Catherine Butterfield (born February 5, 1958, in Manhattan, New York City, New York) is an American playwright, screenwriter and actress. She lives in Santa Monica with her partner, Ron West. She has one daughter, the actress Audrey Corsa.
Early life
Butterfield was born in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
on February 5, 1958. She was raised in
Edina, Minnesota
Edina ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota.
Edina began as a small farming and mil ...
, and
Hingham, Massachusetts
Hingham ( ) is a town in metropolitan Greater Boston on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts in northern Plymouth County. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,284. Hingham is known for its colonial history and location o ...
, the daughter of a television executive. The eldest of five, she graduated from
Southern Methodist University
, mottoeng = " The truth will make you free"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = SACS
, academic_affiliations =
, religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church
, president = R. Gerald Turner
, pr ...
with a BFA in drama and began her career as an actress in regional theatre (
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and contemporary pla ...
,
Pittsburgh Public Theater
Pittsburgh Public Theater, or The Public for short, is a professional theater company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After the retirement of longtime Producing Artistic Director Ted Pappas, The Public began the 2018–2019 season with a new ...
, Seattle Repertory, Long Wharf, later starring in New York productions of her plays ''Joined at the Head'', ''Snowing at Delphi'', ''Where the Truth Lies'', and ''Bobo's Birthday'', a one-woman show.
Career
Her play ''Joined at the Head'' was performed at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 1992 and won the Robert L. Stevens/
Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
award for excellence, as well as being published in ''Best Plays of 1992-93'' (). Mel Gussow wrote, "In this, her first full-length play to be presented in New York, Butterfield is revealed as a playwright with a refreshing talent for probing the reality of relationships. In a manner related to that of Tom Stoppard and John Guare, the work deals enticingly with truth and fiction... a vibrant reflection on life and art." (New York Times, November 19, 1992, "When an Old Friendship Is More Than It Seems".) Subsequent award-winning plays include ''Life in the Trees'' (Davie award—Best new play in regional theatre) and ''The Sleeper'' (2004 Kaufman and Hart Prize for new American comedy.) In 2014, she wrote ''It Has To Be You'', and in 2016 she wrote the comedy ''Life Expectancy'', which debuted at the Hollywood Fringe.
In television, she has been a writer/producer for ''
Ghost Whisperer
''Ghost Whisperer'' is an American supernatural television series, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005, to May 21, 2010.
The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has the ability to see and communicate wit ...
'', ''
Party of Five
''Party of Five'' is an American television teen and family drama created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox for six seasons from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000. The series featured an ensemble cast led by ...
'',
and ''
Fame L.A.
''Fame L.A.'' is an American drama series that aired in syndication from 1997 to 1998. It told the story of a drama/dance school in Los Angeles where students honed their talents while overcoming various personal problems. It starred Heidi Noe ...
''. For the web, she wrote and directed the short film ''John's Hand'', which can be seen at www.strike.tv and was an official entry at the Asheville Film Festival and Los Angeles Hi-Def Film Festival. She wrote a screenplay for
Participant Media
Participant Media, LLC is an American film production company founded in 2004 by Jeffrey Skoll, dedicated to entertainment intended to spur social change. The company finances and co-produces film and television content, as well as digital entert ...
based on the life of
Susie Krabacher, a ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
'' centerfold turned savior of the children of Haiti, and developed a film for
Lifetime TV
Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...
based on the life of the teen-aged violinist Tiffany Clay, the subject of a 2009 article 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 ...
''.
Bibliography
Published plays
*''Brownstone'' (Playscripts, Inc.)
*''Joined at the Head'' (Dramatists Play Service)
*''Life in the Trees'' (Dramatists Play Service)
*''Snowing at Delphi'' (Dramatists Play Service)
*''Where the Truth Lies'' (Samuel French)
*''The Sleeper'' (Dramatists Play Service)
*''No Problem'' (one-act play) (Samuel French)
*''Best Plays of 1992'' (anthology) (Smith and Kraus)
Anthologies and collections
*''Women Playwrights: The Best Plays of 1992'' (Smith and Krause, )
*''One on One: The Best Women's Monologues for the Nineties'' (Jack Temchin, )
*''Off-Off Broadway Festival Plays'', Series 13 (Samuel French, )
*''The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 1994'' (Smith and Kraus, )
References
External links
*
Catherine Butterfieldat Doollee.com
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butterfield, Catherine
1958 births
Living people
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
American women television writers
American television writers
People from Edina, Minnesota
People from Hingham, Massachusetts
Southern Methodist University alumni
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women writers