Richard John Nelson (born October 17, 1950) 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

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

. He wrote the

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

for the 2000 Broadway musical ''

James Joyce's The Dead ''James Joyce's The Dead'' is a Broadway musical by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey based upon James Joyce's short story " The Dead". Productions The musical was originally presented Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, starting on October 1, ...

'', for which he won the

Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligib ...

, as well as the book for the 1988 Broadway production of ''

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

''. He is also the writer of the critically acclaimed play cycle ''The Rhinebeck Panorama''.

Personal life

Nelson was born in Chicago, Illinois to Viola, a dancer, and Richard Finis Nelson, an accounting-systems analyst and some times sales representative. During Nelson's childhood, the family moved frequently to accommodate his father's work, but they settled for long stretches in Gary, Indiana, the outskirts of Philadelphia, and finally in a suburb of Detroit. Nelson's earliest theatrical influences were in musical theatre, and he estimates that he saw more than twenty-five musicals before ever seeing his first straight play. He graduated from

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...

in 1972, and received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Hamilton College in 2004. He married Cynthia Blair Bacon on May 21, 1972; they have two children, Zoe (b. 1983) and Jocelyn (b. 1988).

Career

He has worked with the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

, and had ten plays produced there. Those plays include: ''Principia Scriptoriae'' (1986), ''Some Americans Abroad'' (1989), ''Two Shakespearean Actors'' (1990), ''Columbus and the Discovery of Japan'' (1992), ''Misha's Party'' (1993), ''New England'' (1994), ''The General From America'' (1996) and ''Goodnight Children Everywhere'' (1997). in November 2006, ''Frank's Home'', about two days in the life of

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

, premiered in Chicago, Nelson's home town, at the

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 ...

(in association with Playwrights Horizons). In an interview in ''

The Brooklyn Rail ''The Brooklyn Rail'' is a publication and platform for the arts, culture, humanities, and politics. The ''Rail'' is based out of Brooklyn, New York. It features in-depth critical essays, fiction, poetry, as well as interviews with artists, criti ...

'' at the time of its New York debut, Nelson offers advice to young writers: "My advice is always to write, to write what really matters. I ask my students two questions: Why did you write it? And should I watch it? People ask about structure, form, character development, and I’m not even sure what all of that means. Try not to second guess yourself. Form will come if you focus on what you want to say with truth and honesty. Structure is the hand that holds up what you want to say." From 2005 to 2008, Nelson was the chair of the playwriting department at 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 ...

The Apple Family plays

From 2010 to 2013, Nelson wrote and directed four plays centered around the Apple Family, a fictional household set in Rhinebeck, New York with each play focused on either an election or a significant historical anniversary. The main characters are three adult sisters, Barbara, Marian and Jane — called a "Chekhovian family pod" by the ''Variety'' reviewer.Stasio, Marilyn
"Review: ‘Sweet and Sad’"
''Variety'', September 14, 2011 The first play in the series, ''That Hopey Changey Thing'', focused on the 2010 midterm elections and opened on election night, November 2, 2010. The second play, ''Sweet and Sad'' (2011), depicts the family on the tenth anniversary of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. The third play, ''Sorry'', opened on November 6, 2012, and takes place during the 2012 presidential election. The final play, ''Regular Singing'' (2013), is set on the 50th anniversary of the

JFK assassination John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

. Each play debuted off-Broadway at

The 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 Li ...

, featuring essentially the same cast members in each subsequent production. With the opening of ''Regular Singing'' in 2013, the Public Theater presented the entire series in repertory. The cast of ''That Hopey Changey Thing'', ''Sweet and Sad'', and ''Sorry'' featured Jon DeVries as Benjamin Apple,

Maryann Plunkett Maryann Plunkett (born c. 1953) is an American actress and singer. Plunkett has performed on the stage both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. She has appeared in the entire play cycle of Richard Nelson's ''Apple Family Plays''. In 1987, she won the T ...

as Barbara Apple,

Jay O. Sanders Jay Olcutt Sanders (born April 16, 1953) is an American film, theatre and television actor and playwright. He frequently appears in plays off-Broadway at The Public Theatre. Early life and education Sanders was born on April 16, 1953 in Austin, ...

