About the Author

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Ms. Butterfield was born in Manhattan but raised primarily in Minnesota and Massachusetts. (The Three M's) She was a skinny kid with miserable allergies and spent most of her youth indoors reading books. Her two biggest influences at that point were J.D. Salinger and Anne Frank. 

 As an actress, she spent her early career acting regionally (Seattle Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Long Wharf, Oregon Shakespeare Festival are a few) and then started writing for the stage. Her first break as a playwright came with the Manhattan Theatre Club production of JOINED AT THE HEAD, which she wrote and starred in, leading to other productions of her plays in the city and the beginnings of her TV career. (Party of Five, FAME LA, The Ghost Whisperer, Grimm, various TV movies.) Though relocated to Los Angeles, she never stopped writing plays; so far ten of them have been produced and published.

Recently, she has written her first novel, "The Serpent and the Rose," about the French queen Marguerite de Valois and her ongoing battle with her mother, Catherine de Medici.

AWARDS:

THEATRE: George E. Oppenheimer/New York Newsday Award for Best First Play in the New York area (JOINED AT THE HEAD), the Kennedy Center-American Express award for Outstanding Promise as a Playwright, the Kaufman & Hart Award for Best New American Comedy (THE SLEEPER), and the Davie Award for Best New Play in Regional Theatre (LIFE IN THE TREES.) 

FILM: Two Telly Awards, a gold and a bronze, for her two short films, FAULTLESS and JUST ANOTHER BIRTHDAY IN BEDLAM. 

This past year she directed her play TO THE BONE at the Open Fist Theatre in LA. It transferred for an extended run at Theatre 68, also in Los Angeles.

TOP OF THE WORLD was a semi-finalist in the Eugene O'Neill playwriting competition and won the prestigious Edgerton grant. It found, and then lost, a slot in the 2021 season of the St. Louis Repertory theatre, after which there were plans to bring it to  Broadway.  Thanks, pandemic! 

Other produced full length plays include ​BROWNSTONE, LIFE EXPECTANCY, IT HAS TO BE YOU, WHERE THE TRUTH LIES, LIFE IN THE TREES and SNOWING AT DELPHI.  They are published by the Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, Playscripts, Inc and Smith & Kraus. JOINED AT THE HEAD appeared in  "Best Plays of 1992."

During the pandemic she and husband RON WEST created over 60 short films for a series entitled LIFE DURING LOCKDOWN, which can be seen under her name on Youtube.  

 She is a member of the Writer's Guild of America, Actor's Equity, Screen Actors Guild, and the Dramatists Guild of America.

She lives in Santa Monica with Ron West and their cat, Pandita. Her daughter is the actress Audrey Corsa, who so beautifully reads the first chapter of "The Serpent and the Rose" (see Home page.)