J. T. Rogers is a multiple-award-winning, internationally recognized

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

who lives in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Rogers has written several plays including ''

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

'', '' Blood and Gifts'', ''The Overwhelming'', ''White People'', and ''Madagascar''. In 2017, Rogers' ''Oslo'' won the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

for Best Play, the

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. F ...

for Outstanding Play, the

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the ...

for Best New American Theatre Work, the

Lucille Lortel Award The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres ...

for Best Play, the

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newsp ...

for Outstanding New Broadway Play, and the

Drama League Award The Drama League Awards, created in 1922, honor distinguished productions and performances both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, in addition to recognizing exemplary career achievements in theatre, musical theatre, and directing. Each May, the awards ...

for Outstanding Production of a Play,. Rogers' work has been staged at theaters including London's

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

, New York's Lincoln Center Theater and Roundabout Theater, and Australia's Melbourne Theatre Company. Rogers is now writing for television, including the upcoming

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

television series ''

Tokyo Vice ''Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan'' is a 2009 memoir by Jake Adelstein of his years living in Tokyo as the first non-Japanese reporter working for one of Japan's largest newspapers, '' Yomiuri Shinbun''. It was publ ...

'', starring

Ansel Elgort Ansel Elgort (born March 14, 1994) is an American actor and singer. He began his acting career with a supporting role in the horror film '' Carrie'' (2013) and gained wider recognition for starring as a teenage cancer patient in the romantic d ...

and

Ken Watanabe is a Japanese actor. To English-speaking audiences, he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in ''Letters from Iwo Jima'' and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in '' The Last Samurai'', for which he was nom ...

and produced by Endeavor Content and HBO Max.Rogers, J.T. (playwright)
"Japan’s Wowow Joins ‘Tokyo Vice’ Alongside Endeavor and HBO Max"
November 24, 2020,

Variety (magazine) ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', bas ...

retrieved Nov. 24, 2020 Rogers has also written for film, including a filmed version of his

-winning ''

'' for HBO, directed by Bartlett Sher and executive produced by

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

.Rogers, J.T. (playwright)
"Ruth Wilson & Andrew Scott Starring In HBO Movie ‘Oslo’; Spielberg Exec’ing Tony-Winning Play Adaptation"
November 9, 2020,

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wi ...

retrieved Nov. 24, 2020

Education

Rogers attended Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Missouri, and graduated from the

University of North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Govern ...

in 1990, where he studied acting. He also received an honorary doctorate from UNCSA in 2009. Rogers serves on the board of the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund.

Career

Rogers has indicated that his playwriting interests include: "stories... framed against great political rupture... bout peoplewho struggle with, and against... nfoldingworld events — and who are ermanently changedthrough that struggle." Rose, Charlie (interviewer), with interviewees diplomat

Terje Rød-Larsen Terje Rød-Larsen (born 22 November 1947) is a Norwegian diplomat, politician, and sociologist. Rød-Larsen came to wide international prominence as a key figure in the 1990s negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords—the first-ever agreements ...

, playwright J. T. Rogers, and director Bartlett Sher, with other segments, in
Charlie Rose: The Week, May 5, 2017
'' (Video) as aired May 6, 2017,

Public Broadcasting System The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

(PBS), retrieved May 6, 2017Rogers, J.T. (playwright)
Theater: "'Oslo' and the Drama in Diplomacy"
June 17, 2016, The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' retrieved May 6, 2017 Rogers is known for plays that deal with what he called "theater that engages the public realm" in his much-discussed Laura Pels Keynote address to the New York theater community in 2008. The speech was published as an essay in ''American Theatre'' magazine called "Writing Without Borders". His play ''The Overwhelming'', in which an American family who arrive in Kigali,

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

, in early 1994, must confront life-and-death realities of the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

, had its world premiere at the Cottesloe Theatre,

, London, in association with Out of Joint, in May 2006. It then toured throughout the UK and was performed on BBC radio. Its American premiere was at the Roundabout Theatre in September 2007. For the play, Rogers received the Otis Guernsey New Voices Playwriting Award at the 2007

William Inge William Motter Inge (; May 3, 1913 – June 10, 1973) was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broad ...