as Richard Apple,

Shuler Hensley Shuler Paul Hensley (born March 6, 1967) is an American singer and actor. Early life Hensley was born in Atlanta, Georgia. The youngest of three children, Hensley grew up in Marietta, Georgia. His father, Sam P. Hensley Jr., is a former Georgia T ...

as Tim Andrews,

Laila Robins Laila Robins is an American stage, film and television actress. She has appeared in films including ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''An Innocent Man'' (1989), ''Live Nude Girls'' (1995), ''True Crime'' (1999), ''She's Lost Control'' ( ...

as Marian Apple Platt and

J. Smith-Cameron Jean Isabel Smith (born September 7, 1957), credited professionally as J. Smith-Cameron, is an American actress. She spent a majority of her career in theatre but began transitioning to film and television later in life. She is known for her suppo ...

as Jane Apple Halls. The cast of ''Regular Singing'' included the first three casts with the exceptions of Steven Kunken as Tim Andrews and Sally Murphy as Jane Apple Halls. On April 29, 2020, the Public live-streamed a new Apple Family play, ''What Do We Need to Talk About?''. Again directed by Nelson, it reunited the cast from ''Regular Singing''. The characters, now seven years older, meet by video during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

''The Gabriels''

Nelson has written a new trilogy, titled ''The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family'', focusing on the Gabriel family during the 2016 presidential election year. The same cast appears in all three plays: Meg Gibson (Karin Gabriel), Lynn Hawley (Hannah Gabriel), Roberta Maxwell (Patricia Gabriel),

(Mary Gabriel),

(George Gabriel), and Amy Warren (Joyce Gabriel). The first play, ''Hungry'', opened off-Broadway at the Public Theatre on February 27, 2016 (previews), and officially on March 4, directed by Nelson. The next play in the trilogy, ''What Did You Expect?'', opened on September 10, 2016, in previews, officially on September 16 and closed on October 9.Gordon, David
"Review. 'What Did You Expect?'"
TheaterMania.com, September 19, 2016 The final play, ''Women of a Certain Age'', opened on election night, November 8, 2016. and ran to December 4. The three plays ran in repertory December 10 to 18.Clement, Olivia
"The Public’s Election Trilogy to Tour D.C., Hong Kong, and Australia"
Playbill, November 10, 2016 ''Hungry'' is set in Dutchess County, New York. The family of the recently deceased Thomas Gabriel are in the kitchen to prepare dinner. The group includes Thomas's widow, Mary; his sister, Joyce; his brother George and his wife Hannah; his elderly mother Patricia; and his first wife Karin. For dinner, the group peels apples for

apple crisp Apple crisp is a dessert made with a streusel topping. In the US and Canada, it is also called apple crumble, a word which refers to a different dessert in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Ingredients usually include cooked apples, butter, ...

and makes

ratatouille Ratatouille ( , ), oc, ratatolha , is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables which originated in Nice, and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include ...

and pasta. Referring to the political campaign, one character says: "God, it's going to be a long eight months." ''What Did You Expect?'', also set in Rhinebeck, takes place six months after ''Hungry''. Patricia has taken a roommate at her retirement community, and her debts are the focus of the play. The family prepares for a picnic as they deal with their "fears of the post-recession world." In ''Women of a Certain Age'', set between 5 pm and 7 pm on election night, the Gabriels have gathered for dinner. George has picked up their son from college to vote and has driven him back. Joyce is at home and Patricia has also joined the group. The play ends without revealing the winner of the election.''Women of a Certain Age''
lortel.org, accessed November 9, 2016

Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...

wrote: "Far more than in any of his other plays, Mr. Nelson comes close here to capturing the elusive, expansive comic sadness we associate with his beloved Chekhov. That Chekhovian sense of time fading even as we inhabit it thrums through both the talk and the silences." ''The Gabriels'' played an engagement at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

(Washington, DC) in January 2017 and then played at The Perth International Arts Festival (Australia) on February 11–18, and the Hong Kong Arts Festival on February 22–26. The original cast performed.

''The Michaels''

In 2019 Nelson added to the Rhinebeck Panorama with ''The Michaels'', which ran at the Public October 19 – December 1, 2019. As with the Apple and Gabriel family plays it takes place around a meal, this time in the kitchen of Rose Michael, a celebrated choreographer. Nelson directed a cast made up of Charlotte Bydwell as Lucy Michael, Haviland Morris as Irenie Walker, Maryann Plunkett as Kate Harris, Matilda Sakamoto as May Smith, Jay O. Sanders as David Michael, Brenda Wehle as Rose Michael, and Rita Wolf as Sally Michael.

