Dan O'Brien

Dan O’Brien (he/him) is a playwright, poet, librettist, and a 2015-16 Guggenheim Fellow in Drama & Performance Art. His play-in-progress, Newtown, is co-commissioned by American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the Public Theater. His latest play, The House in Scarsdale: A Memoir for the Stage, premiered at Boston Court Pasadena, directed by Michael Michetti, and received the 2018 PEN America Award for Drama. His play about the Battle of Mogadishu and the haunting of war reporter Paul Watson, The Body of an American, premiered at Portland Center Stage, directed by Bill Rauch, and ran off-Broadway at Primary Stages (NY Times Critic’s Pick), directed by Jo Bonney, in London at the Gate Theatre, and at various theaters around the US. The Body of an American received the inaugural Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, the Horton Foote Prize for Best New American Play, the PEN Center USA Award for Drama, and the L. Arnold Weissberger Award. Previous plays have been produced at Second Stage Theater, the Humana Festival at Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Page 73 Productions, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, and elsewhere. O’Brien is the recipient of fellowships including the Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University and residencies at the New Harmony Project, the National Playwrights Conference, and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Italy. His plays are published by Samuel French, Oberon, Playscripts, and Broadway Play Publishing. Dan O’Brien: Plays One was published in 2018 by Oberon Books in London. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actor, writer and producer Jessica St. Clair, and their daughter Isobel.