Lisa Loomer
Encyclopedia
Lisa Loomer is a playwright
and screenwriter
of Spanish
and Romania
n ancestry who has also worked as an actress and stand-up comic. She is best known for her play The Waiting Room, in which three women from different time periods meet in a modern doctor's waiting room, each suffering from the effects of their various societies' cosmetic body modification
practices (foot binding
, corsetry
, and breast implantation). She also co-wrote the screenplay for the film Girl Interrupted
. Loomer is an alum of the New Dramatists and was a 1985 playwright-in-residence at the Intar Theatre in New York City. Many of her plays deal with the experiences of Latinos and Hispanic-Americans, and with various aspects of contemporary family life.
Loomer is married to composer Joe Romano; their son Marcello was born in 1998.
, the The Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, a Back Stage West
Garland Award for Playwriting (in 2003 for Living Out), the Imagen Award for positive portrayals of Latinos in all media, and American Theatre Critics Association Steinberg New Play Award (in 1995 for The Waiting Room and in 1999 for Expecting Isabel.) She won the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play in 1999 for Expecting Isabel. ]She was also the recipient of 2 grants from the National Endowment for the Arts
, and one from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
! Play Title !! Premiere Date !! Premiere Theatre !! Premiere City !! Premiere Reviews !! ISBN for published version of play
|-
| A Crowd of Two (collaboration) > 1981
The American Place Theatre
New York City
| All By Herselves (one woman show)
Westside Arts Theatre
New York City
| Birds 1986
developed and produced as part of the South Coast Repertory
Hispanic Playwright Project
Costa Mesa, CA
| Bocón! (a political fable for children) 1989
commissioned by the Mark Taper Forum
Los Angeles
| Chain of Life 1990
Renegade Theatre Company's One Act Play Festival at the United Synagogue of Hoboken
Hoboken, NJ
New York Times
| Accelerando 1991
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble
Los Angeles
| Looking for Angels
| Cuts
| The Waiting Room 1994
Mark Taper Forum
Los Angeles
Variety
| Maria! Maria! Maria! Maria! 1996
Mixed Blood Theatre Company
Minneapolis, MN
Mac Weekly
| Expecting Isabel October 7, 1998
Arena Stage
Washington, DC
CurtainUp
| Broken Hearts: A B.H. Mystery November 12, 1999
Cornerstone Theatre Company at the Los Angeles Theatre Center
Los Angeles
CurtainUp
| Living Out Jan 18, 2003
Mark Taper Forum
Los Angeles
Curtain Up Variety TalkinBroadway.com
| Distracted March 15, 2007
Mark Taper Forum
Los Angeles
Blog Critics Magazine LA Times Variety
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...
and 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:...
of Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n ancestry who has also worked as an actress and stand-up comic. She is best known for her play The Waiting Room, in which three women from different time periods meet in a modern doctor's waiting room, each suffering from the effects of their various societies' cosmetic body modification
Body modification
Body modification is the deliberate altering of the human body for any non-medical reason, such as aesthetics, sexual enhancement, a rite of passage, religious reasons, to display group membership or affiliation, to create body art, shock value, or self expression...
practices (foot binding
Foot binding
Foot binding was the custom of binding the feet of young girls painfully tight to prevent further growth. The practice probably originated among court dancers in the early Song dynasty, but spread to upper class families and eventually became common among all classes. The tiny narrow feet were...
, corsetry
Corsetry
Corsetry is the craft of making corsets and corset-like garments and accessories most of which incorporate stays. It is also a subfield of fashion that deals with those garments and accessories and it is common term used for those garments and accessories...
, and breast implantation). She also co-wrote the screenplay for the film Girl Interrupted
Girl, Interrupted (film)
Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 drama film about a teenager's 18-month stay at a mental institution, starring Winona Ryder, Brittany Murphy, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave, with Jolie winning an Academy Award for her performance....
