Tenara Calem is an ensemble theater maker, performer, playwright, and educator based in Philadelphia, PA. Born abroad with deep roots in the Midwest, Tenara has worked both collaboratively and as a solo artist. She makes theater that lives in the world of clown, the absurd, physical theater, comedy, and body horror, encompassing subject matter that ranges from what it means to be a loser to how corporate America kills us quickly. As an ensemble maker she has worked with Lupine Performance Cooperative (Field Calls, Brian’s House, Miranda, 2020-2022), Jonah Godfrey and Friends (The Bad Pirate Rock Show 2023-24), and Pig Iron Theatre Company (Bartok’s Monster, 2024). As a solo artist she has created Me, More Normal (2017) and performed as her cabaret act Bitty Fitzleapord. Her work has also been featured in the Cannonball Miniball Festival (BUCKLE UP, 2024).

Her written work has been featured all around the country, including with the Jewish Plays Project National Competition, the Young Playwrights Festival with Horizon Theatre Company in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Annual Midwestern Jewish Playwriting Contest at Continuum Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. Her work has earned her a Young Playwright award nomination from the Dramatist’s Guild.

Tenara has worked as a community engagement practitioner with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Trinity Repertory Company, FringeArts, Shakespeare in Clark Park, and The Barnes Foundation. Her praxis is based in consensus organizing for the arts, as developed by Seema Sueko and passed onto her through Rebecca Noon. Through mutually-empowering relationships with community stakeholders, Tenara’s community engagement seeks to co-create meaningful and relevant creative experiences with Philadelphians.