Alex Finlayson is an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

whose sly irreverent plays found more success on the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

stage than in the United States. After winning Finlayson a

Mobil Oil Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

International Playwriting Prize, ''Winding the Ball'' was produced by The

Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal ...

, which also commissioned and produced Finlayson's ''Misfits'' (1996) and ''Tobaccoland'' (1999). All three plays starred American stage and film actress

Lisa Eichhorn Lisa Eichhorn (born February 4, 1952) is an American actress, writer and producer. She made her film debut in 1979 in the John Schlesinger film '' Yanks'', for which she received two Golden Globe nominations. Her international career has includ ...

and were directed by

Greg Hersov Gregory A. "Greg" Hersov (born 1956) is a British theatre director. Hersov was educated at Bryanston School and Mansfield College, Oxford. Overview Hersov has been associated with the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester since 1979. He became a ...

. Hersov has written that Finlayson creates "vivid and authentic worlds underpinned by a fiercely personal moral vision. She deals with the most private sides of our lives but sees them in terms of the history and culture of her country." Reviewing ''Tobaccoland'',

Stephen Gallagher Stephen Gallagher (born 13 October 1954) is an English screenwriter and novelist. Gallagher was born in Salford, Greater Manchester. Career Gallagher has written novels and television scripts, including for the BBC television series '' Docto ...

says that Finlayson “fuses the epic and the intimate to deliver a play that should propel her into that category of American dramatists once dominated by

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...

and

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

.” Finlayson's play ''Winding the Ball'' was praised for being "gripping, luridly funny" and "splendidly assured, with wit and perception that bespeak a major talent. Even tssymbolism-- that Achilles heel of much American drama- packs a powerful punch." It won actor David Schofield a Best Actor award from the Manchester Evening News. Finlayson's most controversial play is ''Misfits'', inspired by Arthur Miller's autobiography, '' Timebends''. Finlayson was intrigued by Miller's account of the 1961 film The Misfits as a "valentine" for his wife

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

. Her play ''Misfits'' portrays the film's historic box office and artistic failure as the casual fault of screenwriter Miller, director

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

, and producer Frank Taylor, and not its star,

, who is most often blamed for the film disaster. ''Misfits'' received mixed reviews, with some critics attacking Finlayson for daring to put Miller onstage as a character. However, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' proclaimed the play "riveting" and "inventive." Perhaps not surprising, given Miller's stature, U.S. theaters steered clear of ''Misfits.'' But in a dramatic twist worthy of the stage, Arthur Miller may have had the final word. His last play,

Finishing the Picture ''Finishing the Picture'' is Arthur Miller's final play. It was produced at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, in October 2004, four months before Miller's death on February 10, 2005. Production The Goodman Theatre production was directed b ...

(Goodman Theatre, Chicago 2004), presented his version of Marilyn Monroe and the making of The Misfits (film) eleven years after Finlayson’s ''Misfits'' debuted. Alex Finlayson was born and grew up in East Texas the daughter of an actor. After a brief career as a New York advertising copywriter, she taught herself to write plays by moving to a remote cabin in the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

and studying the work of playwrights she admired. Finlayson was an early protege of Julia Miles and the Women's Project. Her first play, ''Ladies' Side'', was produced by the Source Theatre,

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

and received a

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...

nomination for Best New Play.Helen Hayes Awards and Nominees 1986
/ref> Another early play ''World of Beauty'' won the Texas Playwrights Festival (1988)at Stages Repertory Theatre,

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

while Ted Swindley was Artistic Director.

References

External links

Triangle Regional Playwrights: A Brief History by Byron Woods

Misfits explores Myth of Marilyn Monroe in Courageous Fashion, ''Style Weekly''

Don't Mess with Arthur Miller, ''Chicago Reader''

Tobaccoland review, The Guardian

Helen Hayes Awards

No Shushing in This Library
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San Diego Reader The ''San Diego Reader'' is an alternative press newspaper in the county of San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a ...

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I Was A High School Teacher Dropout
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I'm King of This Alley
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'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Finlayson, Alex 1951 births Living people People from Tyler, Texas Wellesley College alumni 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights