Jordan Ealey

Biography

Jordan Ealey is a multidisciplinary Black feminist artist-scholar, who primarily works as a playwright, bookwriter, and dramaturg. As a bookwriter, their musicals include: SILHOUETTES (book & additional lyrics, music & lyrics by Ari Afsar; 2025 New Works/New Voice Finalist; BabelFest, Redhouse Arts Center; Echo Sings, Echo Theatre) and JEANNETTE (additional book; book by Lauren Gunderson, music & lyrics by Ari Afsar, Loyola Marymount University). Other plays include: BLACK/FACE ON BUTTER (Black Women on Broadway Reading Series; Long List, 2026 Distillery New Works Festival, Seattle Public Theatre); I DON'T (10x10 Festival, Barrington Stage Company); WOMEN WITHOUT VIRTUE (Single Carrot Theatre Company); LIFT EVERY VOICE (Out of Hand Theatre Company); and SELF PORTRAIT WITH DIRTY HAIR (The Keegan Theatre). Jordan was a 2025 Playwriting Fellow with the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts and a member of the UNTITLED Musical Writers' Group. Jordan is a proud member of The Dramatists Guild and Ring of Keys and an Artist Ambassador with the New York Civil Liberties Union.

A dramaturg specializing in new work development, Jordan has worked with organizations such as Geva Theatre Center, WAM Theatre, True Colors Theatre Company, PlayPenn, Mosaic Theatre Company, Round House Theatre Company, Theatrical Outfit, and Hush Harbor Lab, among others. They have worked on projects in musical theatre, dance, opera, and performance art. Jordan co-hosts and co-created Daughters of Lorraine, a Black feminist theatre podcast, which is supported by HowlRound Theatre Commons. Additionally, they hold an M.A. and Ph.D in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park and are an Assistant Professor in the Department of Black Studies at the University of Rochester. They are currently at work on a book manuscript on Black women's music theatre.