Bathsheba "Bash" Doran is a British-born playwright and TV scriptwriter living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Life

Bathsheba Doran, nicknamed "Bash", grew up in London and studied at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Her mother is the Elizabethan historian, Susan Doran.She became interested in comedy and writing early on. Doran says she fell in love with theatre when she found

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

's shadow in the backstage at a theatre when she was a little girl and realised that it was made of

pantyhose Pantyhose, called sheer tights, or tights, are close-fitting legwear covering the wearer's body from the waist to the toes. Mostly considered to be a garment for women and girls, pantyhose first appeared on store shelves in 1959 for the advertis ...

. Doran was a contemporary of

Robert Webb Robert Patrick Webb (born 29 September 1972) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is one half of the double act Mitchell and Webb, alongside David Mitchell. Webb and Mitchell both starred in the Channel 4 sitco ...

and David Mitchell. Her first job as a professional writer was

comedy sketch Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

writing for their

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

show '' Bruiser''. She worked for several years in London as a comedy writer, writing for shows such as ''

Smack the Pony ''Smack the Pony'' is a British sketch comedy show that was originally broadcast between 1999 and 2003 on Channel 4. The main performers on the show were Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan and Sally Phillips. There were also regular appearances from S ...

'' and ''

TV to Go ''TV to Go'' is a British television sketch show that aired on BBC One during 2001 and 2002. It starred Mackenzie Crook, Hugh Dennis, Mina Anwar and Debra Stephenson. Notes and references''TV to Go''at BBC Online BBC Online, formerly known ...

''. In 2000, Doran moved to the United States on a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

. She studied and received a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 2003, and was selected as a playwriting fellow at

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

. Doran's work has been developed by the O'Neill Playwriting Center,

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

Manhattan Theatre Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has gr ...

and Sundance Theatre Lab, among others. She helped Lear deBessonet with her play ''transFigures''. She has had plays commissioned by the

Atlantic Theater Company Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater, whose mission is to produce great plays "simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble." The company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet, William H. Macy, and 30 of their actin ...

and

Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. Under the ...

. Doran's play, ''Kin'', described as "exquisitely wrought" by the ''New York Times'', premiered at off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons from 25 February – 3 April 2011, under the direction of

Sam Gold Sam Gold is an American theater director and actor. He has directed both musicals and plays, on Broadway and Off-Broadway. He won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for ''Fun Home''. Early life Gold was raised in Westchester an ...

. Her play ''The Mystery of Love and Sex'', directed by Sam Gold, opened at

in New York on 2 March 2015. It was described as "perfectly wonderful" by the ''New York Times''. The play was subsequently produced at the

Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of Downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighboring ...

in Los Angeles and the Signature Theater, Arlington VA, among other national and international venues. Doran was nominated for a 2012

Writers Guild Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility The ...

for her work on the HBO series ''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and ...

''. She also wrote episodes for season 2 of the NBC show '' Smash''. She was a writer and co-producer of season 2 of the Showtime show ''

Masters of Sex ''Masters of Sex'' is an American period drama television series that premiered on September 29, 2013, on Showtime. It was developed by Michelle Ashford and loosely based on Thomas Maier's biography ''Masters of Sex''. Set in the 1950s through t ...

''. She was co-executive producer and writer of Hulu's adaptation of ''

The Looming Tower ''The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11'' is a 2006 non-fiction book by Lawrence Wright, a journalist for ''The New Yorker''. Wright examines the origins of the militant organization Al-Qaeda, the background for various terrorist attac ...

''. She co-wrote the Netflix feature film ''

Outlaw King ''Outlaw King'', stylized as ', is a 2018 historical action drama film about Robert the Bruce, the 14th-century Scottish King who launched a guerilla war against the larger English army. The film largely takes place during the 3-year period from ...

'', starring

Chris Pine Chris Pine (born August 26, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' reboot film series (2009–present), Steve Trevor in the DC Extended Universe films ''Wonder Woman'' (2017) and ''Won ...

and directed by David Mackenzie. She created and wrote the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

show ''

Traitors Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

'' (originally named ''Jerusalem''). She lives with her wife and two children in New York City.

Awards

* 2013 winner of first annual Berwin Lee Playwright Awards * 2009 recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award * Cherry Lane Mentor Project fellow * 2005–06 Susan Smith Blackburn Awards finalist * Liberace Playwriting Fellowship * Howard Stein Scholarship * Three Lecomte de Nouy playwriting awards.

Works

*''Feminine Wash'',

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

*''Until Morning'',

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

*''The Blind'',

Classic Stage Company Classic Stage Company, or CSC, is a classical Off-Broadway theater. Founded in 1967, Classic Stage Company is one of Off-Broadway's oldest theaters. Its 199-seat theatre is the former Abbey Theatre located at 136 East 13th Street between Third a ...

, 2005 *''Peer Gynt'', Riverside Theatre *''Great Expectations'',

Lucille Lortel Theatre The Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse at 121 Christopher Street in Manhattan's West Village. It was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse. The interior is largely unch ...

, 2006 *''Living Room in Africa'', 2006, Edge Theater, New York *''Time / Unstuck'', Red Room, NY, 2006 *''2 Soldiers'': The Red Room, NY, 2006 *''Nest'', Signature Theatre, 2007 * ''Nowhere in America'', Keen Teens at The Kirk Theatre, 2008 *''The Parent's Evening'', The Flea, 2010 *''Kin'',

, 2011 *''The Mystery of Love and Sex'',

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

, 2015

Television writing credits

*'' Bruiser'' *'' Smash'' (Season 2) *''

'' (Season 2; two episodes) *''

'' (Four episodes; also credited as series creator) *''

'' (Two episodes) *'' Life After Life''

Bibliography

* *
''Living Room in Africa''

Samuel French Ltd. Samuel French, Inc. is an American company, founded by Samuel French and Thomas Hailes Lacy, who formed a partnership to combine their existing interests in London and New York City. It publishes Play (theatre), plays, represents authors, and se ...

, 2008
''Nest''
Samuel French, 2008 *''Great Expectations'', Playscripts, Inc., 2006 * * * *
The Mystery of Love and Sex
', Samuel French Ltd., 2015 *

', Oberon Books, 2016

References

External links

at Doollee.com

at Talkin' Broadway * {{DEFAULTSORT:Doran, Bathsheba British women dramatists and playwrights Living people Juilliard School alumni Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Writers from London British LGBT dramatists and playwrights British LGBT screenwriters English lesbian writers 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights British television writers 21st-century American women writers American dramatists and playwrights American women screenwriters American women television writers American television writers 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century British LGBT people British women television writers