Richard Nelson (playwright)
Encyclopedia
Richard Nelson is an American playwright
and librettist. He wrote the books for the musicals
James Joyce's The Dead
and the Broadway
version of Chess
.
, Illinois
.
He married Cynthia Blair Bacon on May 21, 1972; they have two children.
.
Nelson received the 2000 Tony Award
for Best Book of a Musical for James Joyce's The Dead
. He received the Olivier Award for Best Play for Goodnight Children Everywhere
(1999). He received a Giles Cooper Award in 1987 for Languages Spoken Here and in 1989 for Eating Words. He was nominated for the Tony Award, Best Play, for Two Shakespearean Actors (1992) and the Drama Desk Award
, Outstanding New Play for Some Americans Abroad (1990).
Nelson's plays are published by Faber, T C G, and Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and librettist. He wrote the books for the musicals
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
James Joyce's The Dead
James Joyce's The Dead
James Joyce's The Dead is a Broadway musical by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey based upon James Joyce's short story of the same name.Originally presented Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons with an opening night cast that included Blair Brown, Paddy Croft, Brian Davies, Daisy Eagan, Dashiell...
and the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
version of Chess
Chess (musical)
Chess is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other;...
.
Personal life
Nelson was born in ChicagoChicago
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,...
.
He married Cynthia Blair Bacon on May 21, 1972; they have two children.
Career
For three years, Nelson was the chair of the playwriting department at the Yale School of DramaYale School of Drama
The Yale School of Drama is a graduate professional school of Yale University providing training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design , directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, sound design, technical design and production, and theater...
.
Nelson received the 2000 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...
for Best Book of a Musical for James Joyce's The Dead
James Joyce's The Dead
James Joyce's The Dead is a Broadway musical by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey based upon James Joyce's short story of the same name.Originally presented Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons with an opening night cast that included Blair Brown, Paddy Croft, Brian Davies, Daisy Eagan, Dashiell...
. He received the Olivier Award for Best Play for Goodnight Children Everywhere
Goodnight Children Everywhere
Goodnight Children Everywhere is a 1997 play written by American playwright Richard Nelson that premiered at The Other Place, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England...
(1999). He received a Giles Cooper Award in 1987 for Languages Spoken Here and in 1989 for Eating Words. He was nominated for the Tony Award, Best Play, for Two Shakespearean Actors (1992) and the Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
, Outstanding New Play for Some Americans Abroad (1990).
Plays by Nelson
- An American Comedy
- Bal
- Between East and West
- The Cherry Orchard (adaption of Anton ChekhovAnton ChekhovAnton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
) - Columbus and the Discover of Japan
- Conjuring an Event
- Conversations in Tusculum
- Don Juan
- Enrico IV
- Frank's Home
- Franny's Way
- The General From America
- Goodnight Children EverywhereGoodnight Children EverywhereGoodnight Children Everywhere is a 1997 play written by American playwright Richard Nelson that premiered at The Other Place, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England...
- How Shakespeare Won the West
- Il Campiello
- James Joyce's The DeadJames Joyce's The DeadJames Joyce's The Dead is a Broadway musical by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey based upon James Joyce's short story of the same name.Originally presented Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons with an opening night cast that included Blair Brown, Paddy Croft, Brian Davies, Daisy Eagan, Dashiell...
- Jitterbugging: Scenes of Sex in a New Society
- Jungle Coup
- Kenneth's First Play (written with Colin Chambers)
- The Killing of Yablonski
- Left
- Life Sentences
- Madame Melville
- The Marriage of Figaro (adaption of Pierre BeaumarchaisPierre BeaumarchaisPierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a French playwright, watchmaker, inventor, musician, diplomat, fugitive, spy, publisher, arms dealer, satirist, financier, and revolutionary ....
) - Misha's Party (written with Alexander Gelman)
- Miss Julie (adaptation of August StrindbergAugust StrindbergJohan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
) - New England
- Principia Scriptoriae
- The Return of Pinocchio
- Rip Van Winkle, or "The Works"
- Rodney's Wife
- Scooping
- Some Americans Abroad
- The Seagull (adaption of Anton Chekhov)
- The Suicide (adaption of Nikolai ErdmanNikolai ErdmanNikolay Robertovich Erdman was a Soviet dramatist and screenwriter primarily remembered for his work with Vsevolod Meyerhold in the 1920s. His plays, notably The Suicide , form a link in Russian literary history between the satirical drama of Nikolai Gogol and the post-World War II Theatre of the...
) - Three Sisters (adaptation of Anton Chekhov)
- Two Shakespearean Actors
- The Vienna Notes
- The Wood Demon (adaptation of Anton Chekhov)
Nelson's plays are published by Faber, T C G, and Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
Broadway Play Publishing Inc, along with Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Inc., and Samuel French Inc., is one of the four major New York play publishers and licensors of stage rights...
.
Radio Plays
- Languages Spoken Here (BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
, 11 December 1987) - Eating Words (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...
, 30 October 1989) - Advice to Eastern Europe (BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
, 27 December 1990) - The American Wife (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...
, 25 January 1996) - Hyde Park-on-Hudson (BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
, 7 June 2009)
External links
- Richard Nelson at the Internet Broadway DatabaseInternet Broadway DatabaseThe Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....
- Richard Nelson at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Richard Nelson Biography (1950— ), filmreference.com