Theatre Festival in Independence, Kansas. ''The Overwhelming'' has since been done throughout the world, selected as a Top 10 Play of the Year by ''Time Magazine'', ''Time Out New York'' and the ''Chicago Tribune'', and nominated for Best Play of the Year by London's South Bank Show and Boston's Elliot Norton Awards. In 2009, Rogers was the sole American playwright along with 11 British authors to create '' The Great Game: Afghanistan'' for the Tricycle Theatre, London. The cycle of plays was a sensation, garnering an Olivier nomination for all involved. Rogers wrote the full-length play '' Blood and Gifts'', which debuted at the Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre, London, in September 2010, starring Lloyd Owen with direction by Howard Davies. The play premiered in the US

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

in October 2011 at the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

Newhouse Theater, directed by Bartlett Sher.

Charles Isherwood Charles Isherwood (born 1964/65) is an American theater critic. Education Isherwood is a graduate of Stanford University. Career Isherwood wrote for '' Backstage West'' in Los Angeles. In 1993, he joined the staff of ''Variety'', where he was pr ...

, in his review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', wrote that the play was "superb", with a "first rate production...the characters...really seem to be living in this turbulent history..." The reviewer for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', Michael Billington, criticised the writer's "advantage of hindsight which lends much of the action a self-conscious irony" but otherwise praised him for a "complex, demanding play." The play was nominated for the 2012

for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Lead Actor,

Jefferson Mays Lewis Jefferson Mays (born June 8, 1965) is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Obi ...

and the 2012 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play and Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, Jefferson Mays. J. T. Rogers' play ''Madagascar'' is set in a hotel room overlooking the Spanish Steps in Rome. It is about a mysterious disappearance that haunts the life of the play's three characters. It was commissioned by and had its world premiere at the Salt Lake Acting Company in November 2004. The play received the

American Theatre Critics Association The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) is the only nationwide professional association of theatre critics in the United States. The ATCA membership consists of theatre critics who write reviews and critiques of live theatre for print, broad ...

's 2004 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award and the 2005 Pinter Review Prize for Drama, which included its first publication by the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...

Press and a related public dramatic reading. It was also a finalist for the ATCA's Steinberg New Play Award and performed at the Summer Play Festival in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in July 2005. The play had its Australian premiere at the Melbourne Theatre Company in February 2010, directed by Sam Strong. The play had its European debut at London's

Theatre 503 Theatre503, formerly the Latchmere Theatre, is a theatre located at 503 Battersea Park Road in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth, above the Latchmere pub. The venue is known for promoting the work of new writers. History The the ...

in May 2010, directed by Tom Littler and featuring Sorcha Cusack, Barry Stanton and Miranda Foster. Rogers's other plays include ''White People'', which had its world première at the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Theatre Company and then received the L.A. Drama Critics Circle and

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly att ...

Award nominations for "Best Play of the Year". The revised play was produced by Starry Night Entertainment

in 2009, and has been seen at the English Theatre of Berlin. The play was seen in repertory with ''Madagascar'' at the Road Theatre in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

in 2010. His ''Seeing the Elephant'' was nominated for the Joseph Kesselring Prize for "Best New American Play", and his play ''Murmuring in a Dead Tongue'' was produced by Epic Rep, in New York City, where he is a company member, in its 2003–2004 season. In 2008, it was mounted as part of the inaugural DC Theater Alliance. His works have been staged in the United States at Lincoln Center Theater, Roundabout Theater Company, in London at the

and on London's West End, and across the world, including: Israel, Australia, South Korea, Germany, Norway, and Canada. Rogers's plays are published by TCG Books and Nick Hern, and

Dramatists Play Service Dramatists Play Service (also known as The Play Service) is a theatrical-publishing and licensing house, established in 1936 by members of the Dramatists Guild of America and the Society for Authors' Representatives. DPS publishes English-language ...

in acting editions. His essays have appeared in ''

'', ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'', and ''

American Theatre Theater in the United States is part of the old European theatrical tradition and has been heavily influenced by the British theater. The central hub of the American theater scene is Manhattan, with its divisions of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and ...

