Join us for an evening with award-winning playwrights Emily Mann and Robert Schenkkan as we celebrate the arrival of their archives.About this Event
Join us for an evening with award-winning playwrights Emily Mann and Robert Schenkkan as we celebrate the arrival of their archives to the Harry Ransom Center. This intimate discussion will delve into their storied careers, the evolving landscape of American theatre, and the creative challenges and opportunities in the wake of COVID-19 closures.
Emily Mann
Emily Mann is a Tony-nominated director and playwright and a Tony-winning artistic director. In her 30 years as Artistic Director and Resident Playwright at McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey, she wrote 15 new plays and adaptations, directed over 50 productions, produced 180 plays and musicals, and supported and directed the work of emerging and legendary playwrights including Ntozake Shange, Athol Fugard, Edward Albee, Chris Durang, Nilo Cruz and Danai Gurira. She is known for her productions of Williams, Lorca, Chekhov, and Shakespeare. On Broadway, she directed her own plays Execution of Justice and Having Our Say, Nilo Cruz’s Anna in the Tropics and A Streetcar Named Desire. Her other plays include: Still Life; Annulla, An Autobiography; Greensboro (A Requiem); Meshugah; Mrs. Packard, and Gloria, A Life which aired on PBS’ Great Performances. Her adaptations include: Baby Doll, Scenes from a Marriage, Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, A Seagull in the Hamptons, The House of Bernarda Alba, and Antigone. Currently in development for Broadway: her adaptation of The Pianist, premièring at George Street Playhouse this season and a new musical, On Cedar Street, premiered this past August at Berkshire Theater Group. Awards include: Peabody, Guggenheim, Hull Warriner, NAACP, 6 Obies; Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, WGA nominations; Princeton University Honorary Doctorate of Arts; Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwrights' Award; Margo Jones Award; TCG Visionary Leadership Award; The Lilly and Gordon Davidson Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater. She has been inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Robert Schenkkan
Robert Schenkkan is a Pulitzer Prize, Tony, WGA, and Humanitas Award winner and three-time Emmy nominated writer. He is the author of eighteen plays: Building the Wall, Hanussen, Old Cock, The Investigation; A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts, All the Way (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Steinberg, and Edward Kennedy Awards), The Great Society, Hanussen, Shadowplay, By the Waters of Babylon, Handler, A Single Shard, Devil and Daniel Webster, Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates, Final Passages, The Marriage of Miss Hollywood and King Neptune, Heaven on Earth, Tachinoki, The Dream Thief, and The Kentucky Cycle (Pulitzer prize, Tony and Drama Desk nominations).
His new musical, The 12, just opened at the Goodspeed Opera House directed by John Doyle. Films: Hacksaw Ridge, The Quiet American. TV: All the Way, The Pacific, The Andromeda Strain, Crazy Horse, Spartacus. He is currently writing a podcast for Audible, Bob & Jean. When the WGA strike ends, he will resume work on his pilot about the beginning of Hollywood for Steven Spielberg, and his adaption of For Those I Loved as a limited series. Robert is a Plan II/Fine Arts graduate of UT, a member of the Friar Society, and a UT Distinguished Alumnus. He is currently President of the Orchard Project, a member of the Dramatists Guild National Council, a board member of The Lillys, NTC member, and a New Dramatists Alumnus. He is currently commissioned by the NY Public Theater and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He lives in New York City.
Event Venue
Harry Ransom Center, 300 West 21st Street, Austin, United States
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