Craig Lucas
Encyclopedia
Craig Lucas is an American
playwright
, screenwriter
, theatre
director, musical actor, and film director.
couple. His father was an FBI agent; his mother was a housewife and painter. He graduated in 1969 from Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. In the 1960s and 1970s, Lucas became interested in the political left and discovered an attraction towards men. He recalls that his coming out
made it possible for him to develop as a playwright and as a person.
In 1973, Lucas left Boston University
with a Bachelor of Arts
in theatre and creative writing. His mentor, Anne Sexton
, urged him to try his luck in New York City as a playwright. He worked in many day jobs while performing in Broadway musicals including Shenandoah
, On the Twentieth Century
, Rex
, and Sweeney Todd
. Stephen Sondheim
would later tell him he was a better writer than an actor.
Lucas met Norman René
in 1979. Their first collaboration was Marry Me A Little
in 1981. The two wrote a script incorporating songs that had been written for but discarded from Stephen Sondheim
musicals, and René also directed. They followed this with the plays Missing Persons
(1981) and Blue Window (1984); Three Postcards (1987), an original music by Lucas and Craig Carnelia
; and another play, Reckless
(1983). In 1990 they joined forces for what would prove to be their biggest commercial and critical success, Prelude to a Kiss. They also joined forces for the feature film
Longtime Companion
(1990), the 1992 film adaptation
of Prelude with Alec Baldwin
and Meg Ryan
, and the 1995 film version of Reckless
with Mia Farrow
and Mary Louise Parker.
Following his early work on romantic comedies, Lucas began to write more serious works about AIDS
, including The Singing Forest and The Dying Gaul
, the latter of which was made into a film that Lucas also directed. Lucas also authored the book for the musical The Light in the Piazza, and directed the world premiere at the Intiman Theater in Seattle. The Lincoln Center production, directed by Bartlett Sher, garnered him a Tony Award
nomination.
Lucas has also directed classic plays such as Loot
. While some critics have divided his work into gay plays (Blue Window, Longtime Companion) and straight plays (Reckless, Three Postcards, Prelude to a Kiss), Lucas has always written about human problems in a universal manner. He directed Birds of America
, a film starring Matthew Perry
and Hilary Swank
, in 2007.
In late 2008, Lucas's play Prayer for My Enemy made its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons
. The production was directed by Lucas's frequent collaborator Bartlett Sher
and featured Tony Award winners Victoria Clark
and Michele Pawk
and Tony Award nominee Jonathan Groff
. The play touches on several topics including the Iraq War, with Groff playing a young veteran, as well as homosexuality, alcoholism, and the definition of family. The play ran from November 14 through December 21.
for his direction of Harry Kondoleon
’s Saved or Destroyed at the Rattlestick Theater. He won the 2003 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay for The Secret Lives of Dentists
. His Small Tragedy was awarded an Obie as Best American Play in 2004. Lucas's other awards include the Excellence in Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; the PEN/Laura Pels
Mid-Career Achievement Award; and Outer Critics Circle
, L.A. Drama Critics Circle
, Drama-Logue
and Lambda Literary Award
s.
He has also received a Tony Award
nomination (for the book of Light in the Piazza). Fellowships include those from the Guggenheim
and Rockefeller Foundation
s, the National Endowment for the Arts
, and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Perhaps most notably, he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize
for Drama for his plays Prelude to a Kiss and The Dying Gaul.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
director, musical actor, and film director.
Biography
Born on April 30, 1951, he was found abandoned in a car in Atlanta. Lucas was adopted when he was eight months old by a conservative PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
couple. His father was an FBI agent; his mother was a housewife and painter. He graduated in 1969 from Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. In the 1960s and 1970s, Lucas became interested in the political left and discovered an attraction towards men. He recalls that his coming out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
made it possible for him to develop as a playwright and as a person.
In 1973, Lucas left Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in theatre and creative writing. His mentor, Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967...
, urged him to try his luck in New York City as a playwright. He worked in many day jobs while performing in Broadway musicals including Shenandoah
Shenandoah (musical)
Shenandoah is a musical that was written in 1975 with music by Gary Geld, lyrics by Peter Udell, and a book by Udell, Philip Rose and James Lee Barrett, based on Barrett's original screenplay for the 1965 film Shenandoah.-Productions:...
, On the Twentieth Century
On the Twentieth Century
On the Twentieth Century is a musical with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman. Part operetta, part farce, part screwball comedy, the story involves the behind-the-scenes relationship of a temperamental actress and a director.-Background:Comden and Green based...
, Rex
Rex (musical)
Rex is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and libretto by Sherman Yellen, based on the life of King Henry VIII.-Production history:...
, and Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd (musical)
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and libretto by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is based on the 1973 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond....
. Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
would later tell him he was a better writer than an actor.
