Bess Wohl 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 ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

whose plays include ''Grand Horizons'', ''Small Mouth Sounds'', and the book for the musical ''

Pretty Filthy ''Pretty Filthy'' is a 2015 musical with a book by Bess Wohl and music and lyrics by Michael Friedman developed with director Steve Cosson. The musical is produced by American "investigative" theater company The Civilians. The show is based on Th ...

'' with composer/lyricist Michael Friedman and

The Civilians The Civilians is an investigative theatre company in New York City founded in 2001 by Artistic Director, Steve Cosson. The Civilians artists pursue their inquiries using interviews, community residencies, research, and other methods. Working with ...

Early life

Wohl grew up in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, where she developed a love of theater. She went to

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

for a BA in English, and then went to the

Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...

for an MFA in acting. While at Yale, she created the play ''Cats Talk Balk'', which went on to the

New York International Fringe Festival The New York International Fringe Festival, or FringeNYC, was a fringe theater festival and one of the largest multi-arts events in North America. It took place over the course of a few weeks in October, spread on more than 20 stages across sev ...

, where it won Best Overall Production.

Career

Wohl's plays have been produced in numerous venues in New York City and around the United States. ''Pretty Filthy'', which ran

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

from January 2015 to March 1, 2015, was nominated for the 2015 Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Musical, and the 2015

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

, Outstanding Musical. Bess also won the 2015 Sam Norkin Special Drama Desk Award for “establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater, and having a breakthrough year.” ''Small Mouth Sounds'' premiered Off-Broadway at Ars Nova in 2015 to wide critical acclaim. The play also was produced in 2016 at the Off-Broadway Signature Theatre and has been performed in a US national tour in 2017. Wohl won the

Outer Critics Circle The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...

John Gassner Award, presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright for ''Small Mouth Sounds'' in 2017. Wohl's ''Grand Horizons'' began previews on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

at the

Hayes Theater The Hayes Theater (formerly the Little Theatre, New York Times Hall, Winthrop Ames Theatre, and Helen Hayes Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 240 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Named for actres ...

, presented by

Second Stage Theater Second Stage Theater is a theater company founded in 1979 by Robyn Goodman and Carole Rothman and located in Manhattan, New York City. It produces both new plays and revivals of contemporary American plays by new playwrights and established wri ...

on December 23, 2019 and opened on January 23, 2020. This play marked her Broadway debut. ''Grand Horizons'' premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in July 2019, directed by Leigh Silverman. The play is co-commissioned by Williamstown Theatre Festival and Second Stage Theater. ''Grand Horizons'' was nominated for the 2020

Tony Award for Best Play The Tony Award for Best Play (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award given to the best new (non- musical) play on Broadway, as determined by Tony Award voters. There was no award in the Tonys' first year ...

. Her play ''Camp Siegfried'' opened at

The Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit organization, not-for-profit producing house, producing theatre in Waterloo, London, Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Th ...

theatre in London in September 2021.

Honors and awards

, - , 2020 , Grand Horizons ,

References

External links

Internet Broadway Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wohl, Bess 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights Yale School of Drama alumni Living people American women dramatists and playwrights Harvard College alumni Writers from Brooklyn 21st-century American women writers Year of birth missing (living people)