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Douglas Wright (born December 20, 1962) is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Known for his extensive work in the American theatre in both plays and musicals, he has received numerous accolades including the Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award.
Wright first earned acclaim earning the Obie Award for Best Playwright for his darkly satirical play Quills (1995), about the final days of the French sadist and author Marquis de Sade. He later adapted it into the 2000 film of the same name, earning a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. He went on to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play for his debut Broadway play, I Am My Own Wife (2004).
Wright earned a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical nomination for Grey Gardens (2006), based on the 1975 Grey Gardens. He continued writing for musical theatre, adapting the books for the Broadway musicals The Little Mermaid (2007), Hands on a Hard Body (2012), and War Paint (2017). He returned to plays, authoring Posterity (2015) for off-Broadway, and Good Night, Oscar (2023) for Broadway. He wrote the screenplay for the Amazon Prime legal drama film The Burial (2023).
Wright's I Am My Own Wife was produced Off-Broadway by Playwrights Horizons in 2003. It transferred to Broadway theatre where it won the Tony Award for Best Play, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The subject of this one-person play, which starred Jefferson Mays, is the Germany transvestism Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. With his play I Am My Own Wife, Wright tied in with the film I Am My Own Woman by avant-garde director Rosa von Praunheim (1992).
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 brief run on Broadway in March and April 2013 after premiering at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2012. As an ardent supporter for writers' rights in the theatre industry, he is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and was formerly the elected president of the non-profit organization, succeeded in 2021 by Amanda Green (the first woman to hold the role in the Guild's history). Wright also serves on the board of New York Theatre Workshop. He serves on the boards of Yaddo and 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.
He wrote the book for the musical, War Paint, about Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden. The music is by Scott Frankel and the lyrics by Michael Korie. War Paint premiered at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, from June 28 to August 14, 2016, with stars Patti LuPone as Helena Rubinstein and Christine Ebersole as Elizabeth Arden. It ran on Broadway in 2017. The musical received four Tony Award nominations for Ebersole, LuPone, set design, and costume design.
| 2016 | War Paint | Book by | |
| 2017 | |||
| 2021 | Good Night, Oscar | Playwright | |
| 2023 | Belasco Theatre, Broadway | ||
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