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Matthew Barber

MATTHEW BARBER

  
Nationality:    USA
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Literary Agent:    Abrams Artists Agency  

MATTHEW BARBER was born in Los Angeles and is a UCLA graduate. His stage play ENCHANTED APRIL premiered in 2000 at Hartford Stage and opened on Broadway in 2003, garnering the John Gassner Award for Outstanding New American Play and Drama League and Tony Award nominations for Best Play. With more than 500 international productions to date, ENCHANTED APRIL has become one of the most produced plays of the past decade. Current work includes the stage play FIREFLIES, which premiered in 2017 at Long Wharf Theatre (Edgerton Foundation New Play Award), and two screenplays - the original historical drama INDEPENDENCE, and a film adaptation of his stage play ENCHANTED APRIL. Work in development includes the stage plays THE FORCES and DARK AGE, and a musical stage adaptation of ENCHANTED APRIL (with actor/composer Bruce Dow). Matthew has been a participating playwright in Broadway's 24 Hour Plays event to benefit Urban Playground, is the recipient of Wurlitzer Foundation and Art OMI fellowships, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Research:    Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)

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below is a list of Matthew Barber's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Enchanted April         Fireflies         Forces, The         Pleasure
Enchanted April

Enchanted April
Feeling lost in the shadows of marriage and forgotten in the rush of 1920s post-war society, two London housewives pool their savings to rent a villa in Italy for a ladies-only holiday away, reluctantly recruiting a pair of difficult upper-class women to share the cost and the experience.  Together under the Mediterranean sun, the four women clash  and then begin to bond and bloom  until men once again upset the balance.

Notes:
from the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim.
2003 Tony Award nominee - Best Play

1st Produced:
Hartford Stage - Hartford, Connecticut     2000

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=3237   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Period Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.enchantedAprilonstage.com/

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Fireflies

Fireflies
Retired schoolteacher Eleanor Bannister lives a quiet life alone in tiny Groverdell, Texas, set in her routines and secure in her position as the towns most respected woman  until a hole in her roof draws the attention of Abel Brown, a smooth-talking drifter intent on renovating Eleanors house, and possibly her life.  Can the unexpected sparks of late-life romance be trusted, or is there truth in the gossip that Abel isnt all that he seems to be?  Either way, the whole town is talking.

Notes:
from the novel 'Eleanor & Abel' by Annette Sanford

1st Produced:
Long Wharf Theatre - New Haven, Connecticut     2017

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=5776   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Romantic Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Forces, The

Synopsis:
A chance encounter between a disgraced high school teacher and one of her former students becomes a darkly comic game of control as powerful emotions resurface.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Pleasure

Synopsis:
A teenaged boy, a school counselor, a single parent, and an online stranger briefly cross paths in a search for connection and understanding.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
American Airlines Theatre, New York     15 Sep 2003

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Short play

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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