Great theatre - Past and Present
Bess Wohl
Grand Horizons
Bess Wohl is a playwright and filmmaker. Her plays have been produced on and off Broadway, regionally, and internationally and her feature film debut, BABY RUBY, premiered at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival.
Recently, her play LIBERATION (Outer Critics Circle Winner, Drama Desk, Drama League and Lucille Lortel noms.) had an extended run at Roundabout Theater Company and she made her West End debut with a sold out run of BARCELONA starring Lily Collins.
Other plays include GRAND HORIZONS (Tony Nominations for Best Play & Best Featured Actress, Outer Critics Circle Honor, Drama League Award nom); MAKE BELIEVE (NYTimes Critic Pick, Best of 2019, Outer Critics Circle Honor); CAMP SIEGFRIED; CONTINUITY; SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS (John Gassner Outer Critics Circle Award, top ten lists in The New York Times, The New York Post, The Guardian); AMERICAN HERO; TOUCHED; IN; CATS TALK BACK and the musical PRETTY FILTHY with composer/lyricist Michael Friedman and The Civilians (Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Musical).
Wohl’s plays have been produced or developed at theaters including Second Stage, Manhattan Theater Club, Ars Nova, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Goodman Theater, The Geffen Playhouse, People’s Light and Theatre Company, The Contemporary American Theater Festival, Vineyard Arts Project, The Pittsburgh Public Theater, Northlight Theater, Ojai Playwright's Conference, the Cape Cod Theatre Project and PlayPenn. Awards and honors include the Sam Norkin special Drama Desk Award for “establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater,” multiple Outer Critics Circle honors, the Georgia Engell Comedy Playwriting Award from the Dramatists Guild, the Athena Award for her screenplay VIRGINIA, MacDowell Fellowships and inclusion on Hollywood’s Black List of Best Screenplays.
PLAYWRIGHT SPOTLIGHT
Christopher Durang
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Christopher Durang’s (1949-2024) plays include THE IDIOTS KARAMAZOV (coauthored with Albert Innaurato), A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FILM (Tony nom.), SISTER MARY IGNACIUS EXPLAINS IT ALL FOR YOU (Obie Award), BEYOND THERAPY (off and on Broadway), BABY WITH THE BATHWATER, THE MARRIAGE OF BETTE AND BOO (Obies for playwriting, Jerry Zaks’ directing, ensemble acting; Dramatists Guild Hull Warriner Award), LAUGHING WILD, FOR WHOM THE SOUTHERN BELLE TOLLS, BETTY'S SUMMER VACATION (Obies for playwriting, Nicholas Martin’s directing, Kristine Nielsen), MISS WITHERSPOON (2005 Pulitzer finalist), WHY TORTURE IS WRONG AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM and VONYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (2013 Tony Award for Best Play). CABARET: DAS LUSITANIA SONGSPIEL, coauthored and performed by Sigourney Weaver and Durang (Drama Desk nominations for both performers); CHRIS DURANG AND DAWNE (Bistro Award for Durang and cohorts John Augustine and Sherry Anderson).
He won the Harvard Arts Medal and the PEN/Laura Pels Award for a Master American Dramatist, and was inducted in the Theatre Hall of Fame. For 21 years, he and Marsha Norman were co-chairs of the Juilliard Playwriting Program. He was a member of the Dramatists Guild Council. Durang died of complications of aphasia on April 2, 2024.
Sarah Ruhl
Dead Man's Cell Phone
Sarah Ruhl is an award-winning American playwright, author, essayist, and professor. Her plays include THE OLDEST BOY, DEAR ELIZABETH, STAGE KISS, IN THE NEXT ROOM, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2010); THE CLEAN HOUSE (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2005; Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2004); Passion Play (Pen American Award, Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center); DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE (Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play); MELANCHOLY PLAY; DEMETER IN THE CITY (nine NAACP Image Award nominations); SCENES FROM COURT LIFE; HOW TO TRANSCEND A HAPPY MARRIAGE, FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70TH BIRTHDAY; EURYDICE; ORNANDO; and LATE: A COWBOY SONG.
Her plays have been produced on Broadway and across the country as well as internationally, and translated into fourteen languages. Originally from Chicago, Ms. Ruhl received her M.F.A. from Brown University, where she studied with Paula Vogel. She is the recipient of a Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a PEN Center Award for mid-career playwrights, a Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, and a Lilly award. She is a member of 13P and New Dramatists and won the MacArthur Fellowship in 2006. She teaches at Yale School of Drama and lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Steven Dietz
Becky's New Car
For the ’24-25 season, Steven Dietz was once again named one of the “20 Most Produced Playwrights in America” by American Theatre Magazine. His 40-plus plays and adaptations have been seen at over 100 regional theatres, as well as off-Broadway and in 25 countries internationally. Recent premieres include new adaptations of GASLIGHT by Patrick Hamilton and MURDER ON THE LINKS by Agatha Christie, as well as the serio-comic thriller HOW A BOY FALLS. Other recent work includes VINELAND PLACE, MIRROR LAKE and VIAL MAN (The Apothecary’s Story). His widely-produced play SHOOTING STAR was adapted by Dietz, Kirk Lynn and Meg Ryan into the movie WHAT HAPPENS LATER starring Ms. Ryan. Awards include the Steinberg New Play Citation for Bloomsday, the Kennedy Center New American Plays Award for Fiction and the Edgar Award® for Best Mystery Play for SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE FINAL ADVENTURE. He lives in Seattle and Austin.
