Gina Gionfriddo 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 ...

and television writer. Her play ''Becky Shaw'' was a 2009 finalist for the

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 her play ''Rapture, Blister, Burn'' was a 2013 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. She has written for the television series ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering ...

'' and " FBI: Most Wanted."

Biography

Gionfriddo grew up in Washington, D.C., where she attended

Georgetown Day School Georgetown Day School (GDS) is an independent coeducational PK-12 school located in Washington, D.C. The school educates 1,075 elementary, middle, and high school students in northwestern Washington, D.C. Russell Shaw is the current Head of Sc ...

.Cohen, Patricia
"Onstage, Tackling Ambition and Crime"
''The New York Times'', December 29, 2008 She graduated from

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

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 ...

and completed

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

's MFA (MFA 1997) playwriting program where she studied with

Paula Vogel.Goodman, Lawrence
"Art and Life"
''Brown Alumni Magazine'', May/June 2013 In addition to writing her own material, she has also taught playwriting at

Providence College Providence College is a private Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the local diocese, it offers 47 undergraduate majors and 17 graduate programs. It requires all of its undergraduat ...

, and

Rhode Island College Rhode Island College (RIC) is a public college in Providence, Rhode Island. The college was established in 1854 as the Rhode Island State Normal School, making it the second oldest institution of higher education in Rhode Island after Brown Uni ...

. She has lived in

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

and currently resides 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 ...

, where she is a single mother.

Work

She has written for both the stage and for television. She tends to write dark comedies of topics that occasionally touch on the abuse of women and often features male protagonists. ''U.S. Drag'' features a series of assaults, ''After Ashley'' features rape and murder, ''Becky Shaw'' has a robbery at gunpoint.

Television

She was a writer for the television series ''

''.

René Balcer René Balcer (born February 9, 1954) is a Canadian-American television writer, director, producer, and showrunner. Early life He was born in Montreal, Quebec, and attended Lower Canada College in Montreal. He studied creative writing at Conc ...

, the head writer and executive producer of ''Law & Order'', hired her after he read her play ''After Ashley''. Balcer said: “She really has an ear for the dialogue of everyday Americans and the quirkiness of everyday Americans... the kind of people you see being interviewed on Nancy Grace.” She currently works for

The Alienist (TV series) ''The Alienist'' is an American period drama television series based on the 1994 novel of the same name by Caleb Carr. The ten-episode limited series first aired on TNT as a sneak peek on January 21, 2018, before its official premiere on Janu ...

Stage

For her writing she has received 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 ...

in 2002 for ''U.S.Drag'' (in a tie with Susan Miller), the 2002 Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, and a 2005

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

. Director Peter DuBois and Gionfriddo met at

in the 1990s, and DuBois directed her thesis production (''U.S. Drag'') there. He has directed her plays ''Rapture, Blister, Burn'' and ''Becky Shaw''.Hartigan, Patty
"Career vs. family in ‘Rapture, Blister, Burn’
''Boston Globe'', May 25, 2013 ''U. S. Drag'' was presented by the Connecticut Repertory Theatre Playwrights' Lab (Storrs, Connecticut) in July 1998 in a workshop, directed by

Anna Shapiro Anna Davida Shapiro (born March 10, 1966) is an American theater director, was the artistic director of the Steppenwolf Theater Company, and a professor at Northwestern University. Throughout her career, she has directed both the Steppenwolf Th ...

. The play was next 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 ...

at the HERE Arts Center, New York City in June 2001. The play was directed by Pam MacKinnon. It was produced from February 23, 2008, to March 16, 2008, Off-Broadway by the stageFARM at the Beckett Theatre, directed by Trip Cullman. Her play ''After Ashley'' received the 2005

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the ...

, Performance for Kieran Culkin. ''

Becky Shaw ''Becky Shaw'' is a play written by Gina Gionfriddo. The play premiered at the Humana Festival in 2008 and opened Off-Broadway in 2008. The play was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Productions The play had its world premiere ...

'', which 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 th ...

in 2008, was a finalist for the 2009

. Gionfriddo's play, ''Rapture, Blister, Burn'' premiered 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 ...

in June 2012. The original Off-Broadway cast, which featured

Amy Brenneman Amy Frederica Brenneman (born June 22, 1964) is an American actress and producer. She worked extensively in television, coming to prominence as Detective Janice Licalsi in the ABC police drama series ''NYPD Blue'' (1993–1994). Brenneman nex ...

and

Lee Tergesen Lee Allen Tergesen (; born July 8, 1965) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' Weird Science'', as Tobias Beecher in HBO's prison drama '' Oz'', and as Evan Wright in '' Generation Kill,'' as well as guest starring in many othe ...

, performed the play at the Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles, California in August 2013.Purcell, Carey
"Original Cast of 'Rapture, Blister, Burn,' Featuring Amy Brenneman and Lee Tergesen, to Reunite for Geffen Playhouse"
playbill.com, July 9, 2013 The play was a finalist for the 2013

. ''Can You Forgive Her?'' premiered in Boston at the

Huntington Theatre The Huntington Theatre Company is a professional theatre located in Boston, Massachusetts and the recipient of the 2013 Regional Theatre Tony Award, under the direction of Managing Director Michael Maso. It is notable for its longstanding artist ...

in March 2016. It was directed by Peter Dubois.Goodwin, Jeremy D
"Financial insecurity? Playwright Gina Gionfriddo can make it funny."
''Boston Globe'', March 24, 2016

Plays

* ''Can You Forgive Her?'' (2016) * ''Rapture, Blister, Burn'' (2012) * ''

'' (2008) * ''Squalor'' (2007) (short) * '' After Ashley'' (2004) * ''U.S. Drag'' (2001) (Originally produced by Clubbed Thumb) * ''Guinevere'' (2001) * ''Safe'' (2000) (short)

Television

*House of Cards (2013) *''

'' (Episodes: ''Betrayal'', ''Driven'', ''Executioner'', ''Bogeyman'', ''Lost Boys'') * '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' (Episodes: ''Country Crossover'', ''

Masquerade Masquerade or Masquerader may refer to: Events * Masquerade ball, a costumed dance event * Masquerade ceremony, a rite or cultural event in many parts of the world, especially the Caribbean and Africa * Masqueraders, the performers in the West ...

'', ''Vacancy'', ''Dollhouse'', ''Prisoner'', ''Beast'', ''Bombshell'') * ''

Cold Case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or r ...

'' (Episode: ''Schadenfreude'') * ''

Law & Order True Crime ''Law & Order True Crime'' is an American true crime anthology series that premiered on September 26, 2017 on NBC. The series was ordered by NBC on July 15, 2016, and is part of the ''Law & Order'' franchise. Created by René Balcer, the eight- ...

'' (Episodes: ''3'' and ''6'', Season 1) *

(Episodes: 3 and 4, Season 1)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gionfriddo, Gina American dramatists and playwrights American women dramatists and playwrights Brown University alumni Living people Barnard College alumni American women television writers Obie Award recipients Brown University faculty Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Providence College faculty Rhode Island College faculty Writers from Rhode Island American television writers Screenwriters from Rhode Island Screenwriters from Washington, D.C. Georgetown Day School alumni American women academics 21st-century American women