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Aaron Posner is an American playwright and
theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
director. He was co-founder of the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia and was the artistic director of Two River Theater from 2006 to 2010. He has directed over 100 productions at major regional theater companies across the country. He has won six Helen Hayes Awards, two Barrymore Awards, 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 news ...
, the John Gassner Prize, a Joseph Jefferson Award, a Bay Area Theatre Award, and an Eliot Norton Award.


Biography

Born in
Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...
, and raised in
Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...
, Posner is the son of
Michael Posner (psychologist) Michael I. Posner (; born September 12, 1936) is an American psychologist who is a researcher in the field of attention, and the editor of numerous cognitive and neuroscience compilations. He is emeritus professor of psychology at the Univers ...
and Sharon Posner. He is married to six-time Helen Hayes Award winning actress Erin Weaver. They have one daughter together. In 1988, Posner was the founding Artistic Director of Philadelphia's Arden Theatre Company, where he served as Artistic Director for the company's first 10 seasons. Later, from 2006-2010, he was artistic director of Two River Theatre Company in Red Bank, New Jersey. Since 2010 he has lived near Washington DC where he has worked at virtually every theatre in the area as a director and playwright. He has adapted novels as plays, and later created new variations of classic plays, including some by
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
and
Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...
. Among Posner's best-known early adaptions are ''The Chosen'' (1999), based on Chaim Potok's 1967 novel of the same name, and ''My Name Is Asher Lev'' (2009), based on Potok's 1972 novel of the same name. With composer James Sugg, Posner created ''A Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical'' (2006), adapted from a short story of the same name by
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...
that was published in 2001. Posner wrote the book and lyrics. The work premiered in
Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...
, in a co-production of the Round House Theatre and the Delaware Theatre Company.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
Posner's most produced play is a variation of Chekhov's 1896 play ''
The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...
'', under the title of '' Stupid Fucking Bird'', premiered in 2013 by the
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is a non-profit theatre company located at 641 D Street NW in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1980, it produces new plays which it believes to be edgy, challenging, and thought-provok ...
in Washington, D.C. It was very different from his previous adaptations, his own answer to Chekhov, rather than a more conventional adaptation. The play has since been produced more than 200 times by professional and amateur theatre companies and universities in the United States, as well as internationally, including professional productions in Australia, Canada, Romania, Estonia, Luxembourg, Sweden, South Africa, Mexico, and other countries. Posner has adapted Chekhov's ''
Uncle Vanya ''Uncle Vanya'' ( rus, Дя́дя Ва́ня, r=Dyádya Ványa, p=ˈdʲædʲə ˈvanʲə) is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897, and first produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Konstan ...
'' and '' Three Sisters'' as well. His ''Life Sucks'' (2015) premiered at
Theater J Theater J is a professional theater company located in Washington, DC, founded to present works that "celebrate the distinctive urban voice and social vision that are part of the Jewish cultural legacy". Organization Hailed by ''The New York ...
in Washington, D.C. ''No Sisters'' (2017), which premiered at the
Studio Theatre A black box theater is a performance space, typically a square or rectangular room, with black walls and a black, flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interact ...
in Washington, D.C., ran as a companion play to their production of ''Three Sisters''. For the
Chicago Shakespeare Theater Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) is a non-profit, professional theater company located at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Its more than six hundred annual performances performed 48 weeks of the year include its critically acclaimed Shakespeare ...
, Posner co-directed ''
The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...
'' with magician Teller. The production made use of the songs of
Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...
and Kathleen Brennan. Posner re-imagined Shakespeare's ''
The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend, Bassanio, and provided by a ...
'', in a variation called ''District Merchants: An Uneasy Comedy'' (2016) commissioned by Folger Theatre. It is set in Washington, D.C., during the
Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...
, 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 emancipated
freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...
, it premiered at the Folger Shakespeare Library on May 31, 2016. Posner is a tenured full professor in the Theatre/Musical Theatre program at
American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...
in
Washington, D.C Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Posner, Aaron Living people Year of birth missing (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