Johnna Adams is the author of more than 20 full length plays. Four plays are published with Dramatists Play Serivce (Gidion's Knot, Sans Merci, Lickspittles . . . , and World Builders). Six plays are published with Original Works Publications (Angel Eaters, Rattles, 8 Little Antichrists, Cockfighters, Sacred Geometry of . . ., and Nurture). Johnna received a Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Citation in April 2013 for her play Gidion’s Knot. She is the 2011 recipient of the Princess Grace Award and a 2012 Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Gidion’s Knot was published in the December 2012 edition of American Theatre Magazine. The Contemporary American Theatre Festival premiered Gidion’s Knot in Shepherdtown, WV, in summer of 2012 and more than twelve regional productions are planned or have taken place around the country for the 2013-14 season, including productions at InterAct Theatre (Philadelphia), Profiles (Chicago), Kitchen Dog (Dallas), Stages (Houston), Aurora (Berkeley) and Furious Theatre Company (Los Angeles).
CATF has also produced her play World Builders (summer of 2015). Flux Theatre Ensemble (New York) produced her play Sans Merci in spring of 2013 in New York. The script was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for best play. Her play Skinless was developed at the 2012 MFA Playwrights’ Workshop at the Kennedy Center and read at Rattlestick (New York) in winter of 2012. Her play Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens was produced by Impetuous Theatre in autumn of 2013. Johnna graduated from the DePaul University Theatre School with a BFA in Acting and received a 2012 MFA in Playwriting from Hunter College with Tina Howe.