Joan O'Dwyer received her MPhil in Creative Writing from Trinity College Dublin at the turn of  the century, living in Ireland with her then-14-your-old daughter. They whiled away many pleasant hours attending classes and the theatre, traveling, learning how to bang on the bodhran, and watching each other's naturally curly hair pouff and spoinng in the unnatural humidity.

When Joan returned to the States, she temporarily forewent (foregoed?) writing to found and become the artistic director of Wilde Playhouse, a theatre/gourmet fast food/espresso wine bar. Then in 2015 Whitney Morton Woodcock, Esther Almazán and she founded Something Something Theatre to present modern plays from the 21st century canon with a goal of better-than-parity for women-identified playwrights.  Both theatres are now closed, and she's returned to writing.

Her plays have been performed at the Arizona Women's Theater Pandora Festival, Tucson Fringe, Pima Community College, Beowulf Alley Theatre, and the Green Valley Community Performing Arts Center.