Lucas met Norman René
Norman René
Norman René was an American theatre and film director and film producer who frequently collaborated with playwright Craig Lucas.-Biography:...
in 1979. Their first collaboration was Marry Me A Little
Marry Me A Little (musical)
Marry Me A Little is a musical with lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim, conceived by Craig Lucas and Norman René. The revue sets songs cut from Sondheim's better-known musicals to a dialogue-free plot about the relationship between two lonely New York single people, who are in emotional conflict...
in 1981. The two wrote a script incorporating songs that had been written for but discarded from Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
musicals, and René also directed. They followed this with the plays Missing Persons
Missing Persons
Missing Persons is an American band who plays a blend of New Wave and Pop rock. The band was founded in 1980 in Los Angeles by guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, vocalist Dale Bozzio, and drummer Terry Bozzio. They went on to add bassist Patrick O'Hearn and keyboardist Chuck Wild. Dale's quirky voice...
(1981) and Blue Window (1984); Three Postcards (1987), an original music by Lucas and Craig Carnelia
Craig Carnelia
Craig Carnelia is an American musical theater composer and singer, known for his collaboration on the musicals Working and Sweet Smell of Success.-Biography:...
; and another play, Reckless
Reckless
-In film, television and stage:* Reckless , directed by Victor Fleming* Reckless , a 1951 Spanish film* Reckless , starring Aidan Quinn and Daryl Hannah* Reckless , featuring Mia Farrow...
(1983). In 1990 they joined forces for what would prove to be their biggest commercial and critical success, Prelude to a Kiss. They also joined forces for the feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
Longtime Companion
Longtime Companion
Longtime Companion is a 1989 film with Bruce Davison, Campbell Scott, Patrick Cassidy, and Mary-Louise Parker. The first wide-release theatrical film to deal with the subject of AIDS, the film takes its title from the words The New York Times used to describe the surviving same-sex partner of...
(1990), the 1992 film adaptation
Prelude to a Kiss (film)
Prelude to a Kiss is a 1992 American romantic fantasy film directed by Norman René and starring Alec Baldwin, Meg Ryan and Sydney Walker. The screenplay by Craig Lucas is based on his 1988 play of the same title.-Plot synopsis:...
of Prelude with Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
and Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan
Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...
, and the 1995 film version of Reckless
Reckless (1995 film)
Reckless is a 1995 American dark comedy film directed by Norman René. The screenplay by Craig Lucas is based on his 1983 play of the same title.-Plot:...
with Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
and Mary Louise Parker.
Following his early work on romantic comedies, Lucas began to write more serious works about AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, including The Singing Forest and The Dying Gaul
The Dying Gaul (film)
The Dying Gaul is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Craig Lucas. The screenplay is based on his 1998 off-Broadway play, the title of which was derived from an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic sculpture.-Plot:...
, the latter of which was made into a film that Lucas also directed. Lucas also authored the book for the musical The Light in the Piazza, and directed the world premiere at the Intiman Theater in Seattle. The Lincoln Center production, directed by Bartlett Sher, garnered him a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination.
Lucas has also directed classic plays such as Loot
Loot (play)
Loot is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force....
. While some critics have divided his work into gay plays (Blue Window, Longtime Companion) and straight plays (Reckless, Three Postcards, Prelude to a Kiss), Lucas has always written about human problems in a universal manner. He directed Birds of America
Birds of America (film)
Birds of America is an offbeat American family dramedy directed by Craig Lucas, written by Elyse Friedman, and starring Matthew Perry. It premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival...
, a film starring Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry (actor)
Matthew Langford Perry is a Canadian-American actor and comedian, best known for his Emmy-nominated role as Chandler Bing on the popular, long-running NBC television sitcom Friends...
and Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank
Hilary Ann Swank is an American actress. Swank's film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid , as Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi...
, in 2007.
In late 2008, Lucas's play Prayer for My Enemy made its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
. The production was directed by Lucas's frequent collaborator Bartlett Sher
Bartlett Sher
Bartlett Sher , is an American theatre director. He received both the 2008 Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for his direction of the Broadway revival of South Pacific. The New York Times has described him as "one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but...
and featured Tony Award winners Victoria Clark
Victoria Clark
Victoria Clark is an American musical theatre singer and actress. Clark has performed in many Broadway musicals and in other theatre, film and television work, and her soprano voice can be heard on numerous cast albums and several animated films...
and Michele Pawk
Michele Pawk
Michele Pawk is an American actress and singer.-Biography:Born in Butler, Pennsylvania, Pawk attended Allegheny College and the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, after which she spent a year working in a musical revue at Disney World...
and Tony Award nominee Jonathan Groff
Jonathan Groff
Jonathan Drew Groff is an American singer-songwriter, stage, television and film actor. He originated the role of Melchior Gabor in the stage musical Spring Awakening and appeared as Jesse St...
