Playwriting

Paul Rudnick is an essayist, novelist, and playwright. His latest play on off-Broadway is a comedy called "Jeffrey," about a man who swears off love and sex because of his fear of AIDS. Rudnick also wrote the Broadway play, "I Hate Hamlet," about John Barrymore's ghost. He writes a column in "Premiere," called "If You Ask Me," in which he adopts the voice of a quintessential Jewish mother who critiques movie stars' personal lives.

Shawn co-starred in and co-wrote the movie, "My Dinner With Andre," and also appeared in "Manhattan," "The Princess Bride," and "Radio Days." Now Shawn is performing a one-man monologue called "The Fever," about a well-to-do man coming to grips with the world's poverty.

Stoppard wrote the award-winning plays "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," "The Real Inspector Hound," and "The Real Thing;" and the screenplays for "Empire of the Sun," "Brazil," and "The Russia House." He's just made his debut as a film director in the movie adaptation of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." During his early life, he lived in India and Singapore.

Durang is best-known for his controversial play, "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You." A new collection of six of his plays has just come out called "Christopher Durang Explains It All For You." He joins Fresh Air to talk about some of his successes and failures, and his frustrations with New York theater.

Playwright and novelist Ntzoake Shange, best known for her play For Colored Girls, joins Fresh Air to talk about the diversity of the black experience, her childhood and early education, and the criticism she sometimes gets from black male authors and playwrights. Her new play is called Betsey Brown.

Harvey Fierstein wrote and stars in the new movie Torch Song Trilogy, which is based on his play of the same name. Fierstein in openly, and hopes his visibility in the acting community will help normalize homosexuality.

Korder's play, about a television journalist, is being adapted into a TV movie for HBO. He talks about his frustration with the static nature of television writing, and what it takes to craft great dialogue.

Hwang's celebrated play dealt with Western ideas of women and Asian culture. His newest work is a musical about alien abductions called 1000 Airplanes on the Roof. Philip Glass composed the music.

Foote is best known for writing the screenplay for To Kill a Mockingbird. A new book compiling the first four plays of his Orphan's Home series, called Roots in a Parched Ground, has just been published.

Moms Mabley was a regular performer at Harlem's Apollo Theater, where actress Clarice Taylor saw her perform. Taylor, best known for her role in The Cosby Show, wrote and stars in a new play about the comedian's life.

Actor and playwright Rebecca Wells is touring the country with her new one-woman show, about the life of a beautician.

The playwright and performance artist came from the New York fringe scene--which he believes is too afraid to really push cultural boundaries. His play Talk Radio is being made into a film.

Playwrights William M. Hoffman and Larry Kramer are gay men whose recent work has grappled with the effect of AIDS on their communities. They share their frustrations with the inaction both amongst government agencies and gay people themselves to meaningfully address the epidemic.

The writer's award-winning play, The House of Blue Leaves, enjoyed an acclaimed revival and is being produced for television. The story follows the life of an unsuccessful songwriter in Queens.

Deborah Eisenberg began writing short fiction in her 30s, without any formal training, while she worked as a waitress. Her first collection, Transactions in a Foreign Currency, received critical acclaim.

Deborah Eisenberg began writing short fiction in her 30s, without any formal training, while she worked as a waitress. Her first collection, Transactions in a Foreign Currency, has just been published.

Athol Fugard is a white South African playwright, director, and actor. His work as a playwright is acclaimed for exploring the social and psychological consequences of apartheid. Fugard formed an integrated theater company in the 1960s in defiance of South African norms. Many of his plays have been produced in the United States.

The playwright's works include "The Zoo Story," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," and the Pulitzer Prize winning "Delicate Balance" and "Seascape."

Wilson's latest work, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, is now in production at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. He discusses how writing dialog-heavy short fiction led him to playwriting.

Noted playwright Edward Albee is the author of "The Zoo Story" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," which was lated adapted into an Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton film. Albee has won many awards including two Pulitzer Prizes, one in 1967 for "Delicate Balance," and one in 1975 for "Seascape."