About Me

Robby Henson is a filmmaker, screenwriter, theater director, playwright and arts-behind-bars instructor. He received his M.F.A. from NYU’s graduate film school and has written and directed several documentaries for PBS as well as five feature films for major studios - The Badge, Pharaoh’s Army, The Visitation, House and Thr3e.  His films have been seen at Sundance and around the world and he is a member of the Writers Guild of America. He currently teaches screenwriting at the University of Kentucky and is also Artistic Director of Pioneer Playhouse, a regional theater in central Kentucky, where he runs their outreach program Voices Inside that instructs incarcerated writers in writing and performance skills so as to fight recidivism.

Robby's films Pharaoh's Army, The Badge, The Visitation, House and Thr3e have featured Academy Award winning actors such as Billy Bob Thornton, Patricia Clarkson, Chris Cooper as well as Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette and Michael Madsen.  His films can be streamed through Amazon and other streaming services.  His documentaries are also available on-line.

Loud Water would not have been possible without the contributions of Charles Shouse, filmmaker and lifelong Breathitt County resident. Some parts of this story were originally knocked around by us as a movie idea. And this would be a different book entirely if not for my conversations with the incarcerated writers and artists of Voices Inside, a writing and performance program behind the razor wire. Keep your pens moving. My students at U.K. are always an inspiration, as is my home state of Kentucky. I’d like to thank Heather Henson, my sister and the superior writer in the family. Check her out. A big shout out to Pioneer Playhouse, where they still let me direct. Eric Campbell and Lance Wright at Down & Out Books, thanks a million. Perhaps the Covid-19 pandemic and its forced isolation should get some props for allowing for quiet time needed to write this. And lastly, I’d like to thank Lin for her unmatched gift at giving special names to wild birds.