Joan Milburn began playwriting when she was 14 years old and a freshman at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Under the direction of Elly Lindsay, and later Guinea Bennett Price, Joan moved through beginning playwriting classes to advanced by the time she was a junior. That same year, she had her very first play, Anabolic, produced in Booker T.'s 10 Minute Playwriting Festival. That summer, Joan went on to attend Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center. While there, her play Shooting Stars and Satellites was chosen to be produced and published in the book "Dramafest" with Stagedoor Manor in association with Samuel French. Following this influential summer, she continued writing, and during her senior year she was once again chosen for Booker T.'s 10-Minute Festival with her play Blue. Following its premiere there, it advanced onward to represent Booker T. at the Irma P. Hall Play Festival, where it won gold. That winter, Joan received the Merit Award for her playwriting portfolio in the National Young Arts Competition. She then went on to have three of her short plays (Blue, Basketcase, and Shooting Stars and Satellites) produced in the Festival of the Kid at the Stage West Regional Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas. After senior year and the completion of her playwriting program, Joan returned to Stagedoor Manor where she had her second play, When Harvey Wore a Blue Tie, produced and published. Joan went on to attend Southwestern University, where her plays Blue, Adverse Intentions, and Sightlines received productions through Southwestern's Mask and Wig Organization. She was also a co-writer on The Texas Beauty Pageant Murder, which Southwestern performed at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. During Joan's senior year, she took a playwriting class with Elizabeth Doss of Austin's Paper Chairs Theatre Company. Following this, Joan produced a reading of her first full-length play, Brace For Impact, in the spring of 2019. After graduating with her B.A that same year, Joan headed to New York where she would be a playwriting apprentice during Vassar/NYSAF's Powerhouse Season. While there, Joan apprenticed with Beth Henley on her new play Lightning, and also wrote and developed several scripts, including one of her favorite pieces: Honey...She's Home. Since graduating, her play Blue was produced with The Stage Writer's Festival, her play LAZER GATOR was virtually produced with The Resilience Theatre Group, her play The Porch was produced through Paper Kraine Theatre in NYC, and Honey...She's Home was produced with TedxAsburyPark. Most recently, Joan was invited back to Powerhouse as a guest playwright for their 2022 Training Company's New Work Festival where she premiered her newest short play You Know What's Weird To Think About? Joan's favorite topics to explore with writing are her southern upbringing, mental health and addiction, queer joy, and the nuances of grief, loss, and distance. Since moving to NYC, Joan has also branched into screenwriting.