Lindsey Ferrentino is an American contemporary playwright and screenwriter.

Early life

Lindsey Ferrentino is the daughter of comedian and magician

John Ferrentino John Ferrentino is an American comedian and comedy magician. He was born and raised in Long Island, New York. He has made several television appearances (including HBO, VH1, the Comedy Channel, A&E, and Showtime). For five years, he was a regula ...

Career

Ugly Lies the Bone ''Ugly Lies the Bone'' is a 2015 play by Lindsey Ferrentino. The play had a developmental workshop at by the Theatre Program of Fordham University in October 2014, before having its world premiere production by Roundabout Underground, and played ...

'' was a ''New York Times'' Critic's Pick and played a sold-out, extended run at Roundabout Theatre in 2015. In ''The New York Times'' review of the play

Charles Isherwood Charles Isherwood (born 1964/65) is an American theater critic. Education Isherwood is a graduate of Stanford University. Career Isherwood wrote for '' Backstage West'' in Los Angeles. In 1993, he joined the staff of ''Variety'', where he was pr ...

wrote that Ferrentino was "a brave playwright of dauntless conviction whose unflinching portraits are hard to come by outside of journalism."Charles Isherwood
"Review: ‘Ugly Lies the Bone,’ With Mamie Gummer as a Combat Veteran"
''The New York Times'', October 13, 2015 ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'' described ''Ugly Lies the Bone'' as, "clearly the work of a young talent with plenty ahead of her." ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' described it as, "raw and inescapably moving. A play of small moments that hide big emotions." Ferrentino received the 2016 Kesselring Prize for ''Ugly Lies the Bone''.Andrew R. Chow
"The Playwright Lindsey Ferrentino Wins the Kesselring Prize"
''The New York Times'', September 4, 2016 It was later produced at The National Theatre in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in the 900-seat Lyttleton Theatre in 2017. In 2018, ''

Amy and the Orphans ''Amy and the Orphans'' is a 2018 play by Lindsey Ferrentino. The play officially opened Off-Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company's Laura Pels Theatre on March 1, 2018. The play is about three adult siblings, one with Down syndrome, re-uniting ...

'' premiered at Roundabout Theatre Company and was called “barrier breaking” in the ''New York Times''. Featuring ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the '' American Story'' media franchise, each season is conceived as a ...

Jamie Brewer Jamie Brewer is an American actress and model. She is best known for her roles in the FX horror anthology television series ''American Horror Story''. In its first season, '' Murder House'', she portrayed Adelaide "Addie" Langdon; in the third ...

, ''Amy and the Orphans'' is the first Off-Broadway (or Broadway) show to have an actor with

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

in a leading role. In the ''New York Times'' review of ''Amy and the Orphans'', Brantley wrote that Ferrentino "possesses a muscular empathy which seeks to enter the minds of people for whom life is often a struggle of heroic proportions."Ben Brantley
"Three Degrees of Loneliness in ‘Amy and the Orphans’"
''The New York Times'', March 1, 2018 Ferrentino,

, and Eddie Barbanell received the Catalyst Awards Entertainment Industry Excellence Award for Amy and the Orphans.,Olivia Clement
"Amy and the Orphans Recipient of The Arc's Catalyst Award"
''Playbill'', November 7, 2018 Also in 2018, '' This Flat Earth'' ran at

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 ...

. ''The New York Times'' wrote that ''This Flat Earth'' is "Ferrentino's most daring play to date, with profound and essential subjects. She is bravely attempting to contextualize 21st-century horrors within the sort of existential framework in which

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — a ...

and

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...

specialized."Ben Brantley
"This Flat Earth’ Traces Childhood Fears No Parent Can Allay"
''The New York Times'', April 9, 2018 In December 2018, ''The Year to Come'' opened at

La Jolla Playhouse La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. History La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. In 1983, it was revived under ...

and was a Critic's Pick by the ''San Diego Tribune''. It was well reviewed by the ''San Diego Tribune''. Ferrentino's first film, ''Not Fade Away'', was in development at Annapurna Pictures, as of March 2019, produced by David O. Russell and

John Krasinski John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom ''The Office''. He also served as a producer and occasional director of the series throughout its nine ...

, starring

Emily Blunt Emily Olivia Leah Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards. ...

. In 2021, it was announced that Ferrentino would write and direct ''Amy,'' a film adaptation of her stage play ''Amy and the Orphans'', for Netflix, with

Aggregate Films Aggregate Films is an American motion picture production company founded by actor Jason Bateman. The company currently has a first-look deal with Netflix to generate film and television projects. It previously had a two-year first-look producing d ...

attached to produce.

Style

Ferrentino is known for writing small character led stories that live within larger national narratives. ''The New York Times'' wrote that Ferrentino "possesses a muscular empathy which seeks to enter the minds of people for whom life is often a struggle of heroic proportions" and called her "a dramatist willing to wrestle with overpowering contemporary subjects."

Awards and honors

Ferrentino's awards and honors include the 2016 Kesselring Prize, Laurents/Hatcher Citation of Excellence,

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Cole Porter Playwriting Prize,"NYUAA Award Honorees"
''NYU'', 2018 Paul Newman Drama Award, 2015 Kilroys List, finalist for the

Susan Smith Blackburn Prize The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is the largest and oldest playwriting prize for women+ writing for English-speaking theatre. Named for Susan Smith Blackburn (1935–1977), alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer. W ...

, the Catalyst Awards Entertainment Industry Excellence Award,

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

Distinguished Young Alumna Award, nominated for 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, and is the only two-time finalist for the Kendeda Playwriting Prize."Winners and Finalists"
''Alliance Theatre'', 2019

Personal life

Ferrentino has been engaged to British actor Ralf Little since 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrentino, Lindsey Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights American women dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American women writers Hunter College alumni Tisch School of the Arts alumni