Poetry
RECENT WORK
In Fall of 2020, Duncan's poems, "Addict Calling," and "In a Name" were published at Sleet Magazine. Duncan's poem, "Affirmation 207" was published at Visitant Lit.
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On December 2nd, 2019, one of the poems from "Week/End," which begins with the phrase "We went to a farmer's market" was nominated by Headmistress Press for a Pushcart Prize.
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In the winter of 2019, Headmistress Press published Duncan's chapbook, "Week/End," (described once as a "queer break-up cycle") which was a semi-finalist for the 2018 Charlotte Mew Chapbook Prize and a finalist for the 2018 Yemassee Journal Chapbook Contest. "Week/End" is available for purchase here. The cover art for the chapbook is a phenomenal piece, "Ache," by lesbian artist, Nikki McClure.
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In the winter of 2017, Duncan completed a word mapping project, entitled "Cataloging White Domestic Terrorism." Using the text from different group interviews, she created evocative lists of the words chosen in the interviews. Additionally, using the given text, she wrote a poem about white violence. One of her word maps and the above mentioned poem has been published in the Whiteness Issue at Claudia Rankine's The Racial Imaginary Institute.
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!: a story in three poems, a collaborative visual art and poetry piece with painter Elina Arpalahti. Using Duncan's words, the artist created an installation using crayon, pigment, and arabic gum on hanging canvas. The piece was presented as part of Group 17, Takt’s Artist in Residence Showcase in Berlin.
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From 2014-2016, Duncan worked in collaboration with the French artist Anne de Beaufort on two books of poetry and paintings.
In Fall of 2020, Duncan's poems, "Addict Calling," and "In a Name" were published at Sleet Magazine. Duncan's poem, "Affirmation 207" was published at Visitant Lit.
~
On December 2nd, 2019, one of the poems from "Week/End," which begins with the phrase "We went to a farmer's market" was nominated by Headmistress Press for a Pushcart Prize.
~
In the winter of 2019, Headmistress Press published Duncan's chapbook, "Week/End," (described once as a "queer break-up cycle") which was a semi-finalist for the 2018 Charlotte Mew Chapbook Prize and a finalist for the 2018 Yemassee Journal Chapbook Contest. "Week/End" is available for purchase here. The cover art for the chapbook is a phenomenal piece, "Ache," by lesbian artist, Nikki McClure.
~
In the winter of 2017, Duncan completed a word mapping project, entitled "Cataloging White Domestic Terrorism." Using the text from different group interviews, she created evocative lists of the words chosen in the interviews. Additionally, using the given text, she wrote a poem about white violence. One of her word maps and the above mentioned poem has been published in the Whiteness Issue at Claudia Rankine's The Racial Imaginary Institute.
~
!: a story in three poems, a collaborative visual art and poetry piece with painter Elina Arpalahti. Using Duncan's words, the artist created an installation using crayon, pigment, and arabic gum on hanging canvas. The piece was presented as part of Group 17, Takt’s Artist in Residence Showcase in Berlin.
~
From 2014-2016, Duncan worked in collaboration with the French artist Anne de Beaufort on two books of poetry and paintings.
PRINT & AWARDS
Sarah Duncan has been published by Sleet Magazine, Visitant Lit, The Watermark Journal, The Racial Imaginary Institute, the Laramie Boomerang, Souvenir Lit, Heavy Feather Review, Leftovers Mag, nin Poetry Journal, Broadside Journal, Asinine Poetry, Ghost House Review, Us for President, States of the Union (anthology & website), The MFA Years, and Pelorus Press.. In 2007, Sarah was awarded 2nd place for the Chester Sipple Poetry Award, and in 2008 she received an Honorable Mention for the Academy of American Poet's Prize.
Sarah Duncan has been published by Sleet Magazine, Visitant Lit, The Watermark Journal, The Racial Imaginary Institute, the Laramie Boomerang, Souvenir Lit, Heavy Feather Review, Leftovers Mag, nin Poetry Journal, Broadside Journal, Asinine Poetry, Ghost House Review, Us for President, States of the Union (anthology & website), The MFA Years, and Pelorus Press.. In 2007, Sarah was awarded 2nd place for the Chester Sipple Poetry Award, and in 2008 she received an Honorable Mention for the Academy of American Poet's Prize.
POETRY PERFORMANCE HISTORY
- Judson Memorial Church's BailOut Theater nights: Poetry Edition (2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016)
- The Cherry Lane for the Guerrilla Girls' "We Are Theatre" (2012)
- Two Moons Cafe for Honey & Poison (2012 & 2013);
- The Living Theatre's "Hot Cheap Living Festival" (2013)
- The Wild Project for Poetic Theater Company's "Love: Redefined” (2013)
- La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club for Poetry Electric: The Lot I've Got, Poetry on Privilege (2014)
- The New York Poetry Festival (2014) with The Fractal Ensemble
- The Wild Project for Poetic Theater Company’s “Breaking Our Silence” Queer Poet’s night (2014)
- Nimba Cafe for their Inaugural Live Poetry Night (2014)
- Silent Barn for a personal portfolio presentation (2014)
- La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club for Poetry Electric: Only Yes: Poetry on Consent (2015)
- Standard Toykraft for Pelorus Press's Ev*ol*u*tion (2015)
- Dixon Place for the Stylepoint Fashion Show (host) (2015)
- La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club for Poetry Electric: Mother Tongue (2016)
- La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club for a One-Woman Show, "Epic Tragic Crashing Chronic" (2016)
- Dixon Place for Queer Art Organics (2016)
- Alice Hardie Stevens Center for Power to the People Party - Wyoming Democrats (2017)
- "Week/End" Release Parties (New York and Boston) (2018)
- Allston Living Room Reading Series (2018)
Playwrighting
Sarah Duncan’s plays tackle race, sexuality, illness, systemic oppression, and power. In her full-length play Come Back Up, Duncan offers the stage a forgiveness parable wearing the face of an emergency in a world of magical realism. She puts the dead on stage, treats queerness as the norm, places white willful ignorance on trial, and dares to think children can fly. In her other full-length play, Bees and Lions, Duncan swapped the genders in August Strindberg’s Miss Julie in order to create a smooth, sinister, irreverent adaptation that uses technology and vengeance to wage a class war. In Post-Racial, she raises questions about the ever common excuse, “it was a (racist) joke!”; in Deconstructed, she puts our daily assumptions of others under the microscope on a subway platform. And in Beat Parable, Duncan gradually strips down the language, characters, and set of the play in a pace the matches the reveal of the amount of loss that comes with pairing secrecy with disease.
In 2014, Duncan completed a two month writer’s residency at Takt Kunstprojektraum in Berlin, Germany.
In 2010-2011, she held an internship at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In the summer of 2011, Duncan completed the Kennedy Center Playwright Intensive in Washington DC.
As of 2020, Duncan is working on a full length play that reckons with the ghosts and loops of complex trauma.
Sarah Duncan’s plays tackle race, sexuality, illness, systemic oppression, and power. In her full-length play Come Back Up, Duncan offers the stage a forgiveness parable wearing the face of an emergency in a world of magical realism. She puts the dead on stage, treats queerness as the norm, places white willful ignorance on trial, and dares to think children can fly. In her other full-length play, Bees and Lions, Duncan swapped the genders in August Strindberg’s Miss Julie in order to create a smooth, sinister, irreverent adaptation that uses technology and vengeance to wage a class war. In Post-Racial, she raises questions about the ever common excuse, “it was a (racist) joke!”; in Deconstructed, she puts our daily assumptions of others under the microscope on a subway platform. And in Beat Parable, Duncan gradually strips down the language, characters, and set of the play in a pace the matches the reveal of the amount of loss that comes with pairing secrecy with disease.
In 2014, Duncan completed a two month writer’s residency at Takt Kunstprojektraum in Berlin, Germany.
In 2010-2011, she held an internship at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In the summer of 2011, Duncan completed the Kennedy Center Playwright Intensive in Washington DC.
As of 2020, Duncan is working on a full length play that reckons with the ghosts and loops of complex trauma.
PRODUCTIONS
- COME BACK UP at The Gym at Judson, with Sanguine Theatre Company 2015
- POST-RACIAL, at The Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Apprentice Showcase 2014
- BEAT PARABLE, at Baruch Performing Arts Center, part of the GMHC AIDS Benefit 2013
- BEES AND LIONS, at W.O.W. Cafe Theatre, with Sanguine Theatre Company 2012
- DECONSTRUCTED, at Judson Church, Occupy the Empty Space 2012
AWARDS AND HONORS
- Top 5 Finalist and Winner (for Bees and Lions), Sanguine Theatre Company’s Project Playwright
- Top 4 Finalist (for Part of the Show), Sanguine Theatre Company’s Project Playwright 2013
