David Auburn | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1969-11-30)November 30, 1969 (age 56) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Playwright, screenwriter, theatre director |
| Education | University of Chicago(BA) Juilliard School(GrDip) |
| Children | 2 |
David Auburn (born November 30, 1969)[1] is an American playwright, screenwriter, and theatre director. He is best known for his 2000 playProof, which won the 2001Tony Award for Best Play andPulitzer Prize for Drama. He also wrote the screenplays for the2005 film version ofProof,The Lake House (2006),The Girl in the Park (2007), andGeorgetown (2019).
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Auburn was born inChicago, Illinois, to parents Mark and Sandy Auburn. He was raised inOhio until 1982, when his family moved toArkansas. After graduating from high school in 1987, he attended theUniversity of Chicago, where he was a member ofOff-Off Campus, and received abachelor of arts degree in English literature in 1991.[2] Following a one-year fellowship withAmblin Entertainment, he moved to New York City in 1992. Auburn spent two years in theJuilliard School's playwriting program, studying under noted dramatistsMarsha Norman andChristopher Durang.
Auburn wrote several short plays, collectively grouped asFifth Planet and Other Plays. The plays, called "cockeyed and engaging little one-act comedies", were presented at Beowulf Alley Theatre Company, Tucson, Arizona, in January and February 2008.[3] The plays are:Fifth Planet,Miss You,Are You Ready,Damage Control,Three Monologues,What Do You Believe About The Future? andWe Had A Very Good Time.[4]Fifth Planet is a two-person play with 44 short scenes.Miss You is a "telephone play about love and unfaithfulness"[3] with a two-person cast, with each actor playing 2 roles, named "man" and "woman".[5]We Had A Very Good Time follows a married couple at the end of a vacation in an unnamed foreign country.[3]Damage Control concerns a political consultant preparing his political boss for a speech about a scandal the politician is involved in.[3]What Do You Believe About The Future? appeared inHarper's Magazine and has since been adapted for the screen.[1]
Auburn's first full-length play,Skyscraper, ranoff-Broadway in September – October 1997. It concerns a group attempting to save an historic skyscraper from being demolished.
Auburn is best known for his 2000 playProof,[6] which won the 2001Tony Award for Best Play, as well as the 2001Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[7] He adapted it into afilm, which was released in 2005.[8]
His playThe Columnist had its world premiere in a production by theManhattan Theatre Club onBroadway, running from April 3, 2012 through June 3, 2012 and starringJohn Lithgow withBoyd Gaines,Margaret Colin,Stephen Kunken,Marc Bonan,Grace Gummer, andBrian J. Smith, with direction byDaniel Sullivan.[9]Lost Lake premiered Off-Broadway in a Manhattan Theatre Club production at New York City Center—Stage 1, running from November 11 to December 21, 2014. Directed by Daniel Sullivan, the two-person cast starredJohn Hawkes andTracie Thoms.[10] The play was developed at the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference and presented at the Sullivan Project at the University of Illinois in February 2014.[11][12] The first reading ofLost Lake was done at the O'Neill Center Rose Theater Barn July 26–27, 2013, directed byWendy C. Goldberg and starring Frank Wood and Elsa Davis.[13]
Auburn has been awarded the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award and aGuggenheim Fellowship.[14] He received theKesselring Prize in 2000 forProof; the prize is given to a playwright who shows the most promise and comes with a $10,000 monetary award.[15]
FollowingProof, he wrote the screenplay for the movieThe Lake House, released byWarner Bros. in 2006. In 2007, he made his film directorial debut withThe Girl in the Park, for which he also wrote the screenplay.[16] He has also directed stage works. He directed the playSick by Zayd Dohrn at theBerkshire Theatre Festival from August 18 to September 6, 2009.[17] He directedAnna Christie byEugene O'Neill at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in July 2013.[18] He directed the playSide Effects byMichael Weller in June and July 2011 at the Off-Broadway MCC Theater.[19]
Auburn currently resides inManhattan,New York. He has a wife and two daughters.
