Gretchen Cryer (née Kiger; born October 17, 1935) is an American playwright,

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's incom ...

, and actress.

Early life

Cryer was born Gretchen Kiger in Dunreith, Indiana, the daughter of Louise Geraldine (née Niven; 1911-1991) and Earl William "Bill" Kiger, Jr. (1911-2004), who sold school supplies and ran a home printing business. Cryer attended

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the ...

as an English major.

Career

In one of her music classes, she met Nancy Ford, and the two forged a friendship that eventually led to a number of professional collaborations as the first female composer-lyricist team in Off-Broadway and Broadway New York theater. Their first work, ''For Reasons of Royalty'', was produced at DePauw University and their musical ''Rendezvous'' was done at Boston University. Their first professional New York production was '' Now Is The Time For All Good Men'' (1967), a highly political piece about Cryer's pacifist brother, who spent time as a teacher in a conservative mid-western high school, that was panned by the critics. Undaunted, they mounted '' The Last Sweet Days of Isaac'' – with Austin Pendleton and Fredricka Weber – in 1970, winning not only rave reviews, but the Obie,

Drama Desk The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fol ...

, and Outer Critics Circle Awards as well. From there they moved to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, but the musical, ''Shelter'' (1973), was not a success, despite a few good reviews. It would prove to be their only Broadway production. Using the pseudonym Sally Niven (Niven is her mother's maiden name), Cryer played the leading role in "Now Is the Time ..." opposite her real-life husband, David. Dagne Crane had originally been cast in the part, but left shortly before the opening to become a regular on the soap opera "As the World Turns". Cryer and Ford's most notable success was '' I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road'' (1978), based on Cryer's life experiences. She not only co-wrote the piece, but performed in it as well. Despite being lambasted by the critics, the show began to find an audience via word-of-mouth, and producer

Joseph Papp Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. He established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in Lower Manhattan. There Papp created ...

moved it from his

Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American ...

in lower

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

to th
Circle in the Square Downtown
(where it ran from 12/14/1978 to 3/15/1981 ) . Cryer and Ford's latest musical, '' Einstein and the Roosevelts'', premiered at

in October 2008. Cryer appeared in the 1987 film

Hiding Out ''Hiding Out'' is a 1987 American comedy-drama film starring Jon Cryer as a state's witness who disguises himself as a high school student in order to avoid being killed by the mob. Plot Revealed shortly into the movie, Andrew Morenski and two ...

as the aunt of her real-life son, Jon Cryer. Cryer's additional work as a performer included roles on Broadway in '' Little Me'' (1962), ''

110 in the Shade ''110 in the Shade'' is a musical with a book by N. Richard Nash, lyrics by Tom Jones, and music by Harvey Schmidt. Based on Nash's 1954 play '' The Rainmaker'', it focuses on Lizzie Curry, a spinster living on a ranch in the American southwest, ...

'' (1963) and ''

1776 Events January–February * January 1 – American Revolutionary War – Burning of Norfolk: The town of Norfolk, Virginia is destroyed, by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces. * Januar ...

'' (1969).

Personal life

Cryer and her husband, actor/singer David Cryer, divorced in 1971. She has two daughters – Robin, who has appeared with her in cabaret shows, and Shelley, who is a theatrical make-up artist. Her son is film and television actor

Jon Cryer Jonathan Niven Cryer (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor, writer, director and producer. Born into a show business family, he made his motion picture debut as a teenage photographer in the 1984 romantic comedy ''No Small Affair''; his bre ...

. Cryer is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cryer, Gretchen 1935 births Actresses from Indiana American musical theatre actresses American musical theatre lyricists DePauw University alumni Living people People from Henry County, Indiana Songwriters from Indiana Yale University alumni American women dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American women writers Writers from Indiana 20th-century American women singers