Contributor

Chris Durang

Playwright and Actor

CHRISTOPHER DURANG is a playwright and sometime actor. His latest play "Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them" premiered in New York City at the Public Theatre in March 2009. It will be at the Blank Theatre in L.A. this February-March.

In summer 2008 his play "The Marriage of Bette and Boo" was presented in revival at the Roundabout Theatre in New York. And his play "Beyond Therapy" was revived in a joint production by Williamstown Theatre and Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor the same summer.

His other plays include "A History of the American Film" (Tony nomination), "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You" (Obie award), "Baby with the Bathwater," "Laughing Wild," "Betty’s Summer Vacation" (1999 Obie award), "Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge" (2002), "Miss Witherspoon" (2005), and a musical "Adrift in Macao," with book and lyrics by Durang and music by Peter Melnick, which was presented in NYC at Primary Stages in winter 2007.

As an actor Durang has acted in movies such as "The Secret of My Success," "The Butcher’s Wife," "Housesitter," and "Mr. North." He acted in some of his own plays. He and Sigourney Weaver co-authored and appeared in the Brecht-Weill satire "Das Lusitania Songspiel" (Drama Desk nominations for both of them), and with Julie Andrews he sang and tried to dance in the Stephen Sondheim revue "Putting It Together" at Manhattan Theatre Club. With John Augustine and Sherry Anderson he performed his crackpot cabaret "Chris Durang and Dawne," winning them a 1996 Bistro Award. With Marsha Norman, he’s co-chair of the Playwriting Program at Juilliard. He’s a member of the Dramatists Guild Council. www.christopherdurang.com