Biography

Blessing's best-known play is A Walk in the Woods

A Walk in the Woods (play)

A Walk in the Woods is a 1988 play by Lee Blessing. It depicts the developing relationship between two arms limitation negotiators, one Russian and one American, over a year of negotiation. The play was nominated for both a Tony award and a Pulitzer Prize....

, which depicts the developing relationship between two arms limitation negotiators, one Russian and one American, over years of negotiation. The play was nominated for both a Tony award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 and a Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

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Blessing's recent plays include A Body of Water, Whores

Whores (play)

Whores is a play by Lee Blessing.Whores features Raoul de Raoul, a fictional Central American dictator of an unnamed country. The play alternates between what is presumably reality, where he is living in Florida and defending himself against charges of war crimes, and his imagination, where four...

, The Scottish Play

The Scottish Play (Lee Blessing play)

The Scottish Play is a play by American playwright Lee Blessing. It is set at a Shakespeare festival in Bannockburn, Michigan and examines the history of the "Scottish curse" associated with Macbeth....

, Black Sheep

Black Sheep (play)

Black Sheep is a play by American playwright Lee Blessing.a play about a governor elect's brother who tries to help Al get elected, but fails....

, Fortinbras

Fortinbras (play)

Fortinbras is a 1991 play by American playwright Lee Blessing. Set immediately following William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the play recounts the events after Hamlet's death that go on throughout Elsinore. The play includes almost every character from Hamlet returning as a ghost....

, and many others. He has also written one act plays including The Roads That Lead Here and Eleemosynary

Eleemosynary

Eleemosynary may refer to:* The term eleemosynary means relating to charity or the giving of alms.* Eleemosynary is a play by Lee Blessing....

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Blessing graduated from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop and the Iowa Writers' Workshop

Iowa Writers' Workshop

The Program in Creative Writing, more commonly known as the Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, is a highly regarded graduate-level creative writing program in the United States...

 at the University of Iowa

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

, and he currently heads the graduate playwriting program at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Blessing is married to fellow playwright Melanie Marnich

Melanie Marnich

Melanie Marnich is an American television writer. She has worked on the HBO drama Big Love and has been nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award.-Biography:...

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External links

• Lee Blessing - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org
  American Theatre Wing
  The American Theatre Wing is a New York City-based organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre," according to its mission statement...
  
  
• Lee Blessing -- entry in The Playwrights Database
• Lee Blessing Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
  University of Texas at Austin
  The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...