Jaclyn Backhaus is a playwright, screenwriter, and educator from Phoenix, Arizona, where she first heard of Powell’s expeditions through the Colorado River which eventually led him and other crew members to the Grand Canyon. She wanted to play characters like people in the expedition and wanted to challenge audiences to question what is lacking from American History. Her other credits include Out of Time (off-Broadway), Wives (off-Broadway) and As Far as the Eye Can See (Sundance Episodic Intensive 2025). Currently, she is a playwriting professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, a creative director at Fresh Ground Pepper NYC, an active member of The Kilroys, a gang of playwrights and producers Los Angeles dedicated to amplifying representation of female and trans playwrights,and an editor of weekly theater zine @oootheater. She was also the 2016 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at Clubbed Thumb and is currently a New Dramatists resident playwright.