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David Lindsay-Abaire

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David Lindsay-Abaire (né Abaire; born November 14, 1969) is an American playwright, lyricist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 for his play Rabbit Hole, which also earned several Tony Award nominations. Lindsay-Abaire won both the 2023 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical and Tony Award for Best Original Score for the musical adaptation of his play Kimberly Akimbo.

David Lindsay-Abaire
Lindsay-Abaire at the 76th Tony Awards in 2023
Lindsay-Abaire at the 76th Tony Awards in 2023
BornDavid Abaire
(1969-11-14) November 14, 1969 (age 54)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation
  • Playwright
  • lyricist
  • screenwriter
EducationSarah Lawrence College (BA)
Juilliard School (GrDip)
Notable worksRobots
Fuddy Meers
Kimberly Akimbo
Rabbit Hole
Good People
Notable awardsPulitzer Prize for Drama (2007)
Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (2023)
Tony Award for Best Original Score (2023)
SpouseChristine Lindsay

Early life and education

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David Lindsay-Abaire was born David Abaire in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in South Boston. He attended Milton Academy and concentrated in theatre at Sarah Lawrence College, from which he graduated in 1992.[1] He was accepted into the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at the Juilliard School,[2] where he wrote under the tutelage of playwrights Marsha Norman and Christopher Durang from 1996 to 1998.[3] In a 2000 interview, Lindsay-Abaire cited Durang as his greatest influence, adding, "I don't think there's been a piece written about me that hasn't mentioned the fact that he and I live in the same world. But I think I've also been influenced by John Guare and Tina Howe and older folks like Feydeau and Ionesco and Joe Orton."[4]

Career

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Lindsay-Abaire had his first theatrical success with Fuddy Meers, which was workshopped as part of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in 1998 under Artistic Director Lloyd Richards.[5][6] The play premiered Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club, running from November 2, 1999, to January 2000[7] and transferred to the Minetta Lane Theatre on January 27, 2000, closing in April 2000 after 16 previews and 78 performances there.[8][9] He returned to the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2001 with Wonder of the World, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, about a wife who suddenly leaves her husband and hops a bus to Niagara Falls in search of freedom, enlightenment, and the meaning of life.[10][11]

Lindsay-Abaire also wrote Kimberly Akimbo (2000),[12] Dotting and Dashing (1999), Snow Angel (1999),[13] and A Devil Inside (Off-Broadway, 1997).[14] Among his early short plays, he wrote The Li'l Plays (1997-1999) which are five comedic plays, each 10–15 minutes in length.[15]

His play Rabbit Hole premiered in 2006 on Broadway with Cynthia Nixon, Tyne Daly, and John Slattery,[16] and won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[17] It was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play, as well as other Tony awards, and Cynthia Nixon won the 2006 Tony Award as Best Actress.[18]

He wrote the book for the musical High Fidelity, which ran on Broadway in December 2006.[19][20]

He wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Shrek the Musical which ran on Broadway from November 8, 2008 (previews) to January 3, 2010, with Lindsay-Abaire receiving a 2009 Tony Award nomination for Book of a Musical[21] and in the West End in May 2011.[22] The musical ran for 441 performances on Broadway.[23]

Good People officially opened on Broadway on March 3, 2011, with Frances McDormand and Tate Donovan in the lead roles.[24] The play was nominated for the 2011 Tony Award, Best Play and won the 2011 Tony Award, Actress in a Play for McDormand.[25]

His play Ripcord opened Off-Broadway on October 20, 2015, at the Manhattan Theatre Club in a limited engagement. Directed by David Hyde Pierce, the cast features Marylouise Burke, Rachel Dratch, Glenn Fitzgerald, and Holland Taylor. The play focuses on two roommates in a retirement home, who according to Variety "devise dirty tricks...to torment one another."[26]

Lindsay-Abaire has received commissions from Dance Theater Workshop and the Jerome Foundation.[27] He has received awards from the Berilla Kerr Foundation, the Lincoln Center LeComte du Nuoy Fund, Mixed Blood Theater, Primary Stages, the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, the Tennessee Williams/ New Orleans Literary Festival, and the South Carolina Playwrights Festival.[citation needed]

In 2021, Lindsay-Abaire adapted his 2000 play Kimberly Akimbo into a musical of the same name, with a score by Jeanine Tesori. The musical premiered in 2021 with the Atlantic Theatre Company before transferring to Broadway's Booth Theatre. The musical opened November 12, 2022. Kimberly Akimbo went on to win 5 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book of a Musical.[28]

Film

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Lindsay-Abaire wrote the screenplay of the 2010 film adaptation of his play Rabbit Hole, which starred Nicole Kidman.[29] His other screenplays have tended to be in the children's fantasy and science fiction genres, including the animated film Robots (2005),[30] written with Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, Inkheart (2008), based on the novel of the same name,[31] the animated film Rise of the Guardians (2012),[32] based on a story by children's author, illustrator and filmmaker William Joyce, who was originally attached to direct the film before stepping down to serve as executive producer[citation needed], and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), written with Mitchell Kapner.[33] He also wrote the screenplay for the 2015 horror remake Poltergeist.

