Allen Barton

Allen Barton is a Los Angeles-based playwright, director, teacher and classical pianist. Plays include CIRCLING (2017), DISCONNECTION (2015), YEARS TO THE DAY (2013), and ENGAGEMENT (2010). YEARS TO THE DAY was named one of Los Angeles’ 10 Best New Plays by LA Weekly, and has been performed in New York, Paris, Edinburgh, and Kansas City, with productions lined up for five more cities in 2017. Much of his directing work has occurred for the Skylight Theatre Company, the non-profit theatre company associated with the Beverly Hills Playhouse acting school. Some of his productions include ENGAGEMENT (also writer), THE INTERVIEW, THE REAL THING, RABBIT HOLE, THE LAST FIVE YEARS, the world premieres of ABOUT FAITH, PINK DOT, Suzanne Whang's hit one-person show, I MAKE YOU LAUGHING, and Guerrilla Rep’s inaugural production of BURN THIS. Under his own experimental Project X free theatre concept, he has helmed THE HEIDI CHRONICLES, OLEANA, SPEED-THE-PLOW, and GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES. As a writer, he has additionally written several one-act plays, has written & directed five short films, and his first feature screenplay, REAL MUSIC was a top-three finalist in the CAPE New Writers Award Competition. Allen earned many years’ worth of L.A. stage, television and film credits as an actor, and he is also active as a classical pianist – he performed Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” at the 25th Annual S.T.A.G.E. fundraiser at the Wilshire Theatre, was a prizewinner in the 2002 Los Angeles Liszt Society Competition, has recorded five compact discs (available on Apple Music and other streaming services) and performs solo recitals regularly on both coasts. In 2010 he was made a Steinway Artist. A native of Boston, a graduate of Harvard University and longtime student of the late Milton Katselas, Allen is currently owner and principal teacher at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. His book "The Oasis of Insanity" is a memoir of his unique apprenticeship with the renowned acting teacher Milton Katselas, as well as Barton's guidebook to the study and pursuit of acting in the 21st century.

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Tiffany, daughter Zoe, sons Reed and Henry, and black Labrador Retriever Milo.