. The play touches on several topics including the Iraq War, with Groff playing a young veteran, as well as homosexuality, alcoholism, and the definition of family. The play ran from November 14 through December 21.
Awards
In 2001 Lucas received an OBIE AwardObie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for his direction of Harry Kondoleon
Harry Kondoleon
Harry Kondoleon was a gay American playwright and novelist.He was born on February 26, 1955; and died of AIDS on March 16, 1994, aged 39.He graduated from Hamilton College and the Yale School of Drama...
’s Saved or Destroyed at the Rattlestick Theater. He won the 2003 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay for The Secret Lives of Dentists
The Secret Lives of Dentists
The Secret Lives of Dentists is a 2003 drama film directed by Alan Rudolph. The screenplay was written by Craig Lucas, based on the novella The Age of Grief by Jane Smiley...
. His Small Tragedy was awarded an Obie as Best American Play in 2004. Lucas's other awards include the Excellence in Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; the PEN/Laura Pels
PEN/Laura Pels
The Laura Pels Foundation Awards for Drama, commonly referred to as the PEN/Laura Pels Award, annually recognizes two American playwrights...
Mid-Career Achievement Award; and Outer Critics Circle
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
, L.A. Drama Critics Circle
Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards is an annual awards program presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle . Established in 1969, the awards recognize excellence in theatre in the Greater Los Angeles Area....
, Drama-Logue
Drama-Logue Award
The Drama-Logue Award was a theater award established in 1977, given by the publishers of Drama-Logue newspaper, a weekly west-coast theater trade publication. Winners were selected by the publication's theater critics, and would receive a certificate at an annual awards ceremony...
and Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award...
s.
He has also received a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination (for the book of Light in the Piazza). Fellowships include those from the Guggenheim
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
and Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
s, the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Perhaps most notably, he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for Drama for his plays Prelude to a Kiss and The Dying Gaul.
Personal life
His partner Tim Melester succumbed to complications from AIDS in 1995. The pain of illness and loss and the role of drugs in getting well and killing pain all helped him write God's Heart. After that he was for 11 years partnered with set designer John McDermott. He is now single.As an actor
- ShenandoahShenandoah (musical)Shenandoah is a musical that was written in 1975 with music by Gary Geld, lyrics by Peter Udell, and a book by Udell, Philip Rose and James Lee Barrett, based on Barrett's original screenplay for the 1965 film Shenandoah.-Productions:...
(1975) - musical - actorActorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity... - RexRex (musical)Rex is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and libretto by Sherman Yellen, based on the life of King Henry VIII.-Production history:...
(1976) - musical - actor - On the Twentieth CenturyOn the Twentieth CenturyOn the Twentieth Century is a musical with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman. Part operetta, part farce, part screwball comedy, the story involves the behind-the-scenes relationship of a temperamental actress and a director.-Background:Comden and Green based...
(1978) - musical - actor - Sweeney ToddSweeney ToddSweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
(1979) - musical - actor
As a playwright
- Prelude to a Kiss (1990) - playPlay (theatre)A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
- Pulitzer Prize for DramaPulitzer Prize for DramaThe Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
Nomination, Tony AwardTony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
Nomination for Best PlayTony Award for Best PlayThe Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theatre, including musical theatre, honoring productions on Broadway in New York. It currently takes place in mid-June each year.There was no award in the Tony's first year...
, Drama DeskDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
Nomination for Outstanding New Play - God's Heart (1997) - play
- Reckless (2004) - play
- The Light in the Piazza (2005) - musical - bookwriter - Tony Nomination for Best Book of a MusicalTony Award for Best Book of a MusicalThe Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible...
- Prelude to a Kiss (2007) - revival of a play
Off-Broadway
- Missing Persons (1981), revised (1995) - two-act play - produced Off-Off-BroadwayOff-Off-BroadwayOff-Off-Broadway theatrical productions in New York City are those in theatres that are smaller than Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Off-Off-Broadway theaters are often defined as theaters that have fewer than 100 seats, though the term can be used for any show in the New York City area that...
, at Production Company - Alec Wilder: Clues to a Life (adapted from Alec WilderAlec WilderAlec Wilder was an American composer.-Biography:...
's Letters I Never Mailed) (1982) - two-act play - Reckless (1983), revised (1988) - two-act play
- Blue Window (1984) - one-act play
- Credo (1995) -
- The Dying GaulThe Dying Gaul (film)The Dying Gaul is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Craig Lucas. The screenplay is based on his 1998 off-Broadway play, the title of which was derived from an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic sculpture.-Plot:...
(1998) - play - Stranger (2000) - play (Vineyard TheatreVineyard TheatreThe Vineyard Theatre is an Off-Broadway non-profit theatre company, located at 108 East 15th Street in Manhattan, New York City, near Union Square. Its first production was in 1981...
