Diane Baia Hale

Chicago-based playwright Diane Baia Hale specializes in historical drama and the theatre of the heroic, and particularly enjoys crafting strong roles for women of all ages. Her play THE WISDOM OF SERPENTS was a finalist for the 2009 Jane Chambers Award, receiving an Honorable Mention as one of the top five plays adjudged that year. THE WISDOM OF SERPENTS has had concert performances at Northwestern University, Loyola University Chicago, and McHenry County College. It has also had a staged reading at Chicago Dramatists and at the University of Denver’s Voltaire Society, for which Diane also presented the lecture “The Pen is a Mighty Sword: One Fencer’s Journey as a Playwright.” Both THE WISDOM OF SERPENTS and Diane are featured in the new edition of Dr. Avis Clendenen’s book, EXPERIENCING HILDEGARD: JUNGIAN PERSPECTIVES. The published version of THE WISDOM OF SERPENTS is now available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at local bookstores.

Other full-length dramas include THE MARBLE MUSE (staged readings at The Greenhouse Theater Center, Chicago, and Williams Street Repertory, Crystal Lake, Illinois), RAKE (finalist, the 2013 Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Play Competition; semi-finalist 2014 Pride Films and Plays Contest; staged reading at Chicago Dramatists), THE MARBLE MUSE (staged readings at The Greenhouse Theater Center, Chicago, and Williams Street Repertory, Crystal Lake, Illinois), THE LION’S SHARE (staged reading, Chicago Dramatists), DRAGON’S TEETH (workshop production, First Stage, Los Angeles) and THE FENCING LESSON (staged reading, Chicago Dramatists).

Diane was the founding program director of the Page to Stage Series at the Raue Center for the Arts (Crystal Lake, Illinois), and was a 2009-2011 Senior Network Playwright at Chicago Dramatists. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and the International Centre for Women Playwrights.