Awards and honors

* Thomas J. Watson Fellowship *

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

Playwright-in-Residence Award, Arena Stage (1979–80) *

PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award The PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award, commonly referred to as the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award, is awarded by the PEN America (formerly PEN American Center). It annually recognizes two American playwrights. A medal is given ...

, Drama, Master American Dramatist (2008) *

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 A ...

for Playwriting, ''The Vienna Notes'' (1979) *

for Innovative Programming (with David Jones), Brooklyn Academy of Music Theater Company (1979) *

Giles Cooper Award The Giles Cooper Awards were honours given to plays written for BBC Radio. Sponsored by the BBC and Methuen Drama, the awards were specifically focused on the script of the best radio drama produced in the past year. Five or six winners were chose ...

for plays written for BBC Radio, '' Languages Spoken Here'' (1987) *

for plays written for BBC Radio, '' Eating Words'' (1989) *

Drama Desk Award 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. Fo ...

, Outstanding New Play for ''Some Americans Abroad'' (1990) *

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

Nomination for Best New Play, ''Two Shakespearean Actors'' (1992) *

, ''James Joyce's The Dead'' (2000) * Tony Award Nomination for Best Musical and Best Original Score, ''James Joyce's The Dead'' (2000) *

Outstanding New Play Nomination, ''Franny's Way'' (2002) * Drama Desk Award Outstanding Play Nomination, ''Sorry'' (2013) * Drama Desk Award Outstanding Play Nomination, ''Regular Singing'' (2014)

Works

Theatre

* ''The Killing of Yablonski'', Los Angeles, Mark Taper Forum/Lab, 1975 * ''Conjuring an Event'', Los Angeles, Mark Taper Forum/ Lab, 1976 * ''Scooping'', Washington, D.C., Arena Stage, February 4, 1977 * ''Jungle Coup'', New York, Playwrights Horizons, June 22, 1978 * ''The Vienna Notes'', Minneapolis, Minn., The Tyrone Guthrie Theater, October 6, 1978 * ''Bal'', Williamstown, Mass., Williamstown Theatre Festival, July 1979 * ''Rip Van Winkle, or The Works'', New Haven, Conn., Yale Repertory Theatre, December 4, 1981 * ''The Return of Pinocchio'', Seattle, Washington, Empty Space, March 1983 * ''An American Comedy'', Los Angeles, Mark Taper Forum, October 13, 1983 * ''Between East and West'', Seattle, Wash., Seattle Repertory Theatre, March 23, 1984 * ''Principia Scriptoriae'', New York, Manhattan Theatre Club, March 25, 1986 * ''

'' (bookwriter), New York, Imperial Theatre, April 28, 1988 * ''Roots in Water'', Woodstock, N.Y., River Arts Repertory, Summer 1988 * ''Some Americans Abroad'', Stratford-upon-Avon, Royal Shakespeare Company, July 19, 1989 * ''Two Shakespearean Actors'', Stratford-upon-Avon, Royal Shakespeare Company, 1990 * ''Columbus and the Discovery of Japan'', London, Royal Shakespeare Company, July 22, 1992 * ''Misha's Party'', (with Alexander Gelman), London, Royal Shakespeare Company, July 21, 1993 * ''Life Sentences'', New York, Second Stage Theatre, December 1, 1993 * ''New England'', London, Royal Shakespeare Company, November 29, 1994 * ''Three Sisters'' (adaptation of Anton Chekhov), Goodman Theatre, 1995"Richard Nelson"
goodmantheatre.org, accessed March 4, 2016 * ''The General from America'', Stratford-upon-Avon, Royal Shakespeare Company, July 17, 1996 * ''Kenneth's Play'', (with Colin Chambers), London, Royal Shakespeare Company, 1997 * '' Goodnight Children Everywhere'', Stratford-upon-Avon, Royal Shakespeare Company, December 11, 1997 * ''