''. Rogers has given speeches at London's JW3, in New York City at the Sayers & Doers and House of Speakeasy speakers series; and at

Claremont McKenna College Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It has a curricular emphasis on government, economics, public affairs, finance, and international relations. CMC is a member of the Claremont Colleges c ...

in Los Angeles. He has taught master classes at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

Carnegie-Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, and the

. Rogers' 2016 political drama ''

'' became his most successful work to date, including a highly acclaimed Broadway run. ''Oslo'' premiered Off-Broadway at the

Newhouse Theatre to nearly universal acclaim. ''Oslo'' transferred to the

Beaumont Theatre, a Broadway house, where it opened on April 13, 2017. Of the larger Broadway production, Ben Brantley of the ''New York Times'' wrote that "J. T. Rogers's ''Oslo'', an against-the-odds story of international peacemaking, is undeniably a big play, as expansive and ambitious as any in recent Broadway history. So it is particularly gratifying to announce that it has been allowed to stretch to its full height in the thrilling production that opened on Thursday night, directed with a master's hand by Bartlett Sher." ''Oslo'''s cast features Jennifer Ehle and

, who also appeared in the Off-Broadway production. The Broadway production won seven awards for Best New Play, including the prestigious 2017

for Best New Play. After Broadway, ''Oslo'' transferred to London for a September 2017 run at the Royal National Theater, followed by a three-month transfer to the

Harold Pinter Theatre The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011,

in London's West End. ''Oslo'' currently enjoys a healthy career in repertory theater, having played in 2018 at Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction, Vermont; at the ACT Theater in Seattle, Washington (October and November 2018). Rogers was selected as one of ten playwrights in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

to receive a NEA/ TCG Theatre Residency for 2004–2005, through which he was playwright in residence at the Salt Lake Acting Company (

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

). In 2004 and 2008, Rogers was awarded playwriting fellowships from the

New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

. His plays are published by Faber and Faber in the US and UK and in acting editions in the US through

and Playscripts. Rogers is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a resident playwright at

New Dramatists New Dramatists is an organization of playwrights founded in 1949 and located at 424 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Hell's Kitchen (Clinton) neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The members of New Dramatists part ...

. In 2012, he won a

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowships to professionals who have demonstrated exceptional ...

Fellowship for his work.

Plays

* ''

'' (2016) * '' Blood and Gifts'' (2011) * ''The Overwhelming'' (2004) * ''Madagascar'' (2004) * ''Murmuring in a Dead Tongue'' (1998; 2003) * ''Seeing the Elephant'' * ''White People'' * ''Above the Beasts'' * ''Bob Comes to Life'' * ''Frankfurt'' * ''Penetrating Malaysia'' * ''Guy Talk'' * ''Lionel's Blue'' * ''Chicks 'N Beer'' * ''The Saddest Lines''

Film

Rogers wrote the screenplay for a filmed version of his Tony Award-winning play ''

''. The film starred

Ruth Wilson Ruth Wilson (born 13 January 1982) is an English actress. She is known for her performances as the eponymous protagonist in ''Jane Eyre'' (2006), as Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama ''Luther'' (2010–2013, 2019), as Alison L ...

and Andrew Scott and was directed by Tony-winner Bartlett Sher, who helmed the Broadway play.

and Marc Platt served as executive producers alongside Rogers, Sher, and Cambra Overend. It is a production of HBO and Endeavor Content.

Television

Rogers wrote the television drama ''

'', based on the non-fiction book by Jake Adelstein. The eight-part series was produced for

and stars

, playing Adelstein, an American journalist who embeds himself into the Tokyo Vice police squad to reveal corruption. The first episode was directed by

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television who is best known for his distinctive style of crime drama. His most acclaimed works include the films '' Thief'' (1981) ...

. The series also features

Odessa Young Odessa Young (born 11 January 1998) is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles in the 2015 feature films ''Looking for Grace'' and '' The Daughter'', the latter of which earned her an AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Sh ...

, and Ella Rumpf. It chronicles Jake's daily descent into the underbelly of Tokyo, where nothing and no one is what or who they seem. Rogers is currently writing a TV series for

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

Education

Career

Plays

Film

Television

See also

References

External links