Carol Oates, Beth Henley, Marsha Norman, Dorothy Allison, Sandra Cisneros, Rita Mae Brown, Carolyn Forché, Jamaica Kincaid, Toni Cade Bambara and Dorianne Laux. Barnes has referred to Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg as his personal favorite contemporary novel and author.

As a teenager, Barnes attended the ecclectic Berkeley High School and the Visual and Performing Arts Center at Sacramento High School. He published his first short story, an anti-nuclear war piece titled The Children Are Crying, that appeared in the anthology Across The Generations when he was just fourteen. The following year, he was cast as a regular on the Bay Area television show Dance Floor, which he appeared on for a year. He received awards for Outstanding Student Director and Outstanding Achievement in Theatre at American River College, where he was also the captain of the cheerleading team, the president of the dramatic arts club and appeared in many stage productions including The Comedy of Errors and Charles Gordone's No Place To Be Somebody. He then studied briefly at The Theatre School of DePaul University and in the fiction writing department of Columbia College Chicago.

Although Barnes grew up in northern California and has recently spent a considerable amount of time living in Georgia, he considers Chicago to be his hometown and has referred to it as, "my favorite city in the U.S." Barnes has also talked about his fondness for the country of Belgium and that he "harbors a secret dream to live in the city of Brussels one day." Barnes is actually very well-traveled. He and a childhood friend backpacked through Europe for a year after high school and spent time in seven countries. Barnes lived in a bamboo hut on the Greek island of Ios for nearly five months and worked as a dishwasher during the day and a dancer at night.

In 2006, Barnes graduated magna cum laude with a degree in communications and a minor in English from Oglethorpe University, where he attended their evening degree program. There, he was the founding editor of The Night Cap newsletter and worked under the mentorship of Nancy Keita and Annie Hunt Burriss. At present, Barnes is completing a Master of Fine Arts in the low-residency creative writing program at Queens University of Charlotte, where he is currently studying under the creative guidance of Elissa Schappell. Barnes is a member of Alpha Chi National College Honor Society and the Dramatists Guild.

Barnes lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his partner of seven years: award-winning producer Nick Moreno. They are strong advocates for animal rights and are the parents of five cats and a Cairn Terrier named Lucy McGillicuddy.

Bibliography and Filmography

Films

• Frozen Stars (2003)

Novels

• Ambrosia (2003)
• Coming Up For Air (2007)

Short Story Collections

• The Colors of Heartbreak (2007)

Drama Collections

• Monologues That Kick Ass (2005)
• Suite Sixteen: A Collection of One-Act Plays (2006)

Poetry Collections

• Forgive Me, I'm Young (2004)
• Sins of the Flesh (2003)
• They Don't Speak My Language Here (2007)

One-Act Plays

• And The Winner Is... (1999)
• Are You All Right In There? (1995)
• Baby In The Basement (2003)
• Bracelets and Boyfriends (2006)
• Clean (2001)
• The Dead Teacher (2006)
• False Hopes (1999)
• Felicia Is A Fraud (2007)
• Hour Glass (2004)
• I Ate Lunch Alone Today (2001)
• Johnny Ramirez Really Wants To Kiss Me (2006)
• A Month of Sundays (2004)
• No Boys Allowed (2006)
• Number 76 (1999)
• Praying To The Porcelain Gods At Paradise Cove (2006)
• Punch Bowl (2005)
• A Rum Cake For Rita (2004)
• Stay (1995)
• Stronger Than This (2000)
• Taking Off (2006)
• This Is My Last Date With The Boogey Man (2006)
• Threnody (1996)
• Try (2005)
• Unrequited (2002)
• Wendy's Hurricane (1996)

Full Length Plays

• Barrio (2007)
• Better Places To Go (2002)
• The Bray of The Belles (2007)
• Chimera (1998)
• A Darling Among The Maidens (1998)
• From Here I Can See Heaven (2007)
• Frozen Stars (1998)
• Grave Stones (2007)
• Highway Flowers (2007)
• The Marijuana Mermaids (2007)
• Pensacola (1996)
• Rock Star (1996)
• Sanctuary (1996)
• Shangri-La! (1995)
• Sky Lines (2004)
• Sloe Gin Fizz (2000)
• Somebody’s Baby (1996)
• Temporary Heroes (1996)
• Whirl (2007)

Screenplays

• Bitter and Sweet (2001)
• Chimera (1999)
• Death Do Us Part (2006)
• Drama Queen (2006)
• Fifty Yards and Holding (2006)
• Frozen Stars (1999)
• Glimmer (2006)
• Good For Your Age (2007)
• The Marijuana Mermaids (2001)
• Prey (2006)
• Rock It Girl (2000)
• Scare Me, Kill Me (2006)
• Sorrow Is My Sister (2000)
• Threnody (2000)

Short Film Scripts

• Are You All Right In There? (2000)
• Baby in the Basement (2002)
• The Dead Teacher (2006)

Collections Featuring Monologue and Scene Excerpts

• 60 Seconds To Shine: Monologues for Men (2006)
• 60 Seconds To Shine: Monologues for Women (2006)
• Audition Arsenal: 101 Monologues for Women in Their 20s (2005)
• Audition Arsenal: 101 Monologues for Men in Their 20s (2005)
• Audition Arsenal: 101 Monologues for Women in Their 30s (2005)
• The Best Stage Scenes of 1999
• The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 1999
• The Best Men's Stage Monologues of 1999
• The Best Stage Scenes of 2000
• The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 2000
• The Best Men's Stage Monologues of 2000
• The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 2002
• The Comfusion Review
• The Ultimate Audition Book: 221 One-Minute Monologues for Men (2006)
• The Ultimate Audition Book: 221 One-Minute Monologues for Women (2006)
• Young Women's Monologues from Contemporary Plays (2007)

Collections Featuring Short Stories and Essays

• Men of Mystery: Erotic Tales of Intrigue and Suspense (2007)
• Time Intertwined (2007)
• The Persistence of Dreams (2005)
• Rite of Passage: Tales of Backpacking 'Round Europe (2003)
• Small-Town Gay (2005)(Lambda Literary Award Nominee)

External links

Author's website

DNPAC Productions