Bathsheba Doran
Encyclopedia
Life
Doran grew up in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and studied at Cambridge University. She was a contemporary of Robert Webb
Robert Webb (actor)
Robert Webb is an English actor, comedian and writer, and one half of the double act Mitchell and Webb, alongside David Mitchell.-Early life:...
and David Mitchell
David Mitchell (actor)
David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...
and her first job as a professional writer was comedy sketch writing for their BBC2 show Bruiser
Bruiser (TV series)
Bruiser was a TV comedy sketch show produced for BBC Choice. It premiered on 28 February 2000 and ran for six episodes ending on 15 March 2000. The main writers were David Mitchell and Robert Webb...
.
After that she worked for several years as a comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
writer writing for shows like Smack the Pony
Smack the Pony
Smack the Pony is a British sketch comedy show that ran from 1999 until 2003 on Channel 4. Its title was intended to sound like a euphemism for female masturbation; the working title was Spot the Pony. The main performers and writers on the show were Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan and Sally Phillips...
and TV to Go
TV to Go
-Notes and references:* at BBC Online...
. In 2000 she moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on a Fulbright
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
. She received her M.F.A. from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, and went on to become a playwriting fellow at Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
.
Doran’s work has been developed by the O’Neill Playwriting Center, Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
, Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
and Sundance Theatre Lab, among others.
She helped Lear deBessonet with her play "Sick With God".
She is currently under commission from Atlantic Theater Company
Atlantic Theater Company
Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater, whose mission is to produce great plays "simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble." The company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet, William H. Macy, and 30 of their acting students from New York University, inspired by the...
and Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
.
Doran says she fell in love with theater when she found Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
's shadow in the backstage
Backstage
Backstage may refer to:* Backstage , by Cher* Backstage , an Australian drama* Back Stage , a silent film starring Oliver Hardy* Back Stage , a silent film starring Buster Keaton...
at a theater when she was a little girl and realized that it was made of pantyhose
Pantyhose
Pantyhose are sheer, close-fitting legwear, covering the wearer's body from the waist to the feet. Mostly considered to be a woman's and girl's garment, pantyhose appeared in the 1960s, and they provided a convenient alternative to stockings...
.
Her mother is the Elizabethan historian, Susan Doran
Susan Doran
Dr Susan Doran is a British historian whose primary studies surround the reign of Elizabeth I, in particular the theme of marriage and succession...
.
Ms. Doran's latest play Kin premieres at off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
from February 25-April 3, 2011 under the direction of Sam Gold .
She is currently adapting The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency as a feature for HBO Films and is writing on season 2 of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.
Awards
- 2009 recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award
- Cherry Lane Mentor Project fellow
- three Lecomte du Nouy Lincoln Center playwriting awards
- 2005-06 Susan Smith Blackburn AwardsSusan Smith Blackburn PrizeThe Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is for English-language women playwrights. Named for Susan Smith, alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer.-Winners:* 1978-79 Mary O'Malley* 1979-80 Barbara Schneider...
finalist - Liberace Playwriting Fellowship
- Howard Stein Scholarship
- Lecomte de Nouy playwriting award.
Works
- Feminine Wash, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
- Until Morning, BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
- The Blind, Classic Stage CompanyClassic Stage CompanyClassic Stage Company, or CSC, is a classical Off-Broadway theater dedicated to reimagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience, presenting plays from the past that speak directly to today's issues. Founded in 1967, Classic Stage Company is one of Off-Broadway's...
, 2005 - Peer Gynt, Riverside Theatre
- Great Expectations, Lucille Lortel TheatreLucille Lortel TheatreThe Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse located at 121 Christopher Street in New York City's Greenwich Village.The venue was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse...
, 2006 - Living Room in Africa, 2006, Edge Theater, New York
- Time / Unstuck, Red Room, NY, 2006
- 2 Soldiers: The Red Room, NY, 2006
- Nest, Signature Theatre (Arlington, Virginia), 2007
- Nowhere in America, Keen Teens at The Kirk Theatre, 2008
- The Parent's Evening, The FleaThe Flea TheaterThe Flea Theater, founded in 1996, is a theatre in the TriBeCa section of New York City. It presents primarily new American theatre, and provides a venue for film stars to act on a very small stage. It is the home of "The Bat Theater Company", an Obie Award winning resident acting troupe of...
, 2010 - Kin, Playwrights HorizonsPlaywrights HorizonsPlaywrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
, 2011