David Adjmi (born 1973) is an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. He is the recipient of a

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

, a

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

, a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, an

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 ...

, a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

, a Whiting Award, the inaugural Steinberg Playwright Award, a Bush Artists Fellowship, and the Kesselring Prize for Drama. In 2020, he released a memoir about the struggle to become an artist, titled ''Lot Six''. His plays include '' Stunning'' (2008) and ''

Stereophonic Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

'' (2023), the latter winning the

Tony Award for Best Play The Tony Award for Best Play (formally, an Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award given to the best new (non-musical) play on Broadway, as determined by Tony Award voters. There was no award in the Tonys' first year ...

Life

Adjmi grew up in a Syrian Jewish family in

Midwood, Brooklyn Midwood is a neighborhood in the south-central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded on the north by the Bay Ridge Branch tracks just above Avenue I and by the Brooklyn College campus of the City University of New York, ...

. He is a graduate of

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

(1995), the Playwrights Workshop at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

(MFA 2001), and the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

's American Playwrights Program (2003). As of 2010, he resided in

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south ...

Career

Adjmi's play ''The Evildoers'' was developed at the

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by actor Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and compo ...

and the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It premiered in January 2008 at the

Yale Repertory Theatre Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of Yale School of Drama, in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented stud ...

. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "an anxiety attack of a play" and, of Adjmi, noted that he is "clearly a writer with a distinct voice, ambition and style." His play '' Stunning'' opened a month later at

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 ...

Washington DC 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, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

where it was selected as one of the top ten plays of the year by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' and was published in ''American Theatre'' magazine. ''Stunning'' premiered in New York at

Lincoln Center Theater The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Operated by the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater (LCT ...

in June 2009 where it played an extended run to sold-out houses. Adjmi's play ''Marie Antoinette'' was developed at the Goodman Theatre's New Stages Series and the Sundance Institute's Residency at the Public Theatre. It will premiere in a coproduction between the

American Repertory Theater The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1979 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to ne ...

and Yale Repertory Theatre in Fall 2012. His play ''3C'' premieres at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in June 2012. His monologue ''Elective Affinities'' was commissioned by the

and later premiered at the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In November 2011 it received its U.S. Premiere at Soho Repertory Theatre, featuring Tony Award-winning actress

Zoe Caldwell Zoe Ada Caldwell (14 September 1933 – 16 February 2020) was an Australian actress. She was a four-time Tony Award winner, winning Best Featured Actress in a Play for '' Slapstick Tragedy'' (1966), and Best Actress in a Play for '' The Prim ...

, and directed by OBIE winner Sarah Benson. His play ''Marie Antoinette'', which was presented at Yale Rep. in 2012 and received three Connecticut Critics Circle Awards including Best Play, opened the 2013–2014 season at Soho Rep. under the direction of Rebecca Taichman and with many members of the original cast. ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' named Adjmi as one of the Top Ten in Culture for 2011, and described him as an artist who is part of "a new trend in the American theatre." Other plays include ''Strange Attractors'', ''Caligula'' and the controversial hit ''3C'' which put Adjmi in the center of a media firestorm and a legal battle with DLT Entertainment, the rights holders of the television series ''

Three's Company ''Three's Company'' is an American television sitcom that aired for eight seasons on ABC from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984. Developed by Don Nicholl, Michael Ross and Bernie West, it is based on the British sitcom '' Man About the ...

'' which Adjmi satirized in his play. DLT issued a Cease and Desist to the playwright on Adjmi's opening night. In 2014, Adjmi sued for a declaratory judgment that he had not infringed DLT's copyright. On March 31, 2015, three years after its premiere, United States District Judge Loretta Preska ruled in a 56-page decision that the play deconstructed rather than repeated the sitcom, turning it into “a nightmarish version of itself” and was protected as a fair use. ''3C'' made Year's Best lists in Time Out New York, the New York Post and The Advocate. Adjmi is the recipient of numerous awards for his work, including the Helen Merrill Award, the Marian Seldes-Garson Kanin Fellowship, and McKnight and Jerome Fellowships from The Playwrights' Center. A collection of his work, ''Stunning and Other Plays'', was published by Theatre Communications Group in 2011, and a second collection, ''1789/1978'', was published in October 2017. Adjmi is currently at work on ''The Stumble'', a commission for Lincoln Center Theatre. Adjmi's play ''

'', a co-commission for Second Stage Theatre and Center Theater Group, had its world premiere at

Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit American Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. ...

in 2023. On January 17, 2024, it was announced that ''Stereophonic'' would transfer to the

John Golden Theatre The John Golden Theatre, formerly the Theatre Masque and Masque Theater, is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 252 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York ...

for a limited run on Broadway, marking Adjmi's Broadway debut. Previews began on April 3, 2024, with opening night on April 19. The production received acclaim from critics, earning 13 nominations and 5 wins at the 77th Tony Awards, including Best Play. ''Stereophonic'' holds the record for the most Tony nominations by a play, surpassing the record previously held by '' Slave Play''.

Works

* 2003: ''Strange Attractors'' (Empty Space Theatre, Seattle) * 2005: ''Elective Affinities'' (Royal Court Theatre, London, RSC/Stratford) * 2008: ''Caligula'' (Soho Rep Studio Series) * 2008: ''The Evildoers'' (Yale Rep) * 2008: '' Stunning'' (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, DC) * 2009: ''Stunning'' (Lincoln Center Theater) * 2011: ''Elective Affinities'' ( Soho Repertory Theatre, NY) * 2012: ''3C'' ( Rattlestick Playwrights Theater) * 2012: ''Marie Antoinette'' (American Repertory Theatre/Yale Repertory Theatre) * 2013: ''Marie Antoinette'' ( Soho Repertory Theatre, NY) * 2015: ''Marie Antoinette'' (

Steppenwolf Theatre Company Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theater company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry (American actor), Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Immaculate Conception grade school in Highland Park, Illinois and is now located in Chica ...

, Chicago) * 2018: ''The Stumble'' (

, NY) * 2018: ''

'' (Sundance Theatre Lab, Mass Moca, North Adams, MA) * 2019: ''The Blind King'' (Sundance Theatre Lab, Sundance, UT) * 2023: ''Stereophonic'' (

, NY) * 2024: ''Stereophonic'' (

, NY)

References

External links

"I Interview Playwrights, Part 5: David Adjmi"
Adam Szymkowicz. June 6, 2009.

''The New Yorker''. Hilton Als. December 28, 2011.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Stunning

Profile and Production History at The Whiting Foundation

Reviews

"Stunning"
Time Out New York. June 10, 2009.

The New York Times. June 16, 2009.
"Stunning"
The New Yorker. June 29, 2009.

The New York Times. December 3, 2011.

The New York Times. December 15, 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Adjmi, David Living people 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights Sarah Lawrence College alumni University of Iowa alumni American people of Syrian descent American people of Syrian-Jewish descent Syrian LGBTQ people Syrian gay men Juilliard School alumni American male dramatists and playwrights Writers from Brooklyn 21st-century American male writers People from Midwood, Brooklyn 1973 births