Playwright, Screenwriter Theresa Rebeck to Sign Copies of New Novel I'M GLAD ABOUT YOU at Drama Book Shop

The Drama Book Shop, now celebrating its 99th year, is thrilled to welcome acclaimed playwright, novelist and screenwriter Theresa Rebeck for a discussion and signing of her new novel, I'M GLAD ABOUT YOU. The discussion, free to the public, will begin at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 11th in the Drama Book Shop's Arthur Seelen Theatre. It will be followed by a brief signing on the main floor of the shop.

According to press notes for Ms. Rebeck's new novel, "Their meeting in a parking lot outside a high school football game was both completely forgettable and utterly life-changing. Because no matter how you look at it, it is piss-poor luck to meet the love of your life before your life has even started. Fierce and ambitious, Alison is determined to shed her Midwestern roots and emerge an actress. Kyle, all heart and spiritual yearning, believes medicine can heal the world. What could these mismatched souls have to do with each other? Everything and nothing. Even as their fates rocket them forward and apart, neither can fully let go of the past. When Alison gets her lucky break in New York City, she ends up on the fast track to stardom and a world far more different from Cincinnati than she could have ever imagined. Back home in Ohio, Kyle marries in haste and repents at leisure. Reluctantly embracing life in suburban hell, he becomes a pediatrician. While Kyle's dreams begin to molder, Alison learns that the spotlight is always circled by shadows. As their lives inevitably intersect, Alison and Kyle must face each other in the revealing light of their decisions. I'm Glad About You is a glittering study of how far the compromises two people make will take them from the lives they were meant to live."

Theresa Rebeck is a widely produced playwright throughout the United States and abroad. New York productions of her work include Dead Accounts at the Music Box Theatre; Seminar at the Golden Theatre; Mauritius at the Biltmore Theatre in a Manhattan Theater Club Production; The Scene, The Water's Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann and Spike Heels at Second Stage; Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection and Our House at Playwrights Horizons; The Understudy at the Laura Pels Theater in a Roundabout Theatre Company production; and View of the Dome at New York Theatre Workshop. Omnium Gatherum (co-written, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003) was featured at the Humana Festival, and had a commercial run at the Variety Arts Theatre. Her newest work, Poor Behavior premiered at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 2011. Dead Accounts, commissioned by the Cincinnati Playhouse, premiered January 2012. Seminar continues to run on Broadway.

All of Ms. Rebeck's past produced plays are published by Smith and Kraus as Theresa Rebeck: Complete Plays, Volumes I, II III, and IVand in acting editions available from Samuel French or Playscripts. Ms. Rebeck's other publications are Free Fire Zone, a book of comedic essays about writing and show business. She has written for American Theatre Magazine and has had excerpts of her plays published in the Harvard Review. Ms. Rebeck's first novel, Three Girls and Their Brother, was published by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books in April 2008. Her second novel, Twelve Rooms With A View, was published by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books in May of 2010. Both novels are available online and at booksellers everywhere.

In television, Ms. Rebeck has written for Dream On, Brooklyn Bridge, L.A. Law, American Dreamer, Maximum Bob, First Wave, and Third Watch. She was the creator of the NBC drama Smash. She has been a writer/producer for Canterbury's Law, Smith, Law and Order:Criminal Intent and NYPD Blue. Her produced feature films include Harriet the Spy, Gossip, and the independent features Sunday on the Rocks andSeducing Charlie Barker, an adaptation of her play, The Scene. Awards include the Mystery Writer's of America's Edgar Award, the Writer's Guild of America award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images Imagen Award, and the Peabody, all for her work on NYPD Blue. She has won the National Theatre Conference Award (for The Family of Mann), and was awarded the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award in 2003 for The Bells. Mauritius was originally produced at Boston's Huntington Theatre, where it received the 2007 IRNE Award for Best New Play as well as the Eliot Norton Award. Other awards include the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award, the Athena Film Festival Award, an Alex Award, a Lilly Award and in 2011 she was named one of the 150 Fearless Women in the World by Newsweek.

Ms. Rebeck is originally from Cincinnati and holds an MFA in Playwrighting and a PhD. in Victorian Melodrama, both from Brandeis University. She is a proud board member of the Dramatists Guild, a Contributing Editor to the Harvard Review, an Associate Artist of the Roundabout Theatre Company, a Playwright Adviser and Board Member of the LARK and and has taught at Brandeis University and Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.

The discussion will be moderated by playwright and Drama Book Shop Events Manager Steven Carl McCasland. The Tony Award-winning book shop is located at 250 West 40th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues. Admission to the Monday, April 11th discussion (5:00pm) is free to the public. Copies of Ms. Rebeck's book will be available for purchase. For more information, visit www.dramabookshop.com.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride