My name is Lauren Gunderson and I've been writing for the theatre since I was 16. Noticed for my interpretation of science, feminism, and history onstage, I'm glad to have this space to share my work and my inspiration with you.
Please browse this site for information on all of my plays, screenplays, and short stories. Information on rights, commissions, teaching, published scripts and screenplays and more can be addressed to:
Corinne Hayoun
Creative Artists Agency l Theatre Department
chayoun@caa.com
212-277-9000.
Thank you for supporting and believing in theatre!
---------------------
Lauren is now Theatre blogging for The Huffington Post Arts
Lauren's new revenge comedy was developed on the West Coast and East Coast this Spring!
(Exit, Pursued by a Bear)
was featured in Playwright's Foundation Rough Readings Series May 17th and 18th in San Francisco
Check it out here.
Then a few weeks later... it was directed by Rachel May in Atlanta as a part of Synchronicity Performance Group's
SheWRITES, first held in 2006, is designed to give emerging women playwrights a chance to develop unproduced work and gain national exposure.
---
Lauren's play
Emilie:
La Marquise Du Châtelet
Defends Her Life
Tonight
is now available at Samuel French!
Find it here.
---
EMILIE production lined up for Seattle 2011!
ArtsWest 2010-11 season to include 5 Seattle premieres:
Featured in the upcoming season are 5 Seattle premiers including 2009 Tony Award nominee, reasons to be pretty, Evil Dead: The Musical, Emile: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight, Distracted and Shipwrecked! An Entertainment.
"I'm so excited about this coming season, said Alan Harrison ArtsWest Executive Director, "This will be my sixth season, and it's replete with fantasy thrills, and chills, and spectacular stories.
---
The Kennedy Center's Performances for Young Audiences
has just commissioned Lauren to write two new science-themed plays for youth!
Her first commission:
THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF DR. WONDERFUL AND HER DOG
will be produced in the Center's 2011/12 season.
Lauren appeared on
Inside The Black Box
broadcast from Atlanta, GA's WREK Atlanta, 91.1 FM.
The show aired Wednesday, February 10th, noon-1pm
Listen online here!
---
Starting in 2010,
Lauren will become the first ever Playwright in Residence
at The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, CA!
More to come regarding her work and events at Kavli.
---
Lauren workshoped her new play
ROCK HILL: SOUTHERN GOTHIC
in Marin Theatre Company's New Works Series directed by Jasson Minadakis.
---
Lauren's play FIRE WORK was developed at this summer's O'Neill National Playwrights Conference!
with dirctor Sean Daniels (Associate Artistic Director of Actors Theatre of Lousiville).
More at Variety and Playbill.com
Staring Aysan Celik, Brandon Dirden, and Kevin Geer
---
Lauren's science play BACKGROUND is featured the current issue (7.1) of
ISOTOPE: A Journal of Literary and Nature Science Writing
Find it online, in your bookstores, or purchase/subscribe here.
---
Lauren's new play EMILIE just closed at South Coast Rep - Thank you for your support!
Natacha Roi as Emilie
---
Lauren writes for ScriptFrenzy.org!
Check out Lauren's cameo: "When in doubt (or when in a writing rut) add a love story."
---
Check out these amazing pictures here!
website as well!
Lauren's new play CLASS, commissioned for Dad's Garage Theatre had a great run in Atlanta. Thanks Dad's Garage!
Class
Written by Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Kate Warner
October 10 – November 03, 2008 (Thurs, Fri, Sat @ 8pm)
Just in time for the 2008 election, Dad's Garage brings you a World Premiere by locally grown playwright Lauren Gunderson that explores the idea of substance vs. spectacle and how we choose our leaders. Set in the Bee Valley Christian High School's Cafetorium, this over-the-top satire watches two students duke it out for the title of student body president. Chocked full of special stunts, video pieces, and audience participation - the audience will put democracy to the test by voting to determine the winner and the ending of the show.
-----
Lauren's science romantic-comedy screenplay GRAND UNIFICATION was just award the Sloan Script Award! Go science!
----
Lauren's science short story THE ASCENDING LIFE will be published this Fall in the collection:
The Shape of Content
published by A.K. Peters Ltd.
"This book is a collection of creative pieces—poems, short stories, essays, play excerpts—that give shape to mathematical and scientific content. This book portrays by example how various people work creatively with ideas from mathematics and other sciences.
Creative writing about the content of mathematics and science is rare, and creative writing about the activity of mathematical and scientific creation is even rarer. And yet, when it occurs, it can be extremely popular, as well known plays like Proof and Copenhagen and biographies like A Beautiful Mind and The Man Who Loved Only Numbers attest. What draws the public to these works? And why, given that something does, are there so few examples of literature that engages these themes? Mathematics and science are part of world culture, part of the human spirit, fit subjects for art of all kinds.
Expected release: October 2008
----
----
WORLD PREMIERE
April 19 - May 10, 2009
Julianne Argyros Stage
EMILIE:
La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life
at the Petit Théâtre at Cirey Tonight
by Lauren Gunderson
directed by Kate Whoriskey
Bette and Wylie Aitken, Honorary Producers
Passionate. Independent. A great beauty. A prodigious scientific intellect. These are the qualities that inspired this story of 18th century Parisian noblewoman Emilie du Châtelet and her lifelong affair with the Enlightenment superstar Voltaire. In this highly theatrical rediscovery of one of history's most intriguing women, Emilie must defend her life by tallying her achievements in Love and Philosophy—and searching for a formula that will convince the world of her worth.
