Getting To Know AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE Power Couple Amy Herzog and Sam Gold

This season, Broadway welcomes a star-studded revival of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People starring Emmy Award-winners Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli, and Victoria Pedretti.

Behind the production is powerhouse pair, Tony Award-winning director Sam Gold and acclaimed, award-winning playwright Amy Herzog, a real-life married couple who are making their debut as collaborators on the production.

By their own admission, the pair has deliberately kept their personal and professional relationships separate throughout their marriage.

“I didn’t want to ruin one of Amy’s plays,” Gold told Vulture. “I always thought I’d do a good job, but I didn’t want the pressure of her worrying about me doing a good job or me worrying about if it didn’t go well.”

The germ of their collaboration on their latest production was born out of another Ibsen work, Amy's 2023 translation of the landmark drama, A Doll's House.

Herzog told the press, "Because I was working on A Doll's House, I had all these books on Ibsen-- biographies, and books of his plays-- because I was doing a kind of deep dive...At some point, Sam picked up one of the books and read An Enemy of the People and immediately thought of Jeremy [Strong] who is a dear friend and collaborator of both of ours and spoke to Jeremy about doing it. He told me this and I said, 'Do you have a translator in mind?' And he said, 'Would you like to translate it?'"

Gold said of the choice, "I was scared to take on something that speaks so directly to our time. It's not the way I usually work. I tend to do things that are much more domestic and emotional and psychological. This play is an allegory for how humans behave towards each other as a body politic. How does power function? How does truth function? How does science come up against economics? It's sort of a microcosm for the way the world negotiates itself. That really isn't my cup of tea, usually."

He continued, "But I thought with Amy, who does do that, who has success taking both of those things and putting them together, who can bring out the domestic situation, the humanity of the play, the texture of the characters -- some of which is not that interesting in the Ibsen. They're not all deeply textured characters in the Ibsen but they are in Amy's translation. So I knew I could have it all if I got my wife to do it. So that's what really got me excited to dig into the play."

In spite of their professional separateness, the two have long shared in each other's pursuits, informally influencing each other's work over the years via their personal relationship.

In addition to her translation of Ibsen's classic drama, Herzog's multi-award winning drama, Mary Jane, will also make its Broadway debut this season. 

Below, get the professional stats for Broadway's most brilliant new power couple here:

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Amy Herzog

Broadway Credits

Amy Herzog is best known to Broadway audiences as the translator of the acclaimed 2023 production of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, starring Academy Award-winner Jessican Chastain and Succession star Arian Moayed, which earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Revival of a Play. In addition to An Enemy of the People, Ms. Herzog's award-winning play Mary Jane will also make its Broadway debut as part of the 2024 season. 

Other Notable Credits

• After the Revolution - Off-Broadway, 2011
• 4000 Miles - Off-Broadway, 2011
• Belleville - Off-Broadway, 2011
• The Great God Pan - Off-Broadway, 2012
• Mary Jane - Off-Broadway, 2017 
• A Doll's House - Broadway, 2023
• An Enemy of the People - Broadway, 2024
• Mary Jane - Broadway, 2024

Awards and Honors

• Winner of the 2008 Helen Merrill Award for Aspiring Playwrights
• Winner of the 2011 Whiting Award
• Winner of the 2011 Lilly Award in 2011 for Playwrighting
• Winner of the 2012 Obie Award- Best New American Play- 4000 Miles
• Winner of the 2018 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award- Best Play- Mary Jane
• Winner of the the 2019 Horton Foote Playwriting Award
• Finalist for the 2012-2013 Susan Smith Blackburn Award - Belleville
• Finalist for the 2016-2017 Susan Smith Blackburn Award - Mary Jane
• Nominee for the 2023 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play - A Doll's House
• Recipient of the Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
• Recipient of the Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting
• Recipient of the Joan and Joseph Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity
• Recipient of The New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award

Other professional endeavors and future projects

• In addition to her theatrical pursuits, Ms. Herzog teaches playwriting at the David Geffen School of Drama.
• Named a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop
• Esteemed alumna of Youngblood, Play Group at Ars Nova, and the SoHo Rep Writer/Director Lab
• Amy is the an executive producer and screenwriter of the acclaimed 2021 HBO miniseries, Scenes from A Marriage, starring Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac.

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Sam Gold

Broadway Credits

Sam Gold is an actor and director best known to Broadway audiences as the Tony Award-winning director of the 2015 musical smash, Fun Home. His other Broadway directing credits include Seminar (2011), Picnic (2013), The Realistic Joneses (2014), The Real Thing (2014), The Glass Menagerie (2017), A Doll's House, Part 2 (2017), King Lear (2019), and Macbeth (2022).

Additional Directing Credits:

• The Black Eyed - Off-Broadway, 2007
• Circle Mirror Transformation - Off-Broadway, 2009
• Circumcise Me - Off-Broadway, 2009
• The Aliens - Off-Broadway, 2010
• Kin - Off-Broadway, 2011
• The Flick - Off-Broadway, 2015
• We Live Here- Off-Broadway, 2015
• Look Back in Anger - Off-Broadway, 2012
• Fun Home - Off-Broadway, 2013
• The Flick - Off-Broadway, 2013
• The Village Bike - Off-Broadway, 2014
• John - Off-Broadway, 2015
• The Mystery of Love and Sex - Off-Broadway, 2015
• Othello - Off-Broadway, 2016
• Hamlet - Off-Broadway, 2017
• Fun Home - West End, 2018
• The Cradle Will Rock - Off-Broadway, 2019
• Corsicana - Off-Broadway, 2022

Awards and Honors:

• Winner of the 2015 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - Fun Home
• Winner of the 2015 Tony Award for Best Musical - Fun Home
• Winner of the 2010 Obie Award for Direction - Circle Mirror Transformation
• Winner of the 2014 Obie Award for Musical Theater - Fun Home
• Winner of the 2012 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Director - The Big Meal
• Nominee for the 2017 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play - A Doll's House, Part 2
• Nominee for the 2010 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play - Circle Mirror Transformation
• Nominee for the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play - Uncle Vanya
• Nominee for the 2014 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical - Fun Home
• Nominee for the 2016 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play - John
• Nominee for the 2012 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Director - Look Back In Anger
• Nominee for the 2012 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Director - The Flick
• Nominee for the 2012 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Director - Look Back In Anger

Other Professional Endeavors And Future Projects

• Sam is a director and executive producer of the FX comedy Compliance, starring Emmy-winners Courtney B. Vance and Mary Louise Parker. 
• Gold is currently in pre-production for the film adaptation of Fun Home, set to star Academy Award-nominee Jake Gyllenhaal.
• His other television directing credits include episodes of HBO's Girls and The Affair on Showtime.
• Gold was set to direct an adaptation of Chekov's Three Sisters starring Academy Award-nominee Greta Gerwig, Oscar Isaac, Chris Messina, and Steve Buscemi at the New York Theatre Workshop. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the production has been suspended indefinitely.

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