David Lindsay-Abaire (né Abaire; born November 30, 1969) is an American playwright, lyricist and screenwriter. He received the

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...

in 2007 for his play '' Rabbit Hole'', which also earned several

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 ...

nominations. Lindsay-Abaire won both the 2023 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical and Tony Award for Best Original Score for the musical adaptation of his play ''Kimberly Akimbo''.

Early life and education

David Lindsay-Abaire was born David Abaire in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in

South Boston South Boston (colloquially known as Southie) is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay (Boston Harbor), Dorchester Bay. It has under ...

. He attended

Milton Academy Milton Academy (informally referred to as Milton) is a coeducational, co-educational, Independent school, independent, and College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts, educating students in g ...

and concentrated in theatre at

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 ...

, from which he graduated in 1992. He was accepted into the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at 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 ...

, where he wrote under the tutelage of playwrights Marsha Norman and

Christopher Durang Christopher Ferdinand Durang (January 2, 1949 – April 2, 2024) was an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s, though his career seemed to get a second wind in th ...

from 1996 to 1998. In a 2000 interview, Lindsay-Abaire cited Durang as his greatest influence, adding, "I don't think there's been a piece written about me that hasn't mentioned the fact that he and I live in the same world. But I think I've also been influenced by

John Guare John Guare ( ; born February 5, 1938) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is best known as the author of '' The House of Blue Leaves'' and '' Six Degrees of Separation''. Early life He was raised in Jackson Heights, Queens.Druckma ...

and Tina Howe and older folks like Feydeau and Ionesco and Joe Orton."

Career

Lindsay-Abaire had his first theatrical success with '' Fuddy Meers,'' which was workshopped as part of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in 1998 under Artistic Director Lloyd Richards. The play premiered

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 tha ...

at the Manhattan Theatre Club, running from November 2, 1999, to January 2000 and transferred to the Minetta Lane Theatre on January 27, 2000, closing in April 2000 after 16 previews and 78 performances there. He returned to the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2001 with '' Wonder of the World'', starring

Sarah Jessica Parker Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress and television producer. In a career spanning over five decades, she has performed across several productions of both Sarah Jessica Parker filmography, screen and stage. List o ...

, about a wife who suddenly leaves her husband and hops a bus to

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

in search of freedom, enlightenment, and the meaning of life. Lindsay-Abaire also wrote '' Kimberly Akimbo'' (2000), ''Dotting and Dashing'' (1999), '' Snow Angel'' (1999), and ''A Devil Inside'' (Off-Broadway, 1997). Among his early short plays, he wrote ''The Li'l Plays'' (1997-1999) which are five comedic plays, each 10–15 minutes in length. His play '' Rabbit Hole'' premiered in 2006 on Broadway with Cynthia Nixon,

Tyne Daly Ellen Tyne Daly (; born February 21, 1946) is an American actress whose six-decade career included many leading roles in movies and theater. She has won six Emmy Awards for her television work, a Tony Award, and is a 2011 American Theatre Hall of ...

, and John Slattery, and won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was nominated for a

for Best Play, as well as other Tony awards, and Cynthia Nixon won the 2006 Tony Award as Best Actress. He wrote the book for the musical ''

High Fidelity High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...

'', which ran on Broadway in December 2006. He wrote the book and lyrics for the musical '' Shrek the Musical'' which ran on Broadway from November 8, 2008 (previews) to January 3, 2010, with Lindsay-Abaire receiving a 2009

nomination for Book of a Musical and in the West End in May 2011. The musical ran for 441 performances on Broadway. '' Good People'' officially opened on Broadway on March 3, 2011, with

Frances McDormand Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and film producer. In a career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awa ...

and

Tate Donovan Tate Buckley Donovan (born September 25, 1963) is an American actor, comedian and television director. He is known for portraying Tom Shayes in ''Damages'', Jimmy Cooper in '' The O.C.'', and the voice of the title character in the 1997 Disne ...

in the lead roles. The play was nominated for the 2011

, Best Play and won the 2011 Tony Award, Actress in a Play for McDormand. His play ''Ripcord'' opened Off-Broadway on October 20, 2015, at the Manhattan Theatre Club in a limited engagement. Directed by David Hyde Pierce, the cast features Marylouise Burke, Rachel Dratch, Glenn Fitzgerald, and

Holland Taylor Holland Taylor (born January 14, 1943) is an American actress. She won the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Judge Roberta Kittleson on ABC's ''The Practice'' (1998–2003) and she ...

