Dr. Thea Iberall is an award-winning poet, storyteller, ghostwriter, editor, playwright, and scientist. She is the editor of The Hummingbird Review. She has had over 50 poems published in journals and anthologies including The Southern California Anthology, Spillway, poeticdiversity, and numerous other journals. Many of her poems have been published in anthologies about the Holocaust. Thea was a semi-finalist in the 2014 Mary Ballard Poetry Chapbook Prize and also in the Atlanta Review International Poetry Competition. In 2001, Thea began exploring how to combine her scientific training with her love of language and she developed a new art form called contextual poetry. Her first collection of contextual poetry The Sanctuary of Artemis: A Collection of Contextual Poems is published by Tebot Bach. With her excellent research skills, Thea wrote the play We Did It For You which is about women's journey through history and how they got their rights in the United States. She now gives play-reading workshops nationally bringing this important message to high schools, colleges, and organizations. Her play At Seven was performed by the Toledo Repertory Company, and her Primed for Love had a run at the Eclectic Company Theatre. Thea is a sought after storyteller and performance poet. She has a Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience (UMass) and a Master’s degree in writing from USC. She has also studied at the Academy for New Musical Theatre, the Moving Art Playwrighting Lab, and with poets/writers Jack Grapes and Terry Wolverton. Her first novel, The Swallow and the Nightingale, about a 4,000-year-old secret brought through time by the birds, is available from Amazon.

 

Writer's Statment

Writing a poem is like trying to tell a story in as short a space as possible using as many dimensions as possible. It has the essence of a moment without any unnecessary words. It is told with sound, texture, images, metaphor, structure, and rhythm. I memorize my poems so that I hear every nuance of each dimension. Someone said I take a huge subject and bring it down to one word. I love watching the audience's eyes as they connect with my stories and I make them laugh and cry in the same breath. --Thea Iberall

 

 

What other writers say about Thea:

"Thea's ability to clearly communicate allowed me to ascertain where I was going. I found her direction and suggestions helpful and inspiring." - Shirley Riga, writer

"She tells narrative stoires using simple words that mask hidden layers of meaning and emotion." -- OC Weekly

"Thea creates a shimmering bridge between matter and spirit, heart and head, poet and world." - Gayle Brandeis, author

"Thea Iberall offers a multi-century parade of feminine genius and courage and does it with humor and fun." - Paul Williams, award-winning songwriter

"No words of praise seem worthy after watching the performance of your show. Powerful, moving, poignant, a must see." - Charles Redner, poet, publisher

"I started reading The Sanctuary of Artemis before I went to bed and got into the contexts and almost couldn’t go to sleep. It is fabulous, I can’t wait to read more." - Lillian Michelson

"I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying "The Sanctuary of Artemis"!! It certainly is not your ordinary poetry! It's such a unique idea and could have been written only by you! What a talent you are and I am so glad to know you just for this book alone." - Beverly Tazelaar