Stephen Adly Guirgis
Encyclopedia
Stephen Adly Guirgis is an American
playwright
, screenwriter
, director, and actor. He is a member and co-artistic director of New York City
's LAByrinth Theater Company
. His plays have been produced on five continents and throughout the United States.
mother and an Egyptian father. He was raised on New York City
's Upper West Side
. He attended school in nearby Harlem
and went to college in Albany, New York
.
and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
, completed an extended run at The Public Theater. Other plays include Our Lady of 121st Street (10 best plays of 2003; Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Best Play Nominations), Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train
(Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award, Laurence Olivier Nomination for London's Best New Play), In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings (2007 LA Drama Critics Best Play, Best Writing Award), and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
(10 best, Time magazine and Entertainment Weekly), produced by LAByrinth in collaboration with The Public Theater in 2005. On May 10, 2008 Judas Iscariot completed a critically acclaimed run in London at the Almeida Theater. All five plays were originally produced by LAByrinth and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. They are published by Dramatists Play Service as well as by Faber and Faber. Guirgis' one act play, Dominica The Fat Ugly Ho, was directed by Adam Rapp
as part of the 2006 E.S.T. Marathon. His newest play, The Motherfucker With the Hat
premiered in New York City on Broadway
in the spring of 2011 and featured Bobby Cannavale
, Chris Rock
. He is writing a screenplay based on the life of six-time world champion boxer Emile Griffith
for Scott Rudin Productions.
Television writing credits include NYPD Blue
, David Milch
's short-lived CBS
drama Big Apple
, The Sopranos
, and Shane Salerno
's short-lived NBC
series UC: Undercover
. Stephen was awarded a 2006 PEN/Laura Pels Award, a 2006 Whiting Award, and a 2004 TCG fellowship. He attended the 2004 Sundance Screenwriter's Lab, and was named one of 2004's 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine
.
Guirgis is the recipient of new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club
, Center Theater Group, and South Coast Repertory
. He is a member of New Dramatists, MCC's Playwright's Coalition, New River Dramatists, Primary Stages, and The Actor's Studio Playwright/Directors Unit. He developed and directed Liza Colón-Zayas' Sistah Supreme for Danny Hoch's Hip Hop Theater Festival, Marco Greco's award-winning Behind the Counter with Mussolini in New York and Los Angeles
, and directed Melanie Maras' Kiss Me on the Mouth for InViolet Rep.
As an actor, Stephen Adly Guirgis appeared in Guinea Pig Solo, produced by LAByrinth at the Public Theatre, and has leading roles in Todd Solondz
's Palindromes
, Brett C. Leonard's Jailbait opposite Michael Pitt
, and in Kenneth Lonergan
's Margaret. Other film credits include Philip Seymour Hoffman's Jack Goes Boating
, Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York
, Adam Rapp
's Blackbird
, Noah Buschel
's Neal Cassady, Meet Joe Black
, Noise, Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot
, and an episode of the long running New York City-based TV series Law & Order
.
A former violence prevention specialist/HIV
educator, Stephen Adly Guirgis has facilitated numerous workshops in New York City area prisons, schools, shelters, and hospitals.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
playwright
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...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, director, and actor. He is a member and co-artistic director of 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...
's LAByrinth Theater Company
LAByrinth Theater Company
LAByrinth Theater Company is a non-profit, Off-Broadway theater company based in New York City.An inclusive, multicultural ensemble of almost 100 established and emerging theater artists led by Artistic Directors Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O'Donnell and Yul Vasquez, LAByrinth Theater Company...
. His plays have been produced on five continents and throughout the United States.
Early life
Guirgis is the son of an Irish AmericanIrish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
mother and an Egyptian father. He was raised on 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...
's Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
. He attended school in nearby Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
and went to college in Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
.