. Loomer is an alum of the New Dramatists and was a 1985 playwright-in-residence at the Intar Theatre in New York City. Many of her plays deal with the experiences of Latinos and Hispanic-Americans, and with various aspects of contemporary family life.
Loomer is married to composer Joe Romano; their son Marcello was born in 1998.
Awards
Loomer has won the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award (in 1994 for The Waiting Room), the Susan Smith Blackburn PrizeSusan Smith Blackburn Prize
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is for English-language women playwrights. Named for Susan Smith, alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer.-Winners:* 1978-79 Mary O'Malley* 1979-80 Barbara Schneider...
, the The Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, a Back Stage West
Back Stage
Back Stage is an entertainment-industry brand aimed at people working in film and the performing arts, with a special focus on casting, job opportunities, and career advice.Back Stage publishes a weekly tabloid-sized trade magazine in the U.S...
Garland Award for Playwriting (in 2003 for Living Out), the Imagen Award for positive portrayals of Latinos in all media, and American Theatre Critics Association Steinberg New Play Award (in 1995 for The Waiting Room and in 1999 for Expecting Isabel.) She won the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play in 1999 for Expecting Isabel. ]She was also the recipient of 2 grants from 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 one from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Plays
|-
| A Crowd of Two (collaboration) >
The American Place Theatre
The American Place Theatre was founded in 1963 by Wynn Handman, Sidney Lanier, and Michael Tolan at St. Clement's Church, far west on 46th Street in New York City and was incorporated as a not-for-profit theatre in that year. Tennessee Williams and Myrna Loy were two of the original Board members...
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
| All By Herselves (one woman show)
Westside Theatre
__notoc__The Westside Theatre is an off-Broadway venue located at 407 West 43rd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building houses two auditoriums: the Upstairs theater, which seats 299, and the Downstairs theater, which...
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
| Birds
South Coast Repertory
South 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...
Hispanic Playwright Project
| Bocón! (a political fable for children)
Mark Taper Forum
The Mark Taper Forum is a 739 seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles...
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
| Chain of Life
| Accelerando
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
| Looking for Angels
| Cuts
| The Waiting Room
Mark Taper Forum
The Mark Taper Forum is a 739 seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles...
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
| Maria! Maria! Maria! Maria!
Mixed Blood Theatre Company
The Mixed Blood Theatre Company is a professional multiracial theatre company in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was founded in 1976 by artistic director Jack Reuler. Its core stated values are promoting cultural pluralism, individual equality, and artistic excellence.Its plays range from intimate...
| Expecting Isabel
Arena Stage
Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest Washington, D.C. Its declared mission"is to produce huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit. Arena has broad shoulders and a capacity to produce anything from vast epics...
| Broken Hearts: A B.H. Mystery
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
| Living Out
Mark Taper Forum
The Mark Taper Forum is a 739 seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles...
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
| Distracted
Mark Taper Forum
The Mark Taper Forum is a 739 seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles...
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
Screenplays
Note: Some screenplays may not have been produced as films.- Looking for Angels
- Girl, InterruptedGirl, Interrupted (film)Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 drama film about a teenager's 18-month stay at a mental institution, starring Winona Ryder, Brittany Murphy, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave, with Jolie winning an Academy Award for her performance....
, 1999 (with James MangoldJames MangoldJames Allen Mangold is an American film director and screenwriter. He is perhaps best known for Walk the Line which he co-wrote and directed.-Life and career:...
and Anna Hamilton Phelan, based on the memoir by Susanna KaysenSusanna Kaysen-Life:Susanna Kaysen was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of economist Carl Kaysen, a professor at MIT and former advisor to President John F. Kennedy, and his wife Annette Neutra Kaysen. Kaysen has one sister and is divorced...
) ISBN 057120211X - A Little Love, 2000 (based on the book by C.C. Medina, aka Carolina Hospital and Carlos Medina)
- Just Desserts
- Dreaming
- Brothers and Sisters
- Nappily Ever After, 2008
- The Education of Shelby Knox
- Leaving Hollywood For America