Kari Barclay is a theater director, researcher, and activist in Stanford's PhD in Theater and Performance Studies. Working at the intersection of theater and political theory, he currently studies the role of democracy, community, and the state in contemporary community-based performance.

Kari holds a BA in theater studies and political science from Duke University, where he was an Angier B. Duke Scholar and Humanity in Action Fellow. His past directing work includes The Bull City Dignity Project (an original performance with Durham, NC teenagers about civil rights history, gentrification, and LGBT+ politics), Me Too Monologues (a nationwide program exploring identity in higher education), and All the World's a Stage (theater workshops with refugee youth). He continues to research and make theater at Stanford and in the Bay Area more broadly.