(Bio as of February 2012)
Rebecca Gilman is an artistic associate at the Goodman. Ms. Gilman’s plays include A True History of the Johnstown Flood, Boy Gets Girl, Spinning Into Butter, Blue Surge (all of which were commissioned and originally produced by the Goodman), The Glory of Living, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Dollhouse and The Crowd You’re in With.
The Glory of Living was awarded a Joseph Jefferson Award and the American Theatre Critics Association’s Osborn Award for best new play following its premiere at Circle Theatre in Forest Park. Following a production at the Royal Court, Gilman received the George Devine Award and the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, the first American to receive either of those awards. The Glory of Living was produced in New York at MCC Theater under the direction of Philip Seymour Hoffman and starring Anna Paquin. Named one of Time magazine’s top ten plays of 2001, The Glory of Living is included in The Best Plays of 2001-2002 and was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Spinning Into Butter received a Joseph Jefferson Award for best new play following its premiere at the Goodman under the direction of Les Waters. It received its New York premiere at Lincoln Center Theater, starring Hope Davis and under the direction of Daniel Sullivan. It was subsequently produced at the Royal Court Theatre in London, under the direction of Dominic Cooke, and at regional theaters across the United States. Spinning Into Butter received the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays. It was also included in Time magazine’s list of best new plays for 1999. Rebecca’s film adaptation of the play received its theatrical release in 2009, under the direction of Mark Brokaw and starring Sarah Jessica Parker.
Boy Gets Girl received a Joseph Jefferson Award for best new play following its premiere at the Goodman under the direction of Michael Maggio. It was remounted in New York at Manhattan Theatre Club. A subsequent production at the Royal Court Theatre in London, directed by Ian Rickson, received an Olivier Nomination for best new play. It has subsequently been produced at regional theaters across the country. Boy Gets Girl is included in The Best Plays of 2000-2001 and was named the Number One play of the year by Time magazine for the year 2000. It was also named one of the Top Ten Plays of the Decade by Time magazine in 2010.
Blue Surge was awarded the Prince Prize for Commissioning New Work. The premiere production at the Goodman was directed by Robert Falls. It was produced in New York by the Public Theater (also under the direction of Mr. Falls) and enjoyed a successful run at Magic Theatre in San Francisco and at Finborough Theatre in London.
The Sweetest Swing in Baseball had its premiere production at Royal Court Theatre in London starring Gillian Anderson, under the direction of Ian Rickson. It was subsequently produced by Magic Theatre in San Francisco, Boston Theatre Works, Eclipse Theatre and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, adapted from the book by Carson McCullers, was commissioned by The Acting Company and premiered in Atlanta in a co-production with Alliance Theatre. It received its New York premiere at New York Theatre Workshop. Both productions were directed by Doug Hughes. It was named one of Time magazine’s top ten plays of 2009.
Dollhouse, a contemporary adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play, was commissioned by the Goodman and was directed by Robert Falls. It received a Joseph Jefferson Award for best adaptation following its premiere. It was subsequently produced by Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis in 2010, under the direction of Wendy C. Goldberg.
The Crowd You’re in With was presented at the O’Neill Theatre Playwrights Conference in July 2007 and premiered at Magic Theatre in San Francisco, where it was awarded an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award. It was subsequently produced by the Goodman in 2009, under the direction of Wendy C. Goldberg.
Gilman is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Harper Lee Award, The Scott McPherson Award, The Theatre Masters Visionary Award, The Great Plains Playwright Award and an Illinois Arts Council playwriting fellowship. She is a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America and a board member of the ACLU of Illinois. She received her MFA in playwriting from the University of Iowa. Gilman is an associate professor of playwriting and screenwriting at Northwestern University as part of its MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage Program.
Rebecca Gilman is the recent recipient of a Global Connections Grant by Theatre Communications Group for the development of a new play with Sven Benediktusson, Artistic Director of Teater Durken, in Gothenburg, Sweden. Together, they are writing a documentary inspired by the Wilhelm Moberg novels, The Emigrants, to be performed in Swedish at Teater Durken. Gilman’s calendar also includes a commission for Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where her adaption of Carson McCuller’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was recently included in their Steppenwolf for Young Audiences season.
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