Ian Downes (any pronouns) is a playwright and scholar hailing from Auburn, Alabama. He received his BFA in Performance from Auburn University and his Masters in Theatre from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Their dissertation explores the queer temporalities of theatrical horror.

At UB, they've taught Acting, Script Analysis, and Playwriting. Their play 0º Alcestis was performed as part of the Student Directed Series. They directed Maurice Maeterlinck's The Intruder, and were the Assistant Director/Prompter for Henry VI.ii. 

They have been published in Text and Presentation (The Embodied Cartoon: The Move Toward Universal in Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play), in the edited collection Re-Imagining the Victim in Post-1970s Horror Media (The Potential Victim: Horror Roleplaying Games and the Cruelty of Things) and have a forthcoming chapter in a collection on the Monstrous Utopian.

They have presented on their dissertation research (and various asides) at ASTR, PAMLA, Comparative Drama, Theatre Symposium, the Queer Horror Conference, and various student-organized symposiums.

Ian can be found on the New Play Exchange (https://newplayexchange.org/users/50323/ian-downes), through which other theatres have produced their scripts 37 Scenes and a Watermelon and 2043: Mission Weir.