Short Talks on the Universe - Broadway Creative Team

Plays include Mizlansky/Zilinsky or "schmucks," The Film Society, The Substance of Fire, The End of the Day, Three Hotels, A Fair Country, (an adaptation of) Hedda Gabler, Ten Unknowns and The Paris Letter. He is a Pulitzer Prize finalist for A Fair Country and a Guggenheim, NEA and American Academy of Arts & Letters Award winner. He is on the faculties of the New School's Graduate Drama Division and Stony Brook South Hampton's MFA in theater and film. His screenplays include The Substance of Fire and People I Know starring Al Pacino, both for Miramax. He created the ABC-TV drama ... read more Ephron is well known for her films When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Go Mail and more recently, Julie & Julia. For the stage, Ephron has written Short Talks on the Universe, the Drama Desk Award-winning Love, Loss, and What I Wore, Imaginary Friends, Lucky Guy, and more. Ephron started her career as a newspaper reporter for the New York Post and then became a magazine writer for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, and New York Magazine. After gaining a reputation as a journalist, Ephron turned to screenwriting and directing. Her break-out success came in 1989, with the ... read more Jules Feiffer is a celebrated American cartoonist, playwright, and screenwriter born on January 26, 1929, in the Bronx, New York. He is best known for his satirical cartoon strips that appeared in The Village Voice for over four decades. Feiffer's work often tackled political and social issues, and he was one of the first cartoonists to address the changing cultural landscape of the 1960s. Feiffer's career began in the 1940s as a staff cartoonist for The Daily Worker, a communist newspaper. In the 1950s, he began contributing to The Village Voice, where his cartoons quickly gained popularity. His first book, "Sick, ... read more Tony Kushner's other plays include A Bright Room Called Day; Angels In America, Parts One and Two; Slavs!; Homebody/Kabul and Caroline, or Change. His adaptations include Corneille's The Illusion, S.Y. Ansky's The Dybbuk, and Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan and Mother Courage and Her Children (Public Theater). Kushner’s films include Angels In America, directed by Mike Nichols and Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg. His books include Brundibar, illustrations by Maurice Sendak; The Art of Maurice Sendak, 1980 to the Present; and Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict (co-edited with Alisa Solomon). Kushner has received the ... read more As an actor, comedian, author, playwright, screenwriter, producer and musician- Martin is one of the most diversified performers and acclaimed artists of his generation. Martin has been successful as a writer of and performer in some of the most popular movies of recent film history-appearing in more than 50 films over the course of his career. With titles such as Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Parenthood; Father of the Bride and Cheaper by the Dozen franchises;Baby Mama; and It's Complicated, Martin's films are the kind that are viewed again and again. Martin wrote the screenplays for some of his most celebrated ... read more Elaine May was a founding member of the improvisational theater groups the Compass Players and The Second City. She first came to national prominence with Nichols and May, her improvisational comedy duo with Mike Nichols, which became an immediate and overnight sensation, and stands as one of the most iconic comedy teams in history. Their hit recordings include the Grammy Award-winning chart-topping classic, An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Improvisations to Music, Mike Nichols and Elaine May Examine Doctors, and In Retrospect; and their work has influenced many of the greatest comedians of our time, including Steve Martin, ... read more McNally has had a remarkably far-ranging career spanning six decades. In 2018 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is a recipient of the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award. He has won four Tony Awards for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class and his musical books for Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime. He has written a number of TV scripts, including "Andre's Mother," for which he won an Emmy Award. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, four Drama Desk Awards, two ... read more The 70 plus shows he designed lighting for on Broadway include Death of a Salesman, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and directed by Mike Nichols, The Book of Mormon (Tony Award), The Coast of Utopia, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Fences, A Behanding in Spokane, Race, The Pillowman, Urinetown, and Into the Woods. In addition to 5 TONYs, his awards include an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, a Bessie Award, and others. For dance, The Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Tere O’Connor Dance, Merce Cunningham, Lar Lubovitch, Nancy Bannon, and many others. His ... read more Mike Nichols has been a director of stage and screen for more than 40 years. His Broadway directing credits include Death of Salesman, Barefoot in the Park, Luv, The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Real Thing and Spamalot, for all of which he was awarded the Tony for Best Direction. Film credits include Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf; The Graduate (Academy Award for Best Direction); Catch 22; Carnal Knowledge; Silkwood; Working Girl; Postcards From The Edge; Regarding Henry; The Birdcage; Primary Colors; Closer and Charlie Wilson’s War and for HBO “Wit” and “Angels in ... read more Broadway: Falsettos; American Psycho; The Visit; A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder; Sondheim on Sondheim; A Little Night Music; Gypsy (with Patti LuPone); Radio Golf; John Doyle's production of Sweeney Todd; Gem of the Ocean; Pacific Overtures; Assassins; Into the Woods; Topdog/Underdog; Dirty Blonde; Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk. He has composed scores for the Broadway productions of The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, and Dan Hurlin's Disfarmer (St. Ann's Warehouse). Awards: four Tony Award nominations, four Drama Desk Awards. ... read more