Personal life

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Lindsay-Abaire and his wife, Christine, are longtime residents of Brooklyn, living in Ditmas Park as of 2022.[3][34] In 2016, Lindsay-Abaire was named co-director of Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program.[35]

Theatre works (selected)

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References

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  1. ^ "Alumni News and Announcements". Sarah Lawrence College. 2007–2008. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  2. ^ "Alumni News". The Juilliard School. September 2011. Archived from the original on November 11, 2011. David Lindsay-Abaire (Playwrights '97)
  3. ^ a b Marks, Peter (March 12, 2000). "Finding the Humor and the Hope in Fractured Lives". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved December 25, 2008.
  4. ^ Wren, Celia. "'Fuddy Meers'. Lost in the Funhouse. An Interview with the playwright" Archived September 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Originally published in American Theatre magazine (July/August 2000), accessed September 1, 2015
  5. ^ David Lindsay-Abaire, Fuddy Meers, Dramatists Play Service Inc,, 2000, ISBN 0822217511, p. 2
  6. ^ Lefkowitz, David (July 17, 1998). "O'Neill Center Playwrights Conference in Full Swing Through Aug. 1". Playbill. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  7. ^ Jones, Kenneth (November 2, 1999). "Lindsay-Abaire's New Comedy, Fuddy Meers, Opens Nov. 2 at MTC". Playbill. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  8. ^ Jones, Kenneth (April 16, 2000). "Off-Broadway's Fuddy Meers Folds, April 16". Playbill. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  9. ^ "'Fuddy Meers' Listing" Archived February 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine lortel.org, accessed September 1, 2015
  10. ^ "Wonder of the World Listing" Archived April 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine lortel.org, accessed September 1, 2015
  11. ^ Jones, Kenneth; Simonson, Robert (November 1, 2001). "Sarah Jessica Parker Beholds Wonder of the World, Opening in NYC Nov. 1". Playbill. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  12. ^ Shirley, Don (April 16, 2001). "How a Teen Copes in a World Thrown 'Akimbo'". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  13. ^ Lindsay-Abaire, David (2003). Snow Angel. Playscripts, Inc. Archived from the original on June 1, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  14. ^ Bruckner, D. J. R. "Theater in Review" Archived March 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine The New York Times, January 23, 1997
  15. ^ Bryer, Jackson R. and Hartig, Mary C. "Lindsay-Abaire, David (1969-)", The Facts on File Companion to American Drama, Infobase Publishing, 2010, ISBN 1438129661, p. 313
  16. ^ " 'Rabbit Hole' Listing" Archived September 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine ibdb, accessed September 1, 2015
  17. ^ "Pulitzer Prize Winner, Drama, 2007" Archived September 4, 2015, at the Wayback Machine pulitzer.org, accessed September 1, 2015
  18. ^ "Just the Facts: List of 2006 Tony Award Winners and Nominees". Playbill. June 12, 2006. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  19. ^ "High Fidelity". IBDB.com. Internet Broadway Database. Archived from the original on July 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  20. ^ "High Fidelity (Broadway, Imperial Theatre, 2006)". Playbill. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  21. ^ "Shrek the Musical (Broadway, Broadway Theatre, 2008)". Playbill. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  22. ^ Shenton, Mark (May 6, 2011). "Shrek the Musical Begins Performances at West End's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane May 6". Playbill. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  23. ^ Healy, Patrick (October 21, 2009). "Shrek the Musical to Close January 3". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
  24. ^ Jones, Kenenth (November 9, 2010). "Becky Ann Baker, Estelle Parsons, Renée Goldsberry Join World-Premiere Cast of Broadway's Good People". Playbill.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  25. ^ "Good People (Broadway, Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 2011)". Playbill. Archived from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  26. ^ "Review Roundup: David Lindsay-Abaire's RIPCORD Opens Off-Broadway". BroadwayWorld. October 20, 2015. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  27. ^ Denette, Kelsey (June 7, 2011). "David Lindsay-Abaire to Reimagine POLTERGEIST for MGM?". BroadwayWorld. Archived from the original on August 11, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  28. ^ Sherman, Rachel (June 11, 2023). "Tony Award Winners 2023: The Full List". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  29. ^ Kilday, Gregg (September 16, 2010). "Lionsgate takes trip down 'Rabbit Hole'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  30. ^ Robots at AllMovie
  31. ^ Inkheart at AllMovie
  32. ^ Rise of the Guardians at Rotten Tomatoes  
  33. ^ Kennedy, Lisa (March 6, 2013). "Movie review: 'Oz the Great and Powerful' more amusing than great". The Denver Post. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  34. ^ Carlin, Dave (October 26, 2022). "Broadway and Beyond: Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire wows the masses with Halloween display in Ditmas Park". CBS News. Archived from the original on April 28, 2023. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  35. ^ Peterson, Tyler (March 17, 2016). "Pulitzer Prize Winner David Lindsay-Abaire to Join Juilliard as Co-Director of Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program". BroadwayWorld. Archived from the original on August 11, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
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