Career
The Little Flower of East Orange, starring Ellen BurstynEllen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967...
and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
, completed an extended run at The Public Theater. Other plays include Our Lady of 121st Street (10 best plays of 2003; Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Best Play Nominations), Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train
Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train
Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train is a theatrical production created by Stephen Adly Guirgis.-Plot synopsis:The play takes place in a prison setting, portraying two men who face murder charges.-Productions:...
(Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award, Laurence Olivier Nomination for London's Best New Play), In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings (2007 LA Drama Critics Best Play, Best Writing Award), and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a 2005 play by American playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis first staged off-Broadway at The Public Theater on 2 March 2005 directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.-Plot summary:...
(10 best, Time magazine and Entertainment Weekly), produced by LAByrinth in collaboration with The Public Theater in 2005. On May 10, 2008 Judas Iscariot completed a critically acclaimed run in London at the Almeida Theater. All five plays were originally produced by LAByrinth and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. They are published by Dramatists Play Service as well as by Faber and Faber. Guirgis' one act play, Dominica The Fat Ugly Ho, was directed by Adam Rapp
Adam Rapp
Adam Rapp is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, musician and film director. His play Red Light Winter was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2006.-Early life:...
as part of the 2006 E.S.T. Marathon. His newest play, The Motherfucker With the Hat
The Motherfucker With the Hat
The Motherfucker With the Hat is a 2011 play by Stephen Adly Guirgis...
premiered in New York City on 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...
in the spring of 2011 and featured Bobby Cannavale
Bobby Cannavale
Robert M. "Bobby" Cannavale is an American actor known for his leading role as Bobby Caffey in the first two seasons of the television series Third Watch. He also had a recurring role as Officer Vince D'Angelo on the comedy series Will & Grace.-Early life:Cannavale grew up in Union City, New...
, Chris Rock
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...
. He is writing a screenplay based on the life of six-time world champion boxer Emile Griffith
Emile Griffith
Emile Alphonse Griffith is a former boxer who was the first fighter from the U.S. Virgin Islands ever to become a world champion. He is perhaps best known for his controversial third fight with Benny Paret in 1962 for the welterweight world championship...
for Scott Rudin Productions.
Television writing credits include NYPD Blue
NYPD Blue
NYPD Blue is an American television police drama set in New York City, exploring the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan...
, David Milch
David Milch
David S. Milch is an American writer and producer of television series. He has created several television shows, including NYPD Blue and Deadwood.-Biography:...
's short-lived CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
drama Big Apple
Big Apple (TV series)
Big Apple is an American television drama series that was originally broadcast in the United States on CBS in 2001. The story centers on two New York City Police Department detectives Mooney and Trout working with the FBI to solve a murder with ties to organized crime...
, The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
, and Shane Salerno
Shane Salerno
Shane Salerno is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He has written or co-written several blockbuster films including Armageddon and Shaft and is also one of the writer-producers of the successful CBS drama series Hawaii Five-0...
's short-lived NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
series UC: Undercover
UC: Undercover
UC: Undercover is an action-thriller television series that focuses on the secret lives and private demons of an elite Justice Department crime-fighting unit that confronts the country’s deadliest, most untouchable lawbreakers by going undercover to bust them. The series was broadcast from 2001 to...
. Stephen was awarded a 2006 PEN/Laura Pels Award, a 2006 Whiting Award, and a 2004 TCG fellowship. He attended the 2004 Sundance Screenwriter's Lab, and was named one of 2004's 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine
Filmmaker Magazine
Filmmaker is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis...
.
Guirgis is the recipient of new play commissions from 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...
, Center Theater Group, and South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California.Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...
. He is a member of New Dramatists, MCC's Playwright's Coalition, New River Dramatists, Primary Stages, and The Actor's Studio Playwright/Directors Unit. He developed and directed Liza Colón-Zayas' Sistah Supreme for Danny Hoch's Hip Hop Theater Festival, Marco Greco's award-winning Behind the Counter with Mussolini in New York and 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...
, and directed Melanie Maras' Kiss Me on the Mouth for InViolet Rep.
