Gina Gionfriddo

Gina Gionfriddo is an American playwright and television writer. Her play Becky Shaw was a 2009 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and her play Rapture, Blister, Burn was a 2013 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. She has written for the television series Law & Orderand "FBI: Most Wanted"

Gina Gionfriddo
Born
Washington, D.C., U.S.
EducationColumbia University (BA)
Brown University (MFA)

Biography

Gionfriddo grew up in Washington, D.C., where she attended Georgetown Day School.[1] She graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University and completed Brown University's MFA (MFA 1997) playwriting program where she studied with playwright Paula Vogel.[2][3]

In addition to writing her own material, she has also taught playwriting at Brown University, Providence College, and Rhode Island College.

She has lived in Providence, Rhode Island[4] and currently resides in New York City, where she is a single mother.[3]

Work

She has written for both the stage and for television. She tends to write dark comedies of topics that occasionally touch on the abuse of women and often features male protagonists.[5] U.S. Drag features a series of assaults, After Ashley features rape and murder, Becky Shaw on a gunpoint robbery.[5]

Television

She was a writer for the television series Law & Order. René Balcer, the head writer and executive producer of Law & Order, hired her after he read her play After Ashley. Balcer said: “She really has an ear for the dialogue of everyday Americans and the quirkiness of everyday Americans... the kind of people you see being interviewed on Nancy Grace.”[1] She currently works for The Alienist (TV series).

Stage

For her writing she has received the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2002 for U.S.Drag (in a tie with Susan Miller),[6] the 2002 Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights,[7] and a 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship.[8][9] Director Peter DuBois and Gionfriddo met at Brown University in the 1990s, and DuBois directed her thesis production (U.S. Drag) there. He has directed her plays Rapture, Blister, Burn and Becky Shaw.[10][9]

U. S. Drag was presented by the Connecticut Repertory Theatre Playwrights' Lab (Storrs, Connecticut) in July 1998 in a workshop, directed by Anna Shapiro.[11] The play was next produced by Clubbed Thumb at the HERE Arts Center, New York City in June 2001. The play was directed by Pam MacKinnon. It was produced from February 23, 2008, to March 16, 2008, Off-Broadway by the stageFARM at the Beckett Theatre, directed by Trip Cullman.[12][13]

Her play After Ashley received the 2005 Obie Award, Performance for Kieran Culkin.[14][15]

Becky Shaw, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2008, was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[16]

Gionfriddo's play, Rapture, Blister, Burn premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in June 2012.[17] The original Off-Broadway cast, which featured Amy Brenneman and Lee Tergesen, performed the play at the Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles, California in August 2013.[18] The play was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[18][19]

Can You Forgive Her? premiered in Boston at the Huntington Theatre in March 2016.[20] It was directed by Peter Dubois.[21]

Plays
  • Can You Forgive Her? (2016)
  • Rapture, Blister, Burn (2012)
  • Becky Shaw (2008)
  • Squalor (2007) (short)
  • After Ashley (2004)
  • U.S. Drag (2001) (Originally produced by Clubbed Thumb)
  • Guinevere (2001)
  • Safe (2000) (short)

Television

References
  1. Cohen, Patricia. "Onstage, Tackling Ambition and Crime" The New York Times, December 29, 2008
  2. "Tuning In With Gina Gionfriddo" (PDF). Philadelphia Theatre Company. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-10-13.
  3. Goodman, Lawrence. "Art and Life" Brown Alumni Magazine, May/June 2013
  4. "Interview. Tim Sanford And Gina Gionfriddo" Playwrights Horizons, accessed August 29, 2015
  5. Soloski, Alexis (May 29, 2012). "Playwright Gina Gionfriddo asks, in her new play, 'Rapture, Blister, Burn,' and her life: What do women want?". Politico. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  6. Ehren, Christine. " 'A Map of Doubt and Rescue', 'U.S. Drag' Win 2002 Blackburn Prize" playbill.com, February 12, 2002
  7. Hernandez, Ernio. "'After Ashley' Wins "Bug ‘n Bub" Playwright Award; Reading Held in NYC, Dec. 8" playbill.com, November 26, 2003
  8. "Gina Gionfriddo Creative Arts" Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, accessed August 29, 2015
  9. "Lortel Archives".
  10. Hartigan, Patty. "Career vs. family in ‘Rapture, Blister, Burn’ Boston Globe, May 25, 2013
  11. Simonson, Robert and Lefkowitz, David. "Connecticut Rep Inaugurates Playwrights' Lab June 26" playbill.com, June 26, 1998
  12. Gionfriddo, Gina. "Script, p. 7" U. S. Drag, Dramatists Play Service Inc, 2006, ISBN 082222111X
  13. " 'U. S. Drag' Listing, stageFARM" Archived 2015-07-26 at the Wayback Machine thestagefarm.org, accessed August 29, 2015
  14. "Adam Rapp and Gina Gionfriddo on American Theater, Adam Rapp & Gina Gionfriddo". The Brooklyn Rail. 2007-11-07.
  15. Simonson, Robert. "Shanley, Hughes, Culkin, Marvel, O'Connell Among 2005 Obie Winners" playbill.com, May 17, 2005
  16. Gans, Andrew and Jones, Kenneth. "Lynn Nottage's 'Ruined' Wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama" playbill.com, April 20, 2009
  17. brooklynrail.org
  18. Purcell, Carey. "Original Cast of 'Rapture, Blister, Burn,' Featuring Amy Brenneman and Lee Tergesen, to Reunite for Geffen Playhouse" playbill.com, July 9, 2013
  19. "Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 2013" pulitzer.org, accessed August 28, 2015
  20. Can You Forgive Her? broadwayworld.com, February 24, 2016
  21. Goodwin, Jeremy D. "Financial insecurity? Playwright Gina Gionfriddo can make it funny.", Boston Globe, March 24, 2016
  22. "Gina Gionfriddo". IMDB.
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