Will Eno (born 1965) is an American playwright based inBrooklyn, New York. His play,Thom Pain (based on nothing) was a finalist for thePulitzer Prize in Drama in 2005. His playThe Realistic Joneses appeared onBroadway in 2014, where it received a Drama Desk Special Award and was named Best Play on Broadway byUSA Today,[1] and best American play of 2014 byThe Guardian.[2] His playThe Open House was presented Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre in 2014 and won the Obie Award for Playwriting as well as other awards, and was on bothTIME Magazine andTime Out New York 's Top Ten Plays of 2014.
Eno grew up inBillerica,Carlisle, andWestford, Massachusetts and attendedConcord-Carlisle High School. He was a competitive cyclist from the age of about 13 until his early 20s.[3]
For three years he attended theUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst, but dropped out and moved to New York.[4] He is married to actressMaria Dizzia.[5]
His plays have been produced in New York City,Off-Broadway and by regional and European theatres:[6] the Gate Theatre, the SOHO Theatre, and BBC Radio (London); the Rude Mechanicals Theater Company,[7]The Satori Group (Seattle);[8]the Flea Theater,[9] NY Power Company and Naked Angels (NYC); Quebracho Théâtre -Monica Espina (Paris); Circle-X (Los Angeles);The Cutting Ball Theater[10](San Francisco).Thom Pain has been produced in Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Israel, Mexico and other countries.[6]
His plays are published byOberon Books, TCG, playscripts, and have appeared inHarper's,Antioch Review,The Quarterly, andBest Ten-Minute Plays for Two Actors.[11]
The Flu Season was produced by The Rude Mechanicals Theater Company at the Blue Heron Arts Center, New York City, from January 29, 2004, to February 22, 2004.[12] The play won the 2004Oppenheimer Award, presented byNew York Newsday, for best debut production in the previous year in New York by an American playwright.[7]
Although some his plays were originally mainly produced inBritain,[3] Eno has been making headway in New York City theatre ever since the 2004 debut ofThom Pain (based on nothing).[13][14]Charles Isherwood, theatre critic forThe New York Times, called Eno "aSamuel Beckett for theJon Stewart generation".[15]Thom Pain (based on nothing) was a finalist for the 2005Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[16]
Oh, the Humanity and Other Exclamations (formerlyOh, the Humanity and other good intentions), which consists of 5 short plays, premiered Off-Broadway at The Flea Theatre from November to December 2007.[9] His playTragedy: a tragedy had its American premiere atBerkeley Repertory Theatre, California, in March and April 2008.[17] The play has also been produced byThe Satori Group, a Cincinnati-based theatre group, in Seattle in 2009,[8] and is usually mentioned along with another of his plays titled,King: A Problem Play.[18]
Middletown opened Off-Broadway at theVineyard Theatre[13] in November 2010 through December 5, 2010, and Eno won the 2010 Horton Foote Prize for Promising New American Play.[19][20]Middletown was produced by theSteppenwolf Theatre Company in 2011,[21] Dobama Theatre of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Third Rail Repertory Theatre in Portland, Oregon, and Actors' Shakespeare Project of Boston, Massachusetts in February 2013.[22]
Title and Deed (a collaboration with the Gare St. Lazare Players of Ireland) made its American premiere Off-Broadway at theSignature Theatre Company[13] from March 2012 to June 2012. The play premiered in Ireland in 2011.[23] His adaptation ofIbsen'sPeer Gynt titledGnit had its world premiere at the 37th Humana Festival of New American Plays in March 2013.[24]
In hisBroadway debut,The Realistic Joneses began previews at theLyceum Theatre on March 13, 2014, and officially opened on April 6, 2014,[25] after a run at the Yale Repertory Theater in 2012.[13][26] The play is directed by Sam Gold with a cast that starsMichael C. Hall,Toni Collette,Marisa Tomei andTracy Letts.[27] TheNew York Times reviewer of the Broadway production wrote: "But don't come to the play expecting tidy resolutions, clearly drawn narrative arcs or familiarly typed characters. 'The Realistic Joneses' progresses in a series of short scenes that have the shape and rhythms of sketches onSaturday Night Live rather than those of a traditional play. (Most are followed by quick blackouts.) And while the Joneses—all four of them—have all the aspects of normal folks, as their names would suggest, they also possess an uncanny otherness expressed through their stylized, disordered way of communicating. ... But for all Mr. Eno’s quirks, his words cut to the heart of how we muddle through the worst life can bring."[28] The regional premiere was performed at Dobama Theatre of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, featuring Joel Hammer, Tracee Patterson, Rachel Zake, and Chris Richards.
In 2014 his playThe Open House received its world premiere Off-Broadway at The Pershing Square Signature Center (Signature Theatre), running from February 11, 2014 (previews), officially on March 3 through March 23, 2014.[29][30] The cast featuredHannah Bos, Michael Countryman,Peter Friedman, Danny McCarthy andCarolyn McCormick with direction byOliver Butler.[31] The play won the 2014Drama Desk Award Special Award Ensemble; the 2014Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Play; and 2014OBIE Awards, Playwriting and Direction.[32]
His playWakey, Wakey opened Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre on February 7, 2017, in previews. Directed by Eno, the two-person cast stars January LaVoy andMichael Emerson.[33] The play officially opened on February 27 and ran to March 26, 2017.[34]
His audio playLife is a Radio in Dark was written specifically for actorToby Jones and was broadcast onBBC Radio 3 in June 2023. The production has abinaural soundtrack.[35]
On 5 April 2014,The Economist magazine commented on the comparison of Eno toSamuel Beckett stating: "(Eno) is also quick to acknowledge Beckett's influence, less for the writer's formal inventiveness than for his 'simple human stuff'. For example, he cites the line in 'Endgame' when Hamm declares, 'Get out of here and love one another.'"[36] In response to a query by the critic Jonathan Kalb, he wrote in 2006 that "It would be good for the theatre and for the world at large if there were more signs of [Beckett's] influence--his humaneness, invention, and humility."[37]
He is a Helen Merrill Playwriting Fellow, a recipient of theGuggenheim Fellowship, and anEdward F. Albee Foundation Fellow. In 2004, he was awarded the firstMarian Seldes/Garson Kanin Fellowship by the Theater Hall of Fame.[6]
Eno received the 2012PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award.[38]
He has received a resident playwrights award in the Residency Five program from the Signature Theatre Company, beginning in spring 2012. The participants are guaranteed three full world-premiere productions over a five-year residency.[11]
Eno received the 2014Obie Award for Playwriting forThe Open House.[39]The Open House also won the 2014Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play.[40]
Eno and the ensembles ofThe Open House andThe Realistic Joneses received a 2014Drama Desk Award Special Award, "For two extraordinary casts and one impressively inventive playwright."[41]
