Playwrights Horizons is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate. In addition, Playwrights Horizons receives major support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, Charina Endowment Fund, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Shubert Foundation and Time Warner Inc.
For more information visit www.playwrightshorizons.org.
Kirsten Guenther (Book) appeared on the cover of Insight for Playwrights and was named one of "50 writers to watch" by The Dramatist. She wrote the book for Mrs. Sharp and Out of My Head (Looking Glass Theatre, Audience Choice Award). She wrote book and lyrics for Little Miss Fix-It (CAP 21), Soon Never (Directors' Lab Workshop, Lincoln Center) and The Birthday Present. Her lyrics have been heard on the hit YouTube series The Battery's Down and in TADA's Everything About A Family (Almost) Off-Broadway. She has been a guest speaker at Harvard and Yale Universities and is the recipient of a Lincoln Center Director's Lab Honorarium, Dramatist Guild Fellowship and Marge Goldwater Scholarship. Kirsten lived and worked in Paris where she wrote for USA Today and authored the Parisian weekly column, "The Sexy Expat." She is currently developing a new musical with Joy Son based on her columns. BFA Acting, USC; MFA Musical Theatre Writing, NYU (Tisch), a proud member of ASCAP.
Ryan Scott Oliver (Music & Lyrics) is a 2009 Jonathan Larson Grant recipient and wrote the music and lyrics for Mrs. Sharp, Darling (Pace New Musicals 2009), the song cycle Out of My Head and Quit India for UCLA. Exclusively as a composer, he wrote the music for Angus Oblong's The Debbies and as a lyricist he contributed the words for the one-act musical Circle Nine. His work has also been heard on the hit YouTube TV show The Battery's Down and in showcases presented by The York Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, William Finn & Barrington Stages, New York Theatre Barn, Monday Nights New Voices and the Festival of New American Musicals in Los Angeles. He is a Dramatists Guild Fellow and the recipient of numerous awards including the first-ever ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Award for Excellence in Lyric Writing, the John Denver New Composers Award. B.A. Music Composition, UCLA; M.F.A. Musical Theatre Writing, NYU-Tisch, a proud member of ASCAP. www.ryanscottoliver.com.
Michael Greif (Director) previously worked at Playwrights Horizons on Grey Gardens (Tony nomination) and Spatter Pattern. He recently earned a Tony nomination for directing the current Broadway hit Next to Normal, and also directed the original Second Stage and Arena Stage productions. Recent work includes The Three Sisters (Williamstown) and Romeo and Juliet (NYSF at the Delacorte). Additional Broadway credits include Rent (Tony nomination) and Never Gonna Dance. Off-Broadway: Landscape of the Body, A Few Stout Individuals (Signature); Satellites, Fucking A, Dogeaters (Obie), Marisol, Pericles, Casanova, A Bright Room Called Day, Machinal (Obie) at NYSF; Boys' Life, Spike Heels (Second Stage); A Very Common Procedure, The Distance From Here (MCC); Marmalade (Roundabout); and Beauty of the Father (MTC). At New York Theatre Workshop (Artistic Associate), he directed Cavedweller; Bright Lights, Big City; and the original production of Rent (Obie). Favorite regional productions include The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Street Scene, Tonight at 8:30, Once in a Lifetime (Williamstown); and Our Town, Sweet Bird of Youth, Boy, Randy Newman's Faust, Slavs and Thérèse Raquin at La Jolla, where he was artistic director (1995-99).
For more information visit www.playwrightshorizons.org.
