Donald Margulies

Donald Margulies (born September 2, 1954) is an American playwright and academic.

Sight Unseen and Collected Stories were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, in 1992, and 1997, respectively; Dinner with Friends was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2000.

Margulies said of Sight Unseen, "It's about loss, like most of my plays, and about identity."

Ben Brantley noted themes in his works: "The central motifs in Brooklyn Boy have always been visible in Mr. Margulies's work, from the willed amnesia of the self-invented artist (Sight Unseen) to the hazy lines between fiction and reality (Collected Stories). And Eric's fractious, divided family, summoned in recollection in Brooklyn Boy, has been anticipated in The Loman Family Picnic and What's Wrong With This Picture?

The play was developed in connection with the Nashville Repertory Theatre Ingram New Works Festival.

A revised version was produced in October 1998 at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California.

In 2000, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Dinner with Friends.

Margulies attended John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Purchase College where he received a BFA in Visual Arts.

Margulies lives with his wife, Lynn Street, a physician, and their son, Miles, in New Haven, Connecticut.

He is a Professor in the Practice of English and Theatre & Performance Studies at Yale University.

Dinner with Friends, which received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, was commissioned by Actors Theatre of Louisville (Kentucky), where it had its world premiere at the 1998 Humana Festival of New American Plays.

Brooklyn Boy began at the Pacific Playwrights Festival, in 2003, and was produced at South Coast Repertory in 2004, on Broadway by Manhattan Theatre Club at the Biltmore Theatre in February 2005, and in Paris at the Comedie des Champs-Élysées.

It was an American Theatre Critics' Association New Play Award finalist, a 2005 Outer Critics' Circle nominee for Outstanding New Broadway Play and a Burns Mantle Best Play of 2004–2005.

The play was directed by Daniel Sullivan, and its original cast at the South Coast Rep was Adam Arkin, Arye Gross, Allan Miller, Ari Graynor, Mimi Lieber, Kevin Isola and Dana Reeve (whose role was played on Broadway by Polly Draper).

The play made its world premiere in the September 2007 Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Repertory, where it starred Gregory Itzin and was directed by Bart DeLorenzo.

The play went on to productions at the Geffen Playhouse, where it again was directed by DeLorenzo and starred Itzin and Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, directed by Evan Cabnet in February 2008.

Time Stands Still had its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse (Los Angeles) in February 2009 which had commissioned it.

Directed by Sullivan, the Geffen premiere featured Silverstone, Anna Gunn, David Harbour and Robin Thomas.

Its European premiere took place in Stockholm in 2009.

The play opened Off-Broadway at Primary Stages, directed by Lisa Peterson, running from February 8, 2009 to March 7, 2009.

Michael Countryman appeared in the Long Wharf and Off-Broadway productions.

It received the 2009 Outer Critics' Circle Award nomination for Outstanding New Play.

Oil Lamp Theater in Glenview, IL off-Chicago produced Shipwrecked: An Entertainment in summer 2021, which was the first production of the theater company to be produced outdoors.

Alan Bresloff of Around The Town Chicago writes, "... this is a fast paced easy to follow 90 minutes of pure entertainment. In fact, you might want to know if there are even more tales in this temple of imagination.” The production was also cited as Highly Recommended by the magazine. At the 2021 BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards, this production of Shipwrecked won 5 awards, including Best Play and Best Production (In-Person) for Oil Lamp Theater, Best Director of a Play for Corey Bradberry, Best Performer in a Play for Logan Brown, and Best Supporting Performer in a Play for Van Ferro. It was nominated for an additional 4 categories including for Best Supporting Performer in a Play for Jasmine Robertson.

Time Stands Still opened on Broadway on January 28, 2010, at the Manhattan Theatre Club's Friedman Theatre for a limited engagement.

It resumed performances on September 23, 2010, at the Cort Theatre, where it ran until January 30, 2011; between its two runs, it played a total of 24 previews and 193 performances.

It starred Laura Linney, Brian d'Arcy James, Eric Bogosian and Alicia Silverstone (later succeeded at the Cort by Christina Ricci), and was directed by Daniel Sullivan.

The play was nominated for a 2010 Tony Award for Best Play and was a Burns Mantle Best Play of 2009–2010.

Linney was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Margulies' notable works include The Country House (2014), Time Stands Still (2009) and Brooklyn Boy (2004).

The Country House opened on Broadway on October 2, 2014, at the Manhattan Theater Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

It was a co-production with the Geffen Playhouse, where it had its world premiere on June 11, 2014, directed by Daniel Sullivan and starred Blythe Danner ("Anna"), Eric Lange, David Rasche and Sarah Steele; Scott Foley and Emily Swallow originated roles played on Broadway by Daniel Sunjata and Kate Jennings Grant.

It won the 2014 L.A. Ovation Award for Best Play (Large Theatre) and was selected an Applause Books Best Play of 2013–14.

The unfinished play was given a reading in May 2015 at the Festival.

The play focuses on a "long-overdue reunion between two middle-aged brothers."

Long Lost opened Off-Broadway, produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club, at New York City Center — Stage I on May 14, 2019 in previews, officially on June 4.

Directed by Daniel J. Sullivan, the cast features Kelly AuCoin, Annie Parisse, Lee Tergesen and Alex Wolff.

The play takes place in the Berkshires, where Anna, an actress, is appearing at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

She is entertaining her son, a failed actor, Elliot; a handsome famous actor, Michael; her son-in-law, Walter, who was married to her deceased daughter, and his girlfriend/fiancé, Nell and his daughter Susie.

The play, set in the 19th Century, focuses on "Louis de Rougemont" who was shipwrecked on a Coral Sea Island and lived with Australian aborigines, or so he tells his listeners in England.