American playwright and director Robert O’Hara has written four shows including Insurrection: Holding History, Bootycandy (Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Drama), Barbecue, Mankind. O’Hara was nominated for the 2020 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for his contribution to Slave Play.

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He lived with his mother, who had him when she was seventeen, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He began attending Catholic school in the third grade, where he was one of the few African-American students. His step-father moved in with them when he was twelve. He attended Walnut Hills High School, a nationally recognized public academic magnet school, where he was active in the theater program. He later attended Tufts University in Boston and graduated in 1992. Initially he majored in political science and wanted to become a lawyer. However, he quickly realized he was much more interested in theatre and changed his major to drama. While at Tufts he started the Tufts Black Theatre Company, for which he directed and wrote work. After graduating from Tufts, he received his master’s degree in directing at Columbia University (1996). He interned, while attending Columbia, at the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Joseph Papp Public Theater, and was mentored by notable African-American playwright George C. Wolfe, author of The Colored Museum.