Marisa Wegrzyn
Encyclopedia
Marisa Wegrzyn is an American playwright based in Chicago
, Illinois
. She won the 2009 Wasserstein Prize for her play Hickorydickory.
. Born to an anesthesiologist and former flight attendant, she began writing plays at 18. While at Washington University in St. Louis
, Wegrzyn won the university's A.E. Hotchner playwriting award after finishing second the preceding year. She came as runner-up as a freshman for Polar Bears on U.S. 41, and was chosen to take part in the WordBRIDGE program. Hosted by Eckerd College
in St. Petersburg, Florida
, is a two-week program with theatre professionals. The next, year her Killing Women, about female hitmen, won the award and was produced by the University’s A.E. Hotchner Play Development Lab. After graduation in 2003, she was put in touch with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
's director of new play development.
The Butcher of Baraboo debuted by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2006 and ran again at the Second Stage Theater in New York City
a year later. The play went on to receive its West Coast premiere in San Diego, CA, in 2009 where it was then hailed by critics as a success. "With its acid blasts of humor and its carnival-fun-house vision of family values, Marisa Wegrzyn's “The Butcher of Baraboo” has a way of leaving people in stitches."-San Diego Union-Tribune
Wegrzyn's one-act
Psalms of a Questionable Nature played at Los Angeles
' Lucid By Proxy in 2005 to a positive reception. In June 2009, Ten Cent Night opened in Burbank, California
and was called a "delightful but messy romp".
She is currently completing two plays commissioned by Steppenwolf and Yale Repertory Theatre
.
Wegrzyn's comedy Killing Women will have its New York City premiere in a production that runs from May 13, 2010 - June 5, 2010 at The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row. Killing Women will be presented by kef theatrical productions, directed by Adam Fitzgerald, and will star Lisa Brescia, Brian Dykstra, Autumn Hurlbert, Adam Kantor, Lori Prince, and Michael Puzzo.
, is given to a female playwright under 32 who has yet to receive national attention. The award was presented by set designer Heidi Ettinger, a longtime friend of Wasserstein, on December 1, 2009 at The Players
.
The script for Hickorydickory, about a watch and clock repair shop in the Chicago suburbs where everyone comes in with a pocket watch saying exactly when they will die, was started in 2004. In addition to a $
25,000 prize, the play will receive a staged reading at the Second Stage Theater.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. She won the 2009 Wasserstein Prize for her play Hickorydickory.
Early life
Wegrzyn grew up in Wilmette, IllinoisWilmette, Illinois
Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located north of Chicago's downtown district and has a population of 27,651. Wilmette is considered a bedroom community in the North Shore district...
. Born to an anesthesiologist and former flight attendant, she began writing plays at 18. While at Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
, Wegrzyn won the university's A.E. Hotchner playwriting award after finishing second the preceding year. She came as runner-up as a freshman for Polar Bears on U.S. 41, and was chosen to take part in the WordBRIDGE program. Hosted by Eckerd College
Eckerd College
Eckerd College is a private 4-year coeducational liberal arts college at the southernmost tip of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area. The college is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.- Campus :...
in St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
, is a two-week program with theatre professionals. The next, year her Killing Women, about female hitmen, won the award and was produced by the University’s A.E. Hotchner Play Development Lab. After graduation in 2003, she was put in touch with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
's director of new play development.
Career
Wegrzyn's black comedyBlack comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
The Butcher of Baraboo debuted by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2006 and ran again at the Second Stage Theater in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
a year later. The play went on to receive its West Coast premiere in San Diego, CA, in 2009 where it was then hailed by critics as a success. "With its acid blasts of humor and its carnival-fun-house vision of family values, Marisa Wegrzyn's “The Butcher of Baraboo” has a way of leaving people in stitches."-San Diego Union-Tribune
Wegrzyn's one-act
One act play
A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. In recent years the 10-minute play known as "flash drama" has emerged as a popular sub-genre of the one-act play, especially in writing competitions...
Psalms of a Questionable Nature played at Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
' Lucid By Proxy in 2005 to a positive reception. In June 2009, Ten Cent Night opened in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
and was called a "delightful but messy romp".
She is currently completing two plays commissioned by Steppenwolf and Yale Repertory Theatre
Yale Repertory Theatre
The Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of the Yale School of Drama in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented students. In the process it has become one of the...
.
Wegrzyn's comedy Killing Women will have its New York City premiere in a production that runs from May 13, 2010 - June 5, 2010 at The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row. Killing Women will be presented by kef theatrical productions, directed by Adam Fitzgerald, and will star Lisa Brescia, Brian Dykstra, Autumn Hurlbert, Adam Kantor, Lori Prince, and Michael Puzzo.
Wasserstein Prize
In 2009, Wergzyn won the third annual Wasserstein Prize for her play Hickorydickory, which had not yet been produced. The award, named in honor of Wendy WassersteinWendy Wasserstein
Wendy Wasserstein was an American playwright and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University...
, is given to a female playwright under 32 who has yet to receive national attention. The award was presented by set designer Heidi Ettinger, a longtime friend of Wasserstein, on December 1, 2009 at The Players
The Players (club)
The Players, frequently referred to as the Players Club, is a social club founded in New York City by the noted 19th-century Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth, who purchased an 1847 mansion located at 16 Gramercy Park. During his lifetime, he reserved an upper floor for his home, turning the rest of...
.
The script for Hickorydickory, about a watch and clock repair shop in the Chicago suburbs where everyone comes in with a pocket watch saying exactly when they will die, was started in 2004. In addition to a $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
25,000 prize, the play will receive a staged reading at the Second Stage Theater.
External links
- Chainsaw Calligraphy – Wegrzyn's blog