Wendy A. MacLeod (born August 6, 1959) 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 ...

Life and career

MacLeod received a BA from

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...

Gambier, Ohio Gambier is a village in Knox County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,391 at the 2010 census. Gambier is the home of Kenyon College. A major feature is a gravel path running the length of the village, referred to as "Middle Path". This ...

, where she now teaches and is a playwright-in-residence. She also earned a MFA from 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 ...

. Her works include the plays ''Sin'' and ''Schoolgirl Figure'', both of which premiered at

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the lan ...

and were directed by

David Petrarca David Petrarca (born November 10, 1965) is an American director and producer of theatre, television and film. He was director at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago from 1988 until 2005. His work as a director includes HBO's ''Boardwalk Empire'', ' ...

. ''Schoolgirl Figure'' was then optioned for film by

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

and Anvil Entertainment. MacLeod's ''

The House of Yes ''The House of Yes'' is a 1997 American dark comedy film adapted from the play of the same name by Wendy MacLeod. The film was written and directed by Mark Waters (in his directing debut), produced by Robert Berger, and stars Parker Posey, Josh ...

'' premiered in San Francisco at the Magic Theatre and was the theatre's second-longest running show. It became an award-winning film by the same name in 1997, starring

Parker Posey Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress and musician. Posey is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Satellite Award nomination and two Independent Spirit Award nominations. Posey made her film debu ...

, which earned a Special Jury Award at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. Other works include ''The Water Children'', ''Things Being What They Are'', ''Juvenilia'', ''Apocalyptic Butterflies''. ''Apocalyptic Butterflies'' was filmed by the BBC as Nativity Blues 1988, starring Alfred Molina. Her play ''Juvenilia'', a comic drama about college students "attempting to find love", premiered

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 ...

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 ...

, as did her play ''The Water Children'', both directed by longtime collaborator Petrarca, which has also been seen at Los Angeles’ Matrix Theater where it was cited as "the most challenging political play of 1998" by the ''

L.A. Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'' and earned six L.A. Drama Critics Circle nominations. ''Things Being What They Are'' premiered at the Seattle Repertory Theatre and was then seen at Steppenwolf in Chicago in 2003 where its sold-out run was extended twice. ''The House of Yes'' has been performed at Soho Repertory Theatre, at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin and at The Gate Theater in London, where it was published in ''Plays International''. MacLeod's play,
Find and Sign
', premiered a
Pioneer Theatre Company
in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2012. Set in the New York City music industry (with a slight nod to ''Othello''), ''Find and Sign'' is about a bumpy romance between an on-the-rise young record executive and an idealistic public school teacher. Her critically acclaimed comedy ''Women in Jeopardy!'' premiered at Geva Theater in 2015, directed by Sean Daniels, and her newest play ''Slow Food'' was invited to the 2015 National Playwrights Conference. The play will be premiering at Merrimack Repertory Theater in January 2019. She has been a guest professor at Northwestern University’s film and theater departments. MacLeod's essay "Name Brand Nostalgia" was recently featured in '' The New York Times'' and her essay/talk "The Daily Struggle" was given as part of the Kenyon Review's Writers-on-Writing series in October 2016. Her prose and humor pieces have appeared in ''Poetry'' magazine, '' The New York Times'', ''Salon'', ''The Rumpus'', '' McSweeney's Internet Tendency'', '' The Washington Post'', and '' All Things Considered''. MacLeod worked as the Executive Story Editor for ''Popular'' (TV Series) for the WB and wrote the pilot "Ivory Tower", commissioned by CBS, produced by Brillstein-Grey ( The Sopranos) and Diane Keaton, with actress Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love). She served as the Artistic Director of the Kenyon Playwrights Conference which supported new work though its commissioning program and offered an intensive playwriting workshop taught by the artistic staff of partner companies including: The Atlantic Theater,

, Steppenwolf Theater, Roundabout Theatre, Hampstead Theater, The Old Vic, The Royal Court Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, and

ACT Theatre ACT Theatre (originally A Contemporary Theatre) is a regional, non-profit theatre organization in Seattle, in the US state of Washington. Gregory A. Falls (1922–1997) founded ACT in 1965 and served as its first Artistic director; at the time ACT ...

in Seattle. She is married to Read Baldwin and has two sons: Foss and Avery Baldwin.

Reviews

''Women in Jeopardy!''
"''A rollicking ‘Women in Jeopardy!’ at Cape Playhouse'' "Boston Globe"

''Women in Jeopardy is Dangerously Funny in Walnut Creek'' "The Mercury News"

''Theater Review: "Women in Jeopardy!" at Geva'' "Rochester City Paper"

''Geva's 'Women in Jeopardy!' highly entertaining'' "Rochester Democrat & Chronicle"
''Apocalyptic Butterflies''
''Apocalyptic Butterflies Review'' "Chicago Sun-Times"
More Plays
"Reviews"

Footnotes

External links

Wendy MacLeod's websiteKenyon Playwrights ConferenceWendy MacLeod's IMDB page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macleod, Wendy 1959 births Living people 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni Kenyon College alumni Kenyon College faculty Place of birth missing (living people)