Lauren Gunderson

My name is Lauren Gunderson and I've been writing for the theatre since I was 16. Noticed for my interpretation of science and history onstage, I'm glad to have this space to share my work and my inspiration with you.

Welcome

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! 

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Lauren is now Theatre blogging for The Huffington Post Arts

 
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Lauren's new revenge comedy was developed on the West Coast and East Coast this Spring!

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(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

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SheWRITES, first held in 2006, is designed to give emerging women playwrights a chance to develop unproduced work and gain national exposure.

 

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Lauren's play

Emilie:

La Marquise Du Châtelet

Defends Her Life

Tonight

is now available at Samuel French! 

Find it here.

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 EMILIE production lined up for Seattle 2011!

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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.

 

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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. 

 
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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! 


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 Starting in  2010,

Lauren will become the first ever Playwright in Residence

at The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, CA!

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More to come regarding her work and events at Kavli.

 

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 Lauren workshoped her new play

ROCK HILL: SOUTHERN GOTHIC

in Marin Theatre Company's New Works Series directed by Jasson Minadakis.

 

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  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 

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Staring Aysan Celik, Brandon Dirden, and Kevin Geer 

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Lauren's science play BACKGROUND is featured the current issue (7.1) of

ISOTOPE: A Journal of Literary and Nature Science Writing 

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 Find it online, in your bookstores, or purchase/subscribe here.

 

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Lauren's new play EMILIE just closed at South Coast Rep - Thank you for your support!

 
 Read more about the production of EMILIE here:
 

 

Natacha Roi as Emilie

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Script Frenzy

Lauren writes for ScriptFrenzy.org

Check out Lauren's cameo: "When in doubt (or when in a writing rut) add a love story."

  

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Lauren's play LEAP - the story of Isaac Newton's quest to rule the world of knowledge, and two young girls' quest to rule his heart - was performed at Middlebury College in Vermont - starring Will Damron, Stephanie Spencer, Lucy Faust, Ken Grinde and Lauren Fondren - directed by Ross Bell.

Check out these amazing pictures here!
 
 

 
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 Lauren attended this year's SLOAN SCREENPLAY SUMMIT in LA this November.
Her Sloan Script Award-winning screenplay GRAND UNIFICATION is featured on the Sloan Science and Film
 website as well!
 
Check out the post-summit article:
 
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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.

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Lauren's science romantic-comedy screenplay GRAND UNIFICATION was just award the Sloan Script Award! Go science!

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  The Shape of Content

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

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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

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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.

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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. 

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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.


 

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*** 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. 

 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

  

 

Actors Katrina Lenk (C) and Daniel Blinkoff do a little dance as Emily Bergl reads from Lauren Gunderson's play "Emilie." Gunderson's play is getting a chance at the big time at SCR's new play festival.  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.

More Here 

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

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Emilie

La Marquise  Du Châtelet Defends her Life

At the Petit Theatre at Cirey

Tonight 


Commissioned by South Coast Repertory Theatre
 
will be featured at this year's Pacific Playwrights Festival
 
May 2nd 3:30pm at South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa California 

at South Coast Rep (www.scr.org)  

Pacific Playwrights Festival 2008

 

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.logo_homepage_59_pix.jpg

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

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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.