"[6] As a child, she wrote, directed, and designed sets for productions staged in the backyard of her family's home, earning her the nicknames "Tallulah Blackhead" and "Sarah Heartburn" from her father.
[7] Terry went on to earn a scholarship to the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta, Canada, where she received certificates in theatre directing, design, and acting.
While there, she took psychology and sociology courses at the University of Alberta, and served as technical director for the Edmonton Children's Theater, where she became interested in theatre as a tool for youth education.
[1] After graduation, she decided to focus on theatre for children and began teaching at Seattle's oldest performance conservatory, the Cornish School of Allied Arts.
[8] At this time, she was writing a series of controversial short plays for youth dealing with issues like sex and politics, and adopted a pseudonym to shield her professional career as a playwright from her more conservative colleagues.
[1] In her free time, she began forming connections in the theatre community, including with fellow playwright Maria Irene Fornes and director Joseph Chaikin.
[12] These exercises fueled Terry's work as she and the company produced such plays as Keep Tightly Closed in a Cool Dry Place at the Sheridan Square Playhouse and Gloaming, Oh My Darling at the Martinique Theater, both in 1965.
Following the lives of seven soldiers on the front lines, the predominantly female cast juxtaposed intimate scenes, like a boy crawling on his belly and saying, "I can't wait till I get there and make a killing on the black market!"
"[17] Cast member Gerome Ragni borrowed Terry's anti-war theme, improvisational technique, and rock and roll aesthetic to create the musical Hair with fellow actor James Rado.
[23]For several years, Terry split her time between theatre in Minnesota and commissions for television and public radio, including the program Home: Or Future Soap (1968).
[1] She did return to New York City to develop new plays such as Changes (1968) at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, St. Hydro Clemency, and Massachusetts Trust, all directed by Tom O'Horgan.
Along with Fornes, Rosalyn Drexler, Julie Bovasso, Adrienne Kennedy, and Rochelle Owens, Terry founded New York's Women's Theater Council in 1972.
[3] While in New York, Terry reconnected with Chaikin and The Open Theater to work with fellow playwrights Sam Shepard and Jean-Claude van Itallie on the company's final production, Nightwalk, in 1973.
Following this production, Terry again left New York and settled at the Magic Theatre in Omaha, Nebraska, where she remained as playwright-in-residence and literary manager for the remainder of her career.