She walked away from that experience knowing that she wanted to have a career in the field of theater and making the decision to direct that very same play at her own high school months later.

[6] Her plays include: Bright Half Life, The Call, 121° West, Blue Door,[1] Dent, The Houdini Act, Medallion, Of Girl & Wolf and Wanting North, Pecan Tan and The Quick.

She taught playwriting at Primary Stages School of Theater and Barnard College, New York University and she served as the literary manager of the Juilliard Drama Division from 2009 to 2014.

[11] Barfield's most nominated play Blue Door [1][11] features a prominent African American mathematician in crisis [that] begins to lose his grip on reality, and "the ghosts of his ancestors [that] shatter the silence of an insomnia-filled night.

"[5] Her play Blue Door had its world premiere at the South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California in May 2006.

[5] The CurtainUp reviewer noted: "Barfield's play is filled with words that spin into near poetic riffs and define the past and the present philosophical and cultural attitudes of African-Americans in a unique and refreshing way....The title refers to a family memory and a tradition stemming from the days in the slave quarters when the door was painted blue to "keep the bad spirits out and the soul family in."

On June 29, 2008, her play Of Equal Measure premiered at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, California directed by Leigh Silverman[12] through the sponsorship of the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Call opened Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in a co-production with Primary Stages in March 2013 to May 2013, directed by Leigh Silverman.

[13] The TheatreMania reviewer wrote that "...whatever the work's shortcomings, it's never a bad thing to leave the theater thinking about the problems of the world at large and looking at your own neighbors in a new light.

"[16]Bright Half Life ran Off-Broadway at the Women's Project Theater in February 2015 to March 2015, directed by Leigh Silverman.

[19] 2006 Lark Play Development / NYSCA grant[20] 2005 Honorable Mention – Kesselring Prize for Drama[20] 2003 Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights[20] 2013 Lilly Award[21] 2020 Primetime Emmy, Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special for Episode 3 Mrs. America entitled "Shirley" on FX.