Will Arbery is an American
playwright,
screenwriter and TV writer, known for his plays ''
Heroes of the Fourth Turning'', ''Plano'', and ''Evanston Salt Costs Climbing''.
''Heroes of the Fourth Turning'' was a finalist for the 2020
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...
and Arbery was the recipient of the 2020
Whiting Award for Drama.
Early life and education
Arbery was born in
Nashua, New Hampshire, but grew up in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
, the only boy in a family of seven sisters. He attended
Cistercian Preparatory School
Cistercian Preparatory School is a private school for young men located in Irving, Texas, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas. Serving grades five through twelve (though previously having a 4th grade pre-form), the school has a population ...
in
Irving, Texas. His parents,
Glenn and Virginia Arbery, taught at the
Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture before relocating to Wyoming, where they both taught at
Wyoming Catholic College
Wyoming Catholic College (WCC) is a private, Catholic liberal arts college in Lander, Wyoming. WCC is the only private four-year institution of higher education in the state.
History
WCC admitted its first class in 2007.
Administration P ...
. Arbery's father took over as president of the college in 2016. Arbery received his BA in English and drama 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 ...
in 2011 and his MFA in writing for the screen and stage from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
in 2015.
Career
''Plano'' was first produced by
Clubbed Thumb
Clubbed Thumb is a downtown theater company in New York City that commissions, develops, and produces "funny, strange, and provocative new plays by living American writers." Since its founding in 1996, the company has earned five OBIES (including t ...
as a part of their 2018 Summerworks season, followed by an
off-Broadway run at
The Connelly Theater in 2019. ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' described the play as a "David Lynch script performed as screwball comedy"; Helen Shaw, writing in ''
Time Out New York
''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide.
In 2012, the London edition becam ...
'', wrote "It’s delicious to see a playwright binding genres so confidently (body-double horror and rueful family comedy), but the real pleasure is in how much ''Plano'' manages to bend how you perceive reality beyond the proscenium"; and ''
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
'' proclaimed that "''Plano'' is a fiercely smart contemporary dream play".
''Heroes Of The Fourth Turning''
In October 2019, Arbery received critical acclaim for his play ''Heroes of the Fourth Turning'', which made its world premiere off-Broadway 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 play explores a group of young Catholic intellectuals at a college reunion. Arbery’s idea for the play “crystallized” after he was personally dissatisfied with the media’s coverage of Trump supporters after the 2016 presidential election. It was named one of the best plays of 2019 by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and one of the eight pieces of Pop Culture that Defined the Trump Era by
Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
.
''Heroes of the Fourth Turning'' went on to win a number of awards, including being named a finalist for the
Pulitzer Prize in Drama.
According to Jesse Green of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', this “astonishing new play,” directed “with nerves of steel” by Danya Taymor, “explores the lives and ideas of conservatives with affection, understanding and deep knowledge — if not, ultimately, approval.”
According to Sarah Holdren of
New York Magazine
''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...
, “Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning is so frighteningly well written, it’s hard to write about… Arbery’s world
smurky yet lit by lightning, lyrical and scary, brave and terribly gentle. Arbery is a virtuoso of dream language and logic. He’s an unostentatious surrealist—a Magritte, not a Dali—rigorous and playful and full of love for his subjects, even when, as in Heroes, those subjects are themselves fraught with confusion, aggression, and fearful, fearsome indoctrination.”
Vinson Cunningham of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' called the play “A formally lovely, subtly horrifying play about the death rattle of ideologies and the thin line between devotion and delusion."
Film and television
Arbery worked as a writer on the upcoming season of
''Succession'' and has multiple TV and film projects in development, including with
HBO,
A24
A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City.
A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Pr ...
, and
BBC Film
BBC Film (formerly BBC Films) is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It was founded on 18 June 1990, and has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including ''Truly, Madly, Deeply'', ''Alan Partr ...
.
Style
Upon receiving the
Whiting Award, the committee said "Despite their wit and charm, Will Arbery's complicated and generous plays are deadly serious... Intellectually audacious, formally sly, he has the courage to let these characters seize the stage with impassioned arguments about morality and meaning. He knows how to make ideas incandescent in time and space and his ear for the rhythms of speech is impeccable, yet he always cracks a window in naturalism, letting a shaft of eeriness in. His writing moves to the beat of multiple metronomes: the rhythm of thought, the counterpoint of competing logics, the heartbeat of human longing."
Works
* ''
Heroes of the Fourth Turning'', 2019,
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 ...
* ''Plano'', 2018,
Clubbed Thumb
Clubbed Thumb is a downtown theater company in New York City that commissions, develops, and produces "funny, strange, and provocative new plays by living American writers." Since its founding in 1996, the company has earned five OBIES (including t ...
* ''Evanston Salt Costs Climbing'', 2018,
New Neighborhood
* ''Corsicana'', development 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 ...
&
Ojai Playwrights Conference
* ''Wheelchair'',
3 Hole Press
* ''You Hateful Things'', development at
the Public,
SPACE on Ryder Farm, and
NYTW Dartmouth Residency
Awards and honors
* 2020: ''Heroes of the Fourth Turning –''
Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama
* 2020:
Whiting Award for Drama
* 2020: ''Heroes of the Fourth Turning'' –
Obie Award for Playwriting
* 2020: ''Heroes of the Fourth Turning'' –
New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play
* 2020: ''Heroes of the Fourth Turning'' –
Lucille Lortel Award
The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...
for Best Play
* 2020: ''Heroes of the Fourth Turning'' –
Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Playwriting Award
* 2019: Tow Playwright in Residence,
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 ...
* 2017: ''The Mongoose'' – Stage Raw Award
* 2016: Edes Foundation Prize
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbery, Will
American dramatists and playwrights
People from Nashua, New Hampshire
People from Dallas
Living people
Kenyon College alumni
Northwestern University alumni
American screenwriters
Year of birth missing (living people)