'', (with Shaun Davey), New York, Playwrights Horizons, October 28, 1999 * ''Madame Melville'', London, Vaudeville Theatre, October 18, 2000 * ''Franny's Way'', New York, Playwrights Horizons, March 27, 2002 * '' My Life with Albertine'', New York, Playwrights Horizons, March 13, 2003 * ''Rodney's Wife'', Williamstown, Mass., Williamstown Theatre Festival, July 7, 2004 * ''The Seagull'' (adaption of Anton Chekhov) * ''The Suicide'' (adaption of

Nikolai Erdman Nikolai Robertovich Erdman ( rus, Николай Робертович Эрдман, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ˈrobʲɪrtəvʲɪtɕ ˈɛrdmən, a=Nikolay Robyertovich Erdman.ru.vorb.oga; , Moscow – 10 August 1970) was a Soviet dramatist and screenwriter ...

) * ''The Wood Demon'' (adaptation of Anton Chekhov) * ''Frank's Home'', Goodman Theatre, December 2006 * ''Conversations in Tusculum'', The Public Theater, March 2008 * ''That Hopey Changey Thing'', The Public Theater, November 2010 * ''Sweet and Sad'', The Public Theater, September 2011 * ''Sorry'', The Public Theater, November 2012 * ''Nikolai and the Others'', Lincoln Center Theater, May 2013 * ''Regular Singing'', The Public Theater, November 2013 * ''Hungry'', The Public Theater, March 2016 (Part 1 of ''The Gabriels'') * ''What Did You Expect?'', The Public Theater, September 2016 (Part 2 of ''The Gabriels'') * ''Women of a Certain Age'', The Public Theater, November 2016 (Part 3 of ''The Gabriels'') * ''Illyria'', The Public Theater, October 2017 * ''

Uncle Vanya ''Uncle Vanya'' ( rus, Дя́дя Ва́ня, r=Dyádya Ványa, p=ˈdʲædʲə ˈvanʲə) is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1898, and was first produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre under the direct ...

'' (adaption of

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

, with

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky are literary translators best known for their collaborative English translations of classic Russian literature. Individually, Pevear has also translated into English works from French, Italian, and Greek. The ...

Old Globe Theater The Old Globe is a professional theatre company located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons. Plays are performed in three separate theatres in the complex, which i ...

and the Hunter Theater Project, New York City, September 2018 * ''The Michaels'', The Public Theater, October–December 2019 * ''What Do We Need to Talk About?'', The Public Theater (live stream), April 29, 2020 Nelson's plays are published by

Broadway Play Publishing Inc. Broadway Play Publishing Inc (BPPI) was established in New York City in 1982 to publish and license the stage performance rights of contemporary American plays. The Broadway Play Publishing Inc catalog consists of over 1,000 plays and nearly 400 ...

, Faber, & T C G.

Radio plays

* '' Languages Spoken Here, ''

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

, 11 December 1987 * '' Eating Words'',

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

, 30 October 1989 * '' Advice to Eastern Europe'', BBC Radio 3, 27 December 1990 * '' The American Wife'', BBC Radio 4, 25 January 1996 * '' Hyde Park-on-Hudson'', BBC Radio 3, 7 June 2009

Screenplays

* ''Sensibility and Sense'', television, ''

American Playhouse ''American Playhouse'' is an American anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Overview It premiered on January 12, 1982, with ''The Shady Hill Kidnapping'', written and narrated by John Cheever an ...

'', PBS, 1990 * ''The End of a Sentence'', television, ''American Playhouse'', PBS, 1991 * ''

Ethan Frome ''Ethan Frome'' is a 1911 book by American author Edith Wharton. It is set in the fictitious town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. The novel has been adapted into a '' film of the same name''. Plot The novel is a framed narrative. The framing sto ...

'', film, adapted from the novel by Edith Wharton, 1993; PBS ''American Playhouse'', 1994''Ethan Frome''
tcm.com, retrieved October 31, 2017 * ''Roots in Water'', 2011 * ''

Hyde Park on Hudson ''Hyde Park on Hudson'' is a 2012 British historical comedy-drama film directed by Roger Michell. The film stars Bill Murray as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth, and Laura Linney as Margaret "Daisy" Suckley, a cousi ...

'', film, Daybreak Pictures, 2012

References

External links

* * *
archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Richard 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 1950 births Living people Yale School of Drama faculty Hamilton College (New York) alumni 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights American musical theatre librettists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Writers from Chicago Tony Award winners