Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#1Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 3:06pm
We're not even 2 decades into this century, but we've still had some incredible writers grace the stage. So far what are some of your favorites?
Some of mine:
Stephen Karam
David Lindsay-Abaire
Steven Levenson
Lucas Hnath
ohhiccup 2
Chorus Member Joined: 6/5/17
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#3Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 3:12pm
Bonus: I just read all of Jesse Eisenberg's plays in one day. He's fantastic.
#4Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 3:22pm
Joshua Harmon
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#5Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 3:23pm
I'm just going to sit here quietly and see how long it takes for someone to name a woman.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#6Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 3:35pm
You won't have to wait long, since I came to specifically post Annie Baker and Lynn Nottage.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Updated On: 9/6/17 at 03:35 PM
#7Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 3:37pm
"I'm just going to sit here quietly and see how long it takes for someone to name a woman."
Oh, please do, because that's so much more interesting than actually suggesting some.
GeorgeandDot
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/16
#8Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 3:53pm
I'm actually kind of shocked that Lynn Nottage and Annie Baker weren't the first names to pop up in this thread. Many of the male playwrights listed don't come anywhere close to matching the talent of these two ladies.
I would also like to add Sarah Ruhl. Her work can be odd and not always perfect, but I have enjoyed quite a lot of her writing.
#9Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 4:01pm
As well as Lisa Kron, Lucy Thurber, and Dominique Morisseau.
BakerWilliams
Leading Actor Joined: 2/1/16
#10Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 4:04pm
Annie Baker
Annie Baker
and Annie Baker
Also Kenneth Lonergan, Lucas Hnath, Lynn Nottage, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (hit or miss, but when he hits, he hits hard), and Stephen Karam.
whatdoesntkillme
Featured Actor Joined: 8/15/16
#11Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 8:47pm
I too am here for Annie Baker
But also Tracy Letts!
GeorgeandDot
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/16
#12Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 9:30pm
Absolutely Tracy Letts. August: Osage County is probably the best play of this century so far.
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#14Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 10:05pm
I don't know how I forgot about Annie Baker and Tracy Letts. I'm re-reading August: Osage County as soon as I get through this pile of Neil LaBute plays
#15Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 10:45pm
I just read Ruhl's THE OLDEST BOY, and while I understand it isn't considered her best work, I got a good taste of what she's like as a writer. In some ways, it reminded me of my own style. I also appreciated that the original director of that piece was Rebecca Taichman, the Tony Winner for INDECENT this year.
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#16Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/6/17 at 10:58pm
alex borinsky, adam bock, madeleine george, suzan lori-parks, enda walsh, clare barron
"He found something that he wanted, had always wanted and always would want— not to be admired, as he had feared; not to be loved, as he had made himself believe; but to be necessary to people, to be indispensable."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise
#18Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/7/17 at 1:36am
Lisa Kron
Paula Vogel
Annie Baker
Anne Washburn
Dominique Morisseau
Lynn Nottage
Suzan-Lori Parks
#20Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/7/17 at 3:10am
I'll echo everyone who's mentioned Tracy Letts and Annie Baker! My personal favorite, though, is Rajiv Joseph.
carnzee
Broadway Star Joined: 9/2/11
#21Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/7/17 at 7:48am
Ayad Akhtar.
I thought Disgraced was very traditional in form but provocative in content.
#23Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/7/17 at 12:27pm
Adding another voice to the chorus of Annie Baker love, and throwing Samuel D. Hunter in the mix as well.
#24Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/7/17 at 1:11pm
Cosign Letts, Baker ,Ruhl and Joseph, plus I'd add Stephen Adly Gurguis and Antoinette Nwandu.
#25Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/7/17 at 1:31pm
Nick Payne. I only know 2 of his plays (Incognito and Constellations), but I thought both were brilliant. I love his style.
ggersten
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
#26Best 21st Century Playwrights?
Posted: 9/7/17 at 2:01pm
tossing Florian Zeller's name into the mix - because, well, there are great playwrights who write in languages other than English.
