Robert Schenkkan
Schenkkan in 2016
Born	Robert Frederic Schenkkan Jr. (1953-03-19)March 19, 1953 (age 72) Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.
Occupation	Playwright, screenwriter, actor
Education	University of Texas, Austin(BA) Cornell University(MFA)
Notable awards	Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1992)Tony Award for Best Play (2014)
Spouse	Mary Anne Dorward (1984–1999; 2 children) Maria Dahvana Headley (2004–2012)
Relatives	Ben McKenzie (nephew)

Robert Frederic Schenkkan Jr. (born March 19, 1953) is an Americanplaywright,screenwriter, and actor. He received thePulitzer Prize for Drama in 1992 for his playThe Kentucky Cycle and his playAll the Way earned the 2014Tony Award forBest Play. He has three Emmy nominations and one WGA Award.

Schenkkan was born inChapel Hill, North Carolina, the son of Jean Gregory (née McKenzie) and Robert Frederic Schenkkan, a professor in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin,^[1] and public television executive.^[2] He grew up inAustin, Texas. As a Plan II Honors student he received a B.A. in Drama,magna cum laude, from theUniversity of Texas, Austin in 1975 (Phi Beta Kappa, Friars' Society, UT Texas Exes Distinguished Young Alumnus Award and E. William Doty College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumnus Award), and anM.F.A. in Theatre Arts fromCornell University in 1977.^[3] For many years, he lived inNew York City and thenLos Angeles, California, working both as a writer and an actor in film, television, andtheatre. Since 1990 he has focused exclusively on his writing and divides his time between New York City and Seattle. Schenkkan is ofDutch-Jewish (father), and Scottish and English (mother) descent.^[4]

Schenkkan is the author of ten full-length plays.By the Waters of Babylon premiered at theOregon Shakespeare Festival in February, 2005.^[5][6] The play is unrelated to theStephen Vincent Benét short storyBy the Waters of Babylon or its subsequent adaptation.Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates premiered at theMark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in December 2005.The Marriage of Miss Hollywood and King Neptune premiered at the University of Texas at Austin in November 2005.The Devil and Daniel Webster premiered at the Seattle Children's Theatre in February 2006.

Handler, a play dealing with asnake handling church, premiered at the Actors Express Theatre inAtlanta, Georgia.Heaven On Earth won theJulie Harris/Beverly Hills Theatre Guild Award, participated in the Eugene O'Neill Playwright's Conference, and premieredOff-Broadway at the WPA Theatre.Final Passages premiered at the Studio Arena theatre.Tachinoki premiered at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in Los Angeles and was designated a Critic's Choice by theLA Weekly. His other play for young audiences,The Dream Thief, had its premier at Milwaukee's First Stage.

Schenkkan has written numerous one-act plays which are collected together and published byDramatists Play Service asConversations With the Spanish Lady. Among them isThe Survivalist which premiered atActors Theatre of Louisville's Humana festival, went on to the EST Marathon in NYC, Canada's DuMaurier Festival, and theEdinburgh Festival where it won the "Best of the Fringe" award.

The Kentucky Cycle underwent several years of development, starting in New York City at New Dramatists and the Ensemble Studio Theatre. The two part epic was later workshopped at the Mark Taper Forum, EST-LA, theLong Wharf Theatre, and theSundance Institute. The complete "cycle" was awarded the largest grant ever given by the Fund for New American Plays and had its world premiere in 1991 at theIntiman Theatre inSeattle (Liz Huddle, producer) where it set box office records. In 1992, it was the centerpiece of the Mark Taper forum's 25th Anniversary Season. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the first time in the history of the award that a play was so honored which had not first been presented in New York City. It also won both the PEN Centre West and the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. In 1993 it appeared at theJohn F. Kennedy Center inWashington, D.C., and opened onBroadway in November of that year where it was nominated for a Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards.

His playAll the Way, about the behind-the-scenes political maneuvering of PresidentLyndon Baines Johnson to pass theCivil Rights Act of 1964, premiered at theOregon Shakespeare Festival on July 28, 2012. Schenkkan describes this work as a play about "the morality of politics and power."All the Way won the 2012 ATCA/Steinberg Award for Best Play and the inaugural Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by History. It opened in Boston at the American Repertory Theater on September 19, 2013, starringBryan Cranston and sold out its entire run.^[7] The play had its Broadway premiere on March 6, 2014, at theNeil Simon Theatre, and was awarded the 2014Tony Award for Best Play, with Cranston also winning a Tony Award for his performance as Lyndon Baines Johnson. A sequel, titledThe Great Society, premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in July 2014 and on Broadway in September 2019.^[8][9] Additionally he wroteBuilding the Wall in the run-up to the 2016 Presidential election.

Schenkkan's film work includes:The Quiet American, directed byPhillip Noyce and starringMichael Caine (who received an Oscar nomination). For television he wrote four episodes ofThe Pacific (HBO, 2010) for which he was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won a WGA Award for Best Miniseries writing. Other television work includesThe Andromeda Strain (A&E, 2009),Spartacus (USA Network, 2006), andCrazy Horse (TNT). In 2005, he was hired bySony Pictures to develop a script based onMarvel Comics'Killraven.^[10][11] Schenkkan was also named as the writer for the adaptation of the comic bookIncognito published by the MarvelimprintIcon Comics.^[12] In 2016, his television adaptation ofAll the Way was filmed for HBO, with Cranston reprising his role as Lyndon Baines Johnson, and premiered in May. Also that year, he co-wrote the war drama filmHacksaw Ridge, directed by Mel Gibson.

Schenkkan is the recipient of grants from New York State, theCalifornia Arts Council, and the Vogelstein and the Arthur foundations. He is a New Dramatists alumnus and a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre and the National Theatre Conference. He was the 2012 Thornton Wilder Fellow at the MacDowell Colony and a member of the College of Fellows of the American Theater.

As an actor, Schenkkan has appeared in numerous roles, including the 1989 filmOut Cold; he also starred in the 1990 cult drama teen filmPump Up the Volume, in which he played David Deaver, the high school guidance counselor. He appeared as Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick in theStar Trek: The Next Generation episodes"Coming of Age" and"Conspiracy".

Schenkkan has been married twice. His first marriage was to Mary Anne Dorward in 1984, and produced two children, Sarah Schenkkan and Joshua Schenkkan. The couple divorced in 1999. His second marriage was to the writerMaria Dahvana Headley in 2004. They divorced in 2012. Schenkkan is an uncle of actorBen McKenzie.^[13][14]

• Robert Schenkkan at theInternet Broadway Database
• Robert Schenkkan atIMDb
• Robert Schenkkan at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)

• 1953 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
• American male film actors
• American male television actors
• Cornell University alumni
• People from Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Writers from Austin, Texas
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners
• Moody College of Communication alumni
• MacDowell Colony fellows
• Male actors from Austin, Texas
• Male actors from North Carolina
• Writers from North Carolina
• Writers Guild of America Award winners
• 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
• 20th-century American male actors
• American male dramatists and playwrights
• 20th-century American male writers
• 21st-century American male writers

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• IBDB name template using Wikidata
• Internet Off-Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata