Isaac Butler

Isaac Butler is a writer, theatre director, and arts advocate currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at the University of Minnesota, where he also works as a graduate instructor. As a theatre director, he works primarily in the new play sector. His production of Joshua Conkel’s MIlkMilkLemonade was named the Best Off-Off Broadway play of 2009 by the New York Press. As a writer, his work has appeared in Buzzine, Time Out New York, The Drama League’s News and Notes, New York Magazine’s Vulture, and others. His piece Chronicle of an Award Ungiven—detailing the reasons behind and fallout from the recent Wendy Wasserstein prize controversy—appeared in the January 2011 issue of American Theatre. His essay “Gay Like Me” is a nominee for the 2011 AWP Intro Journals Project. He served on Barack Obama’s National Arts Policy Committee and runs the blog Parabasis. Parabasis, which centers on issues of theatre, culture and politics, has been featured in Time Out New York, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Guardian, which called the blog “usually excellent.”