PLAYWRIGHT    DIRECTOR    ACTOR

Tara Blau Smollen is a San Francisco Bay Area playwright, director and actor, drawn to reimagining classical works and amplifying underrepresented voices onstage. Her plays explore power, love and identity through a lens of cultural and historical complexity.

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Select plays include: The Gull, a reimagining of Chekhov’s The Seagull, Sisters a retelling of Chekhov’s Three Sisters (O’Neill National Playwrights Conference 2025 semifinalist: Lifeline Theatre BIPOC Adaptation Workshop Finalist 2024) and The Soledad Brothers a one act play. She is a member of the Playwrights Lab in Mill Valley.

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As a director, Tara has worked with Theater Lunatico, Cinnabar Theater, 6th Street Playhouse, Porchlight Theater Company, and Contra Costa College. Her recent production of Jen Silverman’s The Moors was named one of SF Datebook’s Best Plays of 2024. She was also co-founder and artistic director of the award-winning Porchlight Theater Company based in Ross, CA.

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A proud member of Actor’s Equity, (credited as Tara Blau) she has performed in over 70 productions, including: Amanda in Private Lives, Masha in Three Sisters and Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons. She is the recipient of 3 Dean Goodman Awards and has been nominated for 2 SFBATCC awards for lead actress in a play.

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Tara is the co-founder of Playwright Power's "First 100 Days", a national project encouraging playwrights to respond to the current political moment. This project will culminate in a production with Open Space Arts that Tara will direct in Chicago in April of 2025.

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​She is the co-writer of the screenplay “Roamer” with her writing partner LeAnne Rumbel under their production company R3p Productions.

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She holds a BA in Theater and English from University of Wisconsin, Madison and an MFA in Acting from The National Theater Conservatory, in Denver.