Itamar Moses

Itamar Moses (born 1977) is an American playwright, author, producer and television writer. He gained acclaim for writing the book for the Broadway musical '' The Band's Visit'' (2017) receiving the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. He wrote the play ''Completeness'' (2011) earning a nomination for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. He wrote books for the musicals ''Nobody Loves You'' (2012) and '' The Fortress of Solitude'' (2014). His latest play '' The Ally'' (2024) about a college teacher conflicted about signing a petition debuted at The Public Theatre.

Moses started his television career writing for the TNT comedy-drama '' Men of a Certain Age'' (2010–2011), and the HBO drama series '' Boardwalk Empire'' (2011), the latter of which earned him nominations for two Writers Guild of America Awards. He also served as a writer and producer for the WGN drama series '' Outsiders'' in 2017 and the Showtime drama series '' The Affair'' from 2018 to 2019.

Early life and education

Moses grew up in a Jewish family in Berkeley, California, earned his bachelor's degree at Yale University, and his Master of Fine Arts degree in dramatic writing from New York University. He has taught playwriting at both Yale and New York University.

Career

Moses wrote the play ''Completeness'' (2011) which premiered at the South Coast Repertory Theatre before transferring to Playwrights Horizons, New York City. The play revolves around young people, in the Computer Science and Biology Departments of a university, talking about love, molecular biology and computer science, while going through a variety of partners. Bob Verini of '' Variety'' in a mixed review praised his writing declaring, " oseswrites ''Completeness'' for both genders — quite well, too — with an unexpectedly fine ear for contempo sexual politics’ dizzying conversational loops". The play went on to receive a nomination for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. He has written for the TNT comedy-drama '' Men of a Certain Age'' (2010–2011) and HBO drama series '' Boardwalk Empire'' (2011), the latter of which earned him nominations for two Writers Guild of America Awards.

In 2014 he wrote the book to the musical '' The Fortress of Solitude'' with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman. The musical premiered at The Public Theatre starring Adam Chanler-Berat, André De Shields, Brian Tyree Henry, and Rebecca Naomi Jones. The musical is a coming-of-age story about teenagers in 1970s Brooklyn.Staff
"The Verdict: Critics Review the New Musical 'The Fortress of Solitude' at The Public"
playbill.com, October 23, 2014 Marilyn Stasio of '' Variety'' praised the production but questioned its Broadway potential writing, "Is there an audience for this extraordinary show? Yes. Is there a Broadway audience? Maybe not." She added, "Make no mistake about it; this is no nostalgia piece, but the tragedy of friends who lost touch with one another and the music they grew up with."

His most prominent work, the musical ''The Band's Visit'', opened on December 8, 2016, at the Atlantic Theater Company. That production won the 2017 Obie Award for Musical Theatre Off-Broadway. After closing on January 9, 2017, the musical moved to Broadway. It began previews on October 7, 2017, and officially opened on November 9, 2017, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. For his work on '' The Band's Visit'', Moses won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.

In 2024 Moses wrote the comedy-drama '' The Ally'' starring Josh Radnor as a Jewish college professor who deals with the moral quandary of being asked to sign a petition involving the denouncement of the state of Israel. The play was originally conceived during the Obama years and was slated to premiere in 2020 but was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The production directed by Lila Neugebauer has received positive reviews with Sara Holdren of ''Vulture'' praising the performances and writing adding, "Pulsing ominously at the heart of ''The Ally'' is a question — a truly frightening one for artists, for scholars, for critics — about the more perilous face of nuance." In a mixed review from Jesse Green of ''The New York Times'' he wrote that while "Moses’s play offers eloquent arguments on all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" it lacks certain narrative stakes adding, "I felt the need for more wisdom than craft".

Works

Theatre

Television

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

*''Bach at Leipzig''. New York: Faber and Faber, 2005.
*''The Four of Us''. New York: Faber and Faber, 2008.

References

External links

Internet Off-Broadway Database

Outrage at Google Books


at curtainup.com


at curtainup.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moses, Itamar
1977 births
Living people
21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
Jewish American dramatists and playwrights
Tony Award winners
Writers from Berkeley, California
Yale University alumni
New York University alumni
Yale University faculty
New York University faculty
21st-century American Jews