Stephen Adly Guirgis

Guirgis' play Between Riverside and Crazy premiered Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company in July 2014 and closed on August 23, 2014.[4] It then was produced by Second Stage Theatre, opening in previews on January 16, 2015, officially on February 11, 2015. Directed by Austin Pendleton, the play featured Stephen McKinley Henderson.[5] The play received a nomination for the 2015 Drama League Award, Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play.[6] The play won the 2015 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play.[7] The play won the 2015 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play.[8] The play won the 2015 Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Play.[9] Artists Repertory Theatre, located in Portland, Oregon, will stage Between Riverside and Crazy from March 4 to April 1, 2018.[10]

His play The Motherfucker With the Hat premiered on Broadway in 2011 and featured Bobby Cannavale, Chris Rock, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Annabella Sciorra and Yul Vazquez.[11] It was also performed in San Francisco at San Francisco Playhouse in January 2013 where it received positive reviews.[12]

The Little Flower of East Orange, starring Ellen Burstyn and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, was produced Off-Broadway by the Labyrinth Theatre Company at The Public Theater, opening on April 6, 2008 and closing on May 4, 2008.[13][14] The play was developed at the Manhattan Theatre Club's "6 @ 7" series.[15]

Judas Iscariot premiered Off-Broadway on March 2, 2005 at The Public Theatre and was directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.[16] The play completed a critically acclaimed run in London at the Almeida Theater on May 10, 2008.[17]

His play Our Lady of 121st Street ran originally in an Off-Broadway production by the LAByrinth Theater at Center Stage/NY and then transferred to the Union Square Theatre from March 6, 2003 to July 27, 2003. The play was directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.[18] The play received: 10 best plays of 2003; Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Best Play nominations.[19]

Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, premiered Off-Broadway in a production by LAByrinth Theater Company in 2000.[20][21] It was produced in London at the Donmar Warehouse in 2002,[22] and was nominated for the Olivier Award, Best New Play for 2003,[23] as well as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award.

His play In Arabia We'd All Be Kings ran Off-Broadway in 1999.[24] A production at the Elephant Theatre Company in Hollywood, California in 2007 received four LA Drama Critic's Circle Awards: Production, Writing, Scenic Design and Lighting Design.[25]

His play The Last Days of Judas Iscariot was produced Off-Broadway by LAByrinth in collaboration with The Public Theater in 2005,[26][27] and was named one of the year's "10 best" plays by Time magazine and Entertainment Weekly.

His one-act play, Dominica The Fat Ugly Ho, was directed by Adam Rapp as part of the 2006 E.S.T. Marathon.[28]

Guirgis 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,[17] David Milch's short-lived CBS drama Big Apple,[1] and Shane Salerno's short-lived NBC series UC: Undercover. Guirgis collaborated with Academy Award nominated director Baz Luhrmann on The Get Down, a Netflix Series about the birth of hip-hop in the 1970s.[29]

He developed and directed Liza Colón-Zayas' play Sistah Supreme for Danny Hoch's Hip Hop Theater Festival in 2000[30] Marco Greco's award-winning Behind the Counter with Mussolini at the York Theatre (1998 in New York)[31] and Los Angeles (1999 and 2002),[32] and directed Melanie Maras' Kiss Me on the Mouth for InViolet Rep in 2009.[33]

As an actor, Guirgis appeared in Brett C. Leonard's stage play Guinea Pig Solo, produced by LAByrinth at the Public Theater in 2004.[34] He has had leading roles in films such as Todd Solondz's Palindromes (2004),[35] Brett C. Leonard's Jailbait (2004), and Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret (2011).[36] Other credits include the 1997 Law & Order episode "Terminal" and films such as Meet Joe Black (1998),[37] Blackbird (2007),[38] Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot (2007),[39] Noise (2007),[40] Synecdoche, New York (2008),[41] and Philip Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut Jack Goes Boating (2010).

In mid-2017 Guirgis was embroiled in a public copyright debate with a small theater in San Francisco who had produced a highly edited and altered version of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. While he was initially sympathetic to the issues surrounding the production, when the theater refused to provide a suitable insert in the show notes explaining their edits were made without the playwright's permission, Guirgis became incensed and had the show shut down.[42][43]