“The PlayWRIGHT’s The Thing”

When:
February 10, 2025 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
2025-02-10T18:00:00-05:00
2025-02-10T19:00:00-05:00
Where:
FSU Center for the Performing Arts
5555 N Tamiami Trail Sarasota
FL 34243
“The PlayWRIGHT's The Thing” @ FSU Center for the Performing Arts

“The PlayWRIGHT’s the Thing”
with Hermitage Fellow Doug Wright

Presented in partnership with Asolo Repertory Theatre and FSU Actor Conservatory

Monday, February 10 at 6pm

Cook Theater (entrance at 5555 N Tamiami Trail Sarasota, FL 34243)

Register here.
Registration is required. $5 per person.

With his hit Broadway play Good Night, Oscar gearing up for its regional premiere in Sarasota this spring, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and librettist Doug Wright has been creating celebrated works of theater and film for over two decades. Many of Wright’s worlds and characters have their basis in real life people and events, from Charlotte von Mahlsdorf in I Am My Own Wife, to big and little Edie in Grey Gardens, to the famous rivalry between Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden in War Paint. Hear what draws this acclaimed playwright to these stories, as well as other fascinating insights into his process as he engages in conversation with Hermitage Artistic Director Andy Sandberg. In addition to the conversation, hear selections from Wright’s original works, performed by some of Sarasota’s brightest talents.

Hermitage Fellow and Trustee Doug Wright is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright. He is a proud Hermitage alumnus and also served as a juror for the inaugural Hermitage Major Theater Award in 2021. He has remained an engaged and active member of the Hermitage alumni community. Most recently, his play Good Night, Oscar, starring Sean Hayes, opened at the Goodman Theater in Chicago under the direction of fellow Hermitage alum Lisa Peterson before transferring to Broadway. His film The Burial is currently on Amazon, starring Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones. Wright’s play Quills premiered at Washington, D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in 1995 and subsequently had its debut Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop. Quills garnered the 1995 Kesselring Prize for Best New American Play from the National Arts Club and, for Wright, a 1996 Village Voice Obie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting. In 2000, Wright wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Quills, which starred Geoffrey Rush. Wright’s play I Am My Own Wife was produced Off-Broadway by Playwrights Horizons in 2003. It transferred to Broadway where it won the Tony Award for Best Play, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In 2006, Wright wrote the book for the stage musical adaptation of Grey Gardens, which opened on Broadway to critical acclaim. He has adapted the Disney film The Little Mermaid as a Broadway musical, which opened in 2007. In 2009, he was commissioned by the La Jolla Playhouse to adapt and direct Creditors by August Strindberg. In another La Jolla commission, he wrote the book for the musical Hands on a Hardbody, with the score by Amanda Green and Trey Anastasio. The musical had a run on Broadway in 2013 after premiering at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2012. He has also written the book for the musical War Paint, with a score by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie, and starring Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole. For television, Wright worked on four pilots for producer Norman Lear and teleplays for Hallmark Entertainment and HBO. In film, Wright’s credits include screenplays for Fine Line Features, Fox Searchlight, and DreamWorks SKG. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, where he served as President for many years. In addition to his role as a Hermitage trustee, he also serves on the board of New York Theatre Workshop. He is a recipient of the William L. Bradley Fellowship at Yale University, the Charles MacArthur Fellowship at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, an HBO Fellowship in playwriting, and the Alfred Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University. In 2010, he was named a United States Artists Fellow. Mr. Wright lives in New York City with his partner, songwriter David Clement.