Bruce Clarke practiced criminal law as a defense attorney in Washington, D.C., as a partner in the firm Clarke & Graae, and as a staff attorney with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS). He later worked for the Federal Judicial Center, eventually becoming Director of the Center's Education Division. While on sabbatical from the law, Clarke studied script analysis in New York with Stella Adler and began writing plays. His plays include Bluesman (Helen Hayes Nomination, Best New Play, Kennedy Center Front and Center Award, Larry Neale Award for Dramatic Writing) and Fifteen Rounds With Jackson Pollock, produced in D.C. and regionally. He is the recipient of a playwrighting grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and was awarded a playwriting residency at the Edward Albee Foundation. He currently teaches creative writing courses in correctional institutions in D.C. and Maryland.