. The play focuses on two roommates in a retirement home, who according to ''Variety'' "devise dirty tricks...to torment one another." Lindsay-Abaire has received commissions from Dance Theater Workshop and the Jerome Foundation. He has received awards from the Berilla Kerr Foundation, 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 ...

LeComte du Nuoy Fund, Mixed Blood Theater, Primary Stages, the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, the Tennessee Williams/ New Orleans Literary Festival, and the South Carolina Playwrights Festival. In 2021, Lindsay-Abaire adapted his 2000 play ''Kimberly Akimbo'' into a musical of the same name, with a score by

Jeanine Tesori Jeanine Tesori, known earlier in her career as Jeanine Levenson, (born November 10, 1961) is an American composer and Arrangement, musical arranger best known for her work in the theater. She is the most prolific and honored female theatrical com ...

. The musical premiered in 2021 with the Atlantic Theatre Company before transferring to Broadway's Booth Theatre. The musical opened November 12, 2022. ''Kimberly Akimbo'' went on to win 5 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book of a Musical.

Film

Lindsay-Abaire wrote the screenplay of the 2010

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

of his play ''Rabbit Hole'', which starred

Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...

. His other screenplays have tended to be in the children's fantasy and science fiction genres, including the animated film ''

Robots" \n\n\n\n\n\n\nrobots.txt is the filename used for implementing the Robots Exclusion Protocol, a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the website they are allowed to visit.\n\nThe sta ...

'' (2005), written with Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, '' Inkheart'' (2008), based on the novel of the same name, the animated film '' Rise of the Guardians'' (2012), based on a story by children's author, illustrator and filmmaker

William Joyce William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born Fascism, fascist and Propaganda of Nazi Germany, Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the World War II, Second World War. After moving from ...

, who was originally attached to direct the film before stepping down to serve as executive producer, and '' Oz the Great and Powerful'' (2013), written with Mitchell Kapner. He also wrote the screenplay for the 2015 horror remake ''

Poltergeist In German folklore and ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; ; or ) is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descriptions of polter ...

.''

Personal life

Lindsay-Abaire and his wife, Christine, are longtime residents of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, living in Ditmas Park . In 2016, Lindsay-Abaire was named co-director of

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts 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 the Juilliard School, named aft ...

's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program.

Theatre works (selected)

* ''A Devil Inside'' – 1997, Off-Broadway * '' Fuddy Meers'' – 1999, Off-Broadway * '' Snow Angel'' – 1999, Regional * '' Kimberly Akimbo'' – 2000, Off-Broadway * '' Wonder of the World'' – 2001, Off-Broadway * '' Rabbit Hole'' – 2006, Broadway * ''

'' (musical) – 2006, Broadway * '' Shrek the Musical'' (musical) – 2008, Broadway * '' Good People'' – 2011, Broadway * ''Ripcord'' – 2015, Off-Broadway * '' Kimberly Akimbo'' (musical) – 2021, Off-Broadway; 2022, Broadway

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsay-Abaire, David 1969 births 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters American male dramatists and playwrights American male screenwriters American musical theatre lyricists American lyricists Animation screenwriters Broadway composers and lyricists Juilliard School alumni Living people Milton Academy alumni People from Flatbush, Brooklyn People from South Boston Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Sarah Lawrence College alumni Screenwriters from Massachusetts Songwriters from Massachusetts Tony Award winners Writers from Boston Writers from Brooklyn