Carolyn Guido Clifford is a playwright, director, and arts educator living and working in Cincinnati, OH. She grew up outside of New Orleans, Illinois where she trained as a ballet dancer and is a proud alumna of NOCCA (New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.) She has a bachelor of arts in Theatre Arts from Northern Illinois University and is pursuing her MFA in Playwriting from the University of California, Riverside, Low Residency program. Beyond her own creative endeavors, Carolyn Guido Clifford’s passion for the arts extends to education. She serves as adjunct faculty at both Xavier University and Miami University and guest teaches playwriting, dance, devising, and acting around the region. She served as the Director of Education at Cincinnati Ballet for five years, and prior to that was the Associate Director of Education and Community Engagement at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where she led the Off the Grid program, creating immersive theatrical experiences for young professionals and stewarded the audience engagement strategies for the main stage season. Her play The A-List underwent a workshop at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati in 2017. In 2021, she was commissioned by the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park for their PodPlay series, leading to the audio production of Akin. As a director, she is passionate about directing new plays in development, including The Color of Leaves by Isaiah Reaves, My Geriatric Uterus by Lormarev Jones, and in a stand of dying trees by Shannon TL Kearns. She has committed her career to making the experience of seeing theatre accessible and relatable to new audiences, no matter their perceived barriers.