As an actor, Stephen Adly Guirgis appeared in Guinea Pig Solo, produced by LAByrinth at the Public Theatre, and has leading roles in Todd Solondz
Todd Solondz
Todd Solondz is an American independent film screenwriter and director known for his style of dark, thought-provoking, socially conscious satire. Solondz has been critically acclaimed for his examination of the "dark underbelly of middle class American suburbia", a reflection of his own background...
's Palindromes
Palindromes (film)
Palindromes is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Todd Solondz and a sequel to Solondz's 1995 film, Welcome to the Dollhouse...
, Brett C. Leonard's Jailbait opposite Michael Pitt
Michael Pitt
Michael Carmen Pitt is an American actor and musician. Pitt is best known in film for his role in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers, and in television for his portrayal of James "Jimmy" Darmody in the hit HBO series Boardwalk Empire.-Personal life:Pitt was born in West Orange, New Jersey, the...
, and in Kenneth Lonergan
Kenneth Lonergan
Kenneth Lonergan is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director.-Background and education:Born in the Bronx, New York City, New York, Lonergan began writing in high school at the Walden School .His first play, The Rennings Children, was chosen for the Young Playwright's Festival in...
's Margaret. Other film credits include Philip Seymour Hoffman's Jack Goes Boating
Jack Goes Boating
Jack Goes Boating is a 2007 play by Robert Glaudini. An unconventional romantic comedy set in the midst of working-class New York City life, Jack Goes Boatings original production was directed by Peter Dubois and starred Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Jack, John Ortiz as Clyde, Daphne Rubin-Vega as...
, Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York
Synecdoche, New York
Synecdoche, New York is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was Kaufman's directorial debut.The film premiered in competition at the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 23, 2008...
, Adam Rapp
Adam Rapp
Adam Rapp is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, musician and film director. His play Red Light Winter was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2006.-Early life:...
's Blackbird
Blackbird (2007 film)
Blackbird, is a 2007 American film. It was adapted from a stageplay by Adam Rapp.It played at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It won "Best Narrative Feature" at the Charlotte Film Festival for writers Adam Rapp and Bruce Romans.- Cast :...
, Noah Buschel
Noah Buschel
Noah Buschel was born May 31, 1978 in Philadelphia and grew up in Greenwich Village.Nominated for Breakthrough Director Gotham Award for The Missing Person .*Writer/Director of Bringing Rain starring Adrian Grenier and Paz de la Huerta...
's Neal Cassady, Meet Joe Black
Meet Joe Black
Meet Joe Black is a 1998 American fantasy romance film produced by Universal Studios, directed by Martin Brest and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Claire Forlani, loosely based on the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday...
, Noise, Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot
Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot
Trainwreck: My Life as an Idoit is a 2007 American comedy drama written and directed by Tod Harrison Williams and based upon the autobiographical book The Little Yellow Bus by Jeff Nichols.The film was premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival on 14 June 2007 and put on general release...
, and an episode of the long running New York City-based TV series Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
.
A former violence prevention specialist/HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
educator, Stephen Adly Guirgis has facilitated numerous workshops in New York City area prisons, schools, shelters, and hospitals.
Plays written by Guirgis
- Race, Religion and Politics
- Den of Thieves
- Jesus Hopped the 'A' TrainJesus Hopped the 'A' TrainJesus Hopped The 'A' Train is a theatrical production created by Stephen Adly Guirgis.-Plot synopsis:The play takes place in a prison setting, portraying two men who face murder charges.-Productions:...
- The Little Flower of East Orange
- Our Lady of 121st Street
- In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings
- The Last Days of Judas IscariotThe Last Days of Judas IscariotThe Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a 2005 play by American playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis first staged off-Broadway at The Public Theater on 2 March 2005 directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.-Plot summary:...
- Dominica The Fat Ugly Ho
- The Motherfucker With the HatThe Motherfucker With the HatThe Motherfucker With the Hat is a 2011 play by Stephen Adly Guirgis...
External links
- Profile and photo at LAByrinth Theater Company