) - This Thing Of Darkness (2002) - play - (with David Schulner)
- Small Tragedy (2004) - play
- Miss JulieMiss JulieMiss Julie is a naturalistic play written in 1888 by August Strindberg dealing with class, love, lust, the battle of the sexes, and the interaction among them...
adaptation originally written by August StrindbergAugust StrindbergJohan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
(2005), at the Rattlesticks Playwrights Theater
Regional
- Blue Window (1984) - play - George and Elizabeth Marton Award for Best New Play of 1984
- Three Postcards (1987) - musical - Premiered at South Coast RepertorySouth Coast RepertorySouth Coast Repertory is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California.Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...
in Costa Mesa, CaliforniaCosta Mesa, CaliforniaCosta Mesa is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 109,960 at the 2010 census. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to a primarily suburban and "edge" city with an economy based on retail, commerce, and light... - Marry Me A Little (1988) - musical revue - Songs by Stephen SondheimStephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
, conceived and developed by Craig Lucas and Norman RenéNorman RenéNorman René was an American theatre and film director and film producer who frequently collaborated with playwright Craig Lucas.-Biography:... - Prelude to a Kiss (1988) - play - Commissioned and premiered by South Coast RepertorySouth Coast RepertorySouth Coast Repertory is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California.Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...
in Costa Mesa, CaliforniaCosta Mesa, CaliforniaCosta Mesa is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 109,960 at the 2010 census. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to a primarily suburban and "edge" city with an economy based on retail, commerce, and light... - God's Heart (1995) - play - produced at Trinity Repertory CompanyTrinity Repertory CompanyTrinity Repertory Company is a non-profit regional theater located in Providence, Rhode Island. The theater is a member of the League of Resident Theatres. Founded in 1963, the theater is "one of the most respected regional theatres in the country"...
- The Singing Forest (2004) - play - Premiered at the Intiman TheatreIntiman PlayhouseIntiman Theatre in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 1972 by Margaret "Megs" Booker, who named it for August Strindberg's Stockholm theater. With a self-declared focus on "a resident acting ensemble, fidelity to the playwright's intentions and a close relationship between actor and audience", the...
in Seattle, Washington. - Prayer For My Enemy (2007) - play - Premiered at the Intiman TheatreIntiman PlayhouseIntiman Theatre in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 1972 by Margaret "Megs" Booker, who named it for August Strindberg's Stockholm theater. With a self-declared focus on "a resident acting ensemble, fidelity to the playwright's intentions and a close relationship between actor and audience", the...
in Seattle, Washington.
Films
- Longtime CompanionLongtime CompanionLongtime Companion is a 1989 film with Bruce Davison, Campbell Scott, Patrick Cassidy, and Mary-Louise Parker. The first wide-release theatrical film to deal with the subject of AIDS, the film takes its title from the words The New York Times used to describe the surviving same-sex partner of...
(1990) - screenwriter - Prelude to a KissPrelude to a Kiss (film)Prelude to a Kiss is a 1992 American romantic fantasy film directed by Norman René and starring Alec Baldwin, Meg Ryan and Sydney Walker. The screenplay by Craig Lucas is based on his 1988 play of the same title.-Plot synopsis:...
(1992) - screenwriter - RecklessReckless (1995 film)Reckless is a 1995 American dark comedy film directed by Norman René. The screenplay by Craig Lucas is based on his 1983 play of the same title.-Plot:...
(1995) - screenwriter - The Secret Lives of DentistsThe Secret Lives of DentistsThe Secret Lives of Dentists is a 2003 drama film directed by Alan Rudolph. The screenplay was written by Craig Lucas, based on the novella The Age of Grief by Jane Smiley...
(2002) - screenwriter - The Dying GaulThe Dying Gaul (film)The Dying Gaul is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Craig Lucas. The screenplay is based on his 1998 off-Broadway play, the title of which was derived from an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic sculpture.-Plot:...
(2005) - screenwriter/director - Birds of AmericaBirds of America (film)Birds of America is an offbeat American family dramedy directed by Craig Lucas, written by Elyse Friedman, and starring Matthew Perry. It premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival...
(2008) - director
Miscellaneous
- Savage Light, a play (with David Schulner) that was supposed to premiere at the Humana Festival of New American PlaysHumana Festival of New American PlaysHumana Festival of New American Plays is an internationally renowned festival that celebrates the contemporary American playwright. Produced annually in Louisville, Kentucky by Actors Theatre of Louisville, this prestigious event showcases new theatrical works and draws producers, critics,...
, was deemed too "sexually explicit to stage".
External links
- Playwrights Horizon
- Craig Lucas - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.orgAmerican Theatre WingThe American Theatre Wing is a New York City-based organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre," according to its mission statement...