-----
Lauren's poem HOOK OF A NUMBER will be published June 1, 2008 in an anthology of poems about String Theory called RIFFING ON STRINGS.
Available at Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble | Shop Locally
Scriblerus Press here.
Riffing on Strings is a unique collection of creative writing that explores the cosmic and cultural resonances of string theory. Inside you’ll find thought-provoking essays, short stories, poems, and a play from over 40 acclaimed authors, including Nobel Laureate Sheldon Glashow, Michio Kaku, Peter Woit, Adam Roberts, Colette Inez, Brenda Hillman, Joseph Radke, and Bruce Holland Rogers, among others.
“Sean Miller and Shveta Verma have put together an exhilaratingly eclectic anthology of creative and expository writing about one of the most exciting (even if controversial) intellectual fields of our time: string theory. Just Miller's erudite introduction by itself is worth the price of this sparkling collection.”
– S. Abbas Raza, Editor of 3 Quarks Daily
“It is very surprising to me that string theory has entered the public consciousness to such a large degree, as documented by this book. This is probably due to the effectiveness of a few popularizers and the seeming craziness of its concepts. This book demonstrates that, in addition to practical applications, scientific research can also have cultural impacts.”
– John H. Schwarz, Harold Brown Professor of Theoretical Physics, CalTech
“The jury is still out on whether string theory serves to explain the nature of reality, but the writers who have contributed to Riffing on Strings convincingly demonstrate that it serves very well as a springboard for the imagination. From Sean Miller's cogent introduction on, this is an engaging—and much-needed—dialogue between art and science.”
– Frank Wilson, Former Book Review Editor, The Philadelphia Inquirer & Creator of Books, Inq.
*** Lauren's new play, EMILIE: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life at The Petite Theatre at Cirey Tonight , will premiere next April at South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa, California! What an honor to work with such a remarkable and lauded theatrical institution ike SCR. It will run during next year's Pacific Playwrights Festival 2009 as well.
"South Coast Rep's New Season Has Four World Premieres, Plus Lear, Heiress, Frayn and Ruhl "- Playbill
EMILIE , was presented in a staged reading at this year's Pacific Playwrights Festival! May 2nd, 3pm at South Coast Repertory - directed by wonderful director Kate Whorisky!
Lauren's Profile in the LA Times - "A LOT of my pieces are science- or history-based, so most of my creative development starts with research. I cram a lot of information into my brain and there's spillage that ends up on the page..."
" Act I: A playwright takes a first step to fame" - OC Register
"Pacific Playwrights to host a few history lessons" - LA Times article
Pacific Playwrights Fest throws 'Party' - Variety Article
More pix on BroadwayWorld.com
Paul Roderiguez, OC Register
South Coast Repertory's 2008 PPF playwrights: (l. to r.) Sharr White, Lauren Gunderson, Lynn Nottage, Amy Freed and John Kolvenbach.
Synchronicity Performance Group Presents
WORLD PREMIERE
The Van Gogh Café
4/26/2008 to 5/18/2008
Adapted for the stage by Lauren Gunderson, from the book by Cynthia Rylant. Directed by Clint Thornton.
Life is pretty normal for Clara who lives in Kansas above a little café. Then a possum comes to visit. Suddenly, everyone stops arguing and starts to be happy. This is just the beginning of the magic. In this charming world premiere adaptation, enter the delightful world of wonder, sit down for a plate of Clara’s dad’s cooking, and discover what true kindness and family really mean.
$15 adult/$12 children 12 and under; discount for groups.
Special Treats:| 5/3 | Inside Scoop - Make your own ice cream sundae while you talk with the artists about the show |
April 26 - May 18, 2008
Tuesday thru Thursday at 10:30 a.m.
Saturday at 1:00 & 3:00 p.m.
Sunday at 2:00 & 4:00 p.m.
Venue: 7 Stages Theatre, 1105 Euclid Avenue in Little 5 Points
Lauren's play
Emilie
La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends her Life
At the Petit Theatre at Cirey
Tonight
Lauren will be at the Creative Writing in Mathematics and Science Workshop at The Banff Centre and the Banff International Research Station in Banff, Canada this summer to work on her new play BABY M.
Be the first to experience Lauren's new video-play
DENISE.
Join us for an informal reading of DENISE at PushPush Theater
May 16th, 7pm
About the play:
Denise was a doctor, wife and friend who died in a car wreck at 40 years old. Her husband Steven cloned her soon after and produced a beautiful young girl he raised as his daughter. On her 18th birthday Steven explains who the second Denise really is and how she came to be. With this barrage of new information Denise sets out to understand who she is and how to move forward.
DENISE is a three-person play and short film in one. The video-play centers on the emotional effect of cloning on a “daughter” and father. The video-play is based on the short story DENISE, also by Lauren. Without focusing on the science and politics, DENISE allows us to unpack the very human emotional content of such scientific decisions. The video elements compliment the live theatrical elements by further engaging the audience in a concentric discussion of what is real, what is surface-level, what is present, and what is memory.
"Gunderson is a prodigy" - Atlanta Magazine
"The verdict: Lauren Gunderson shows signs of preternatural brilliance," Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Gunderson possesses an antic imagination." - LA Times
"EMILIE literally crackles with electricity" - LA Examiner
Other plays available here:
