Aaron Posner
Aaron Posneris anAmericanplaywright andtheatredirector. He was co-founder of theArden Theatre Companyin Philadelphia and was the artistic director ofTwo River Theaterfrom 2006 to 2010. He has directed over 100 productions at major regional theater companies across the country. He has won sixHelen Hayes Awards,twoBarrymore Awards,theOuter Critics Circle Award,the John Gassner Prize, a Joseph Jefferson Award, a Bay Area Theatre Award, and an Eliot Norton Award.
Biography
[edit]Born inMadison, Wisconsin,and raised inEugene, Oregon,[1]Posner is married to actress Erin Weaver, whom he met while she was a student of his at theUniversity of the Arts.They have one daughter.
Posner has adapted novels as plays, and later created new variations of classic plays, including some byWilliam ShakespeareandAnton Chekhov.Among Posner's best-known adaptions areThe Chosen(1999), based onChaim Potok's 1967novel of the same name,andMy Name Is Asher Lev(2009), based on Potok's1972 novelof the same name.
With composerJames Sugg,Posner createdA Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical(2006), adapted from a short story of the same name byMark Twainthat was published in 2001. Posner wrote the book and lyrics. The work premiered inWilmington, Delaware,in a co-production of theRound House Theatreand theDelaware Theatre Company.[2][3]
Posner's variation of Chekhov's 1896 playThe Seagull,under the title ofStupid Fucking Bird,premiered in 2013 by theWoolly Mammoth Theatre Companyin Washington, D.C. It was a very different type of work, his own answer to Chekhov, rather than a classical adaptation. The play has since been produced more than 200 times by theatre companies and universities in the United States, Australia, Canada, Estonia, and Sweden.
Posner has adapted Chekhov'sUncle VanyaandThree Sistersas well. HisLife Sucks: Or the Present Ridiculous(2015) was premiered byTheater Jin Washington, D.C.[4]No Sisters(2017), which premiered by theStudio Theatrein Washington, D.C., ran as a companion play to their production ofThree Sisters.[5]
For theChicago Shakespeare Theater,Posner co-directedThe Tempestwith magicianTeller.The production made use of the songs ofTom WaitsandKathleen Brennan.[6][7]Posner re-imagined Shakespeare'sThe Merchant of Venice,in a variation calledDistrict Merchants: An Uneasy Comedy(2016) commissioned by Folger Theatre. It is set in Washington, D.C., during theReconstruction era,after the end of the Civil War. Exploring relations between Jewish and African-American businessmen and other residents in the city, including people of color free before the war and newly emancipatedfreedmen,it premiered at the Folger Shakespeare Library on May 31, 2016.[8]
Posner is an associate professor of acting and directing atAmerican UniversityinWashington, D.C.[9]
References
[edit]- ^Aaron Posner,American Players Theatre
- ^Harris, Paul (June 11, 2006)."'A Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama'".Variety.RetrievedFebruary 8,2019.
- ^Sydney-Chanele Dawkins, "The Playwright's Playground: Playwright Aaron Posner Talks About Inspiration, Adaptations and That 'Stupid Fucking Bird'",DC Metro Theater Arts,31 July 2014; accessed 8 February 2019
- ^John Stoltenberg, "Review:Life Sucksat Theater J ",DC Metro Theater Arts,20 January 2015
- ^Barbara McKay, "Review":No Sisters,TheaterMania,27 March 2017
- ^"Chicago Shakespeare Theater: The Tempest".
- ^Fraley, Jason (November 29, 2022)."'Tempest' mixes Shakespeare with Tom Waits and magic ".
- ^District Merchants,Folger Shakespeare Library, n.d., 2016
- ^"Faculty Profile: Aaron Posner | American University, Washington, D.C."American University.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-02-06.Retrieved2019-11-30.
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- Living people
- Writers from Eugene, Oregon
- Writers from Madison, Wisconsin
- 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
- American theatre directors
- 21st-century American male writers
- American male dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century American male writers
- American University faculty