Nicky Silver 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 ...

. Formerly of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, he resides in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, after several years in London. Many of his plays have been produced

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 ...

, and also at 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.

Biography

Early life

Silver was born in 1960 in Philadelphia and as teen, attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He graduated from the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

(NYU) Tisch School of the Arts.Horwitz, Simi
"Face to Face : Nicky Silver Answers - "The Maiden's Prayer'"
backstage.com, March 13, 1998

Career

Many of his early plays were originally produced

off-off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway theatre, Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commerc ...

at the Vortex Theatre in New York. Later, his plays premiered at

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 ...

venues such as the

Vineyard Theatre The Vineyard Theatre is a 120-seat Off-Broadway non-profit theatre company, located at 108 East 15th Street in Manhattan, New York City, near Union Square. Founded in 1981 by Barbara Zinn Krieger, the Vineyard states that its goal is "to give ...

and

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. ...

. Silver noted: "My first real break came when the artistic director of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. happened to walk in and saw, 'Fat Man in Skirts.'" Several of his plays received premieres at the

in Washington, DC, including
Fat Men in Skirts
' (1991),
Free Will and Wanton Lust
' (January 1993) and ''The Food Chain'' (1993-94 season). In her review of ''Fat Men in Skirts'' at Woolly Mammoth Theatre for ''

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 ...

'', Lloyd Rose wrote: "Silver is a modern American absurdist in the tradition of John Guare or Harry Kondoleon, but more of a lowbrow. His go-for-the-laugh instincts are as naked as any sitcom writer's. The dizzying, rather wonderful thing about "Fat Men in Skirts" is that such a shallow technique is made to serve such a deep and anguished vision. Silver never met a pain he couldn't laugh at." ''Pterodactyls'' was produced Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in October 1993.

Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher, and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 t ...

wrote in his ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' review: "His grimly witty play 'Pterodactyls' recycles all the cliches of the unraveling all-American family and scales them up to the point that they become poignantly grotesque symbols of a species on the verge of extinction... staged with firecracker snap by David Warren and illuminated by several incandescent performances, 'Pterodactyls' offers, for its first three-quarters, as much antic fizz as any comedy in town." ''Pterodactyls'' gained additional recognition in the media because the play was produced with large dinosaurs by sculptor Jim Gary in its sets. ''Raised in Captivity'' was produced at the Vineyard Theater in March 1995. Ben Brantley wrote in his ''New York Times'' review: "The roads to alienation, as modern literature can testify, are many and varied. But they have seldom been mapped out with the fearless combination of comic artifice and heart-wrenching empathy that Mr. Silver brings to them. 'Raised in Captivity' is about guilt, redemption and self-punishment, and against all odds, it is also very funny." His plays ''Pterodactyls'' and ''Raised in Captivity'' received back-to-back

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 ...

nominations for Outstanding Play in 1994 and 1995, respectively. His play ''The Food Chain'' ran Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre in August 1995 to June 1996, (initially produced at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre) with direction by

Robert Falls Robert Falls (born March 2, 1954) is an American theater director and the former artistic director of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. Biography Early years Robert Arthur Falls was born March 2, 1954, in Springfield, IL to Arthur J ...

and a cast that featured Hope Davis, Patrick Fabian and

Phyllis Newman Phyllis Newman (March 19, 1933 – September 15, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She won the 1962 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Martha Vail in the musical '' Subways Are for Sleeping'' on Broadway ...

. Ben Brantley in his ''New York Times'' review wrote: "In 'The Food Chain,' Nicky Silver's toxic, fractured tale of sex, loneliness and the importance of being thin, the pursuit of love is an even more convoluted process than usual. It's hard, after all, to forge a relationship when all you can really hear is the sound of your own voice. For the poisonously funny, image-obsessed Manhattanites in the play, all the world's a mirror. It's no accident that much of this breathless comedy of neuroses at the Westside Theater is made up of monologues, even though there are nearly always at least two people onstage." The play was nominated for 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 ...

as Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, and won the

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

, Performance for

Tom McGowan Thomas McGowan (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. He first became known for his stage career both on and off Broadway. In 1991, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor i ...

. Silver wrote the new

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

for the Broadway revival of the

Rodgers and Hart Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership between composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and the lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895–1943). They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart's ...

musical, ''

The Boys from Syracuse ''The Boys from Syracuse'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play '' The Comedy of Errors'', as adapted by librettist George Abbott. The score includes swing and other contemp ...

'', produced by the Roundabout Theater Company in 2002. '' The Lyons'', opened on Broadway in April 2012, after an Off-Broadway run at the Vineyard Theater in 2011. It was his first play to be produced on Broadway. The play starred Linda Lavin and Dick Latessa. His play ''Too Much Sun'' premiered Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre on May 1, 2014 in previews, officially on May 18, with direction by Mark Brokaw and starring Linda Lavin and

Jennifer Westfeldt Jennifer Westfeldt (born February 2, 1970) is an American actress, director, screenwriter, and producer. She is best known for co-writing, co-producing, and starring in the 2002 indie film '' Kissing Jessica Stein'', for which she received an I ...

. ''This Day Forward'' premiered Off-Broadway on November 21, 2016 at the Vineyard Theatre. The play, a comedy, is directed by Mark Brokaw and features Holley Fain and Michael Crane.

Original plays (select)

* ''Fat Men in Skirts'' 1989 (Vortex Theatre); 1991 (Woolly Mammoth) * ''Pterodactyls'' - 1993 * ''Free Will and Wanton Lust'' - 1993 * ''Raised in Captivity'' - 1995 * ''The Food Chain'' - 1995 * ''Fit to be Tied'' - 1996 * ''The Maiden's Prayer'' - 1998 * ''The Eros Trilogy'', consisting of ''Claire'', ''Philip'' and ''Roger and Miriam'' - 1999 * ''The Altruists'' - 2000 * '' Beautiful Child'' - 2004 * ''The Agony and the Agony'' - 2006 * ''Three Changes'' - 2008 * ''The Lyons'' - 2011 * ''Too Much Sun'' - 2014 * ''This Day Forward'' – 2016

Critical analysis

In the preface to his interview with Silver, David Savran locates Silver's work in the tradition of dark

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...

created by gay playwrights such as

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

Joe Orton John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his murder in 1967 committed by his partner, was short but highly i ...

, 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 ...

. Theatre scholar Jordan Schildcrout has noted the recurring theme of the prodigal son in Silver's plays, and sees Todd in ''Pterodactyls'' as a symbolic figure who challenges and subverts

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

stereotypes used to vilify gay men during the AIDS crisis.

Awards and honors

* 1994 - ''Pterodactyls'' - nominated for Outstanding Play, Drama Desk Awards * 1995 - ''Raised in Captivity'' - nominated for Outstanding Play, Drama Desk Awards * 2012 - ''The Lyons'' - nominated for Outstanding New Broadway Play; Mark Brokaw (Outstanding Director of a Play); and Linda Lavin (Outstanding Actress in a Play),

Gans, Andrew.
"62nd Annual Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations Announced; 'Nice Work' Receives Nine Nods"
playbill.com, April 23, 2012

References

External links

Official website
* *
Nicky Silver
at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
Nicky Silver Plays at doollee.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver, Nicky Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Tisch School of the Arts alumni Writers from Philadelphia 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers