Barbara Neri

Barbara Neri is a published and produced writer, scholar, multidisciplinary artist and Filmmaker. Her writing, artist pages, and scripts can be found in 'Performance Research', 'Victorian Poetry' and 'The Drama Review, and the 'Tennessee Williams Annual Review,' among others. Neri is the author of a solo show, 'The Consolation of Poetry', that had its New York premiere in 2005, and the play 'Unlocking Desire' that premiered in 2011 in Detroit. Neri's screen adaptation of 'Unlocking Desire' won Best Screenplay in the 2017 Marfa Film Festival Competition. Her feature length screenplay, 'Sonnets from the Portuguese', re-envisions Victorian poets Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning's enduring and powerful romance for contemporary audiences. Neri's book 'Poets in Love', on Elizabeth’s 44 love sonnets, will be in synergy with the film when it is produced. Neri is also an associate Editor of 'The Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning', a five volume modern edition of Barrett Browning’s poetry. Neri's screenplay 'The Forgotten Front,' a 2021 Academy Nicholl quarterfinalist, is an historic LGBTQ+, WWII love story.
Neri’s life as an artist began as a child with the serious study of dance with Marie Buczkowski a pupil of the famed Russian teacher Olga Preobrajenska. Neri studied dance professionally in Chicago, New York and England, theater with NY drama coach Mimi Turque, and performance art with the late L.A. performance artist Rachel Rosenthal. Neri holds a Bachelor’s in Art Education from Herron Art School and Butler University and an MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan. She is the founder and artistic director of Khoros, a producing arts organization that has created and performed major works in dance, video, performance art, theater, and filmed and edited them for DVD. Neri's work with Khoros has been funded by the Michigan Arts and Culture Council and the NEA and she has been the recipient of two prestigious MACC Creative Artist grants