Bari Biern, Playwright, Actor, Lyricist, Opera Librettist

Scott Sedar, Actor, Singer, and Artist

A Life in the Arts

When two people fall in love in a play’s rehearsal, as Bari Biern and Scott Sedar did, it’s a showmance. They married in 1983 after appearing together in a play in Dupont Circle at the New Playwright’s Theatre.

Bari and Scott will discuss their 46 years in the theater, from what it was like when they moved to DC in the 1970s to the current theater scene and how adaptability and resilience have been a key to their life in the arts. 

Bari, an actor and political junkie, joined the satire troupe The Capitol Steps in 1993 and was with them for 28 years until they turned off the lights in 2021. A lyricist and librettist, Bari has written opera adaptations commissioned by DC’s IN Series and Poor Richard’s Opera Company in Philadelphia. She twice was nominated for the Helen Hayes Award as playwright and lyricist. She’s also been an announcer for C-SPAN. 

Scott has appeared as an actor and singer on most area stages—recently at Ford’s Theatre in INTO THE WOODS and at 1st Stage Tyson’s in TRYING, playing Judge Francis Biddle, former Attorney General under FDR and Chief Judge at the Nuremberg Trials. Scott also appears regularly at the Smithsonian with Daniel Stashower, reading the works of literary greats. Just recently, he and Bari voiced some of Agatha Christie’s beloved characters as part of a Smithsonian Associates program. Scott’s artwork has appeared in the Washington Post Magazine, in design publications, and local exhibitions. In 2010, he was artist-in-residence at Evergreen Museum in Baltimore.