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BONNIE LEE MOSS RATTNER  

Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Don Buchwald and Associates  represented by Richard Basch


Bonnie Lee Moss Rattner earned a B.A. in English Education from Michigan's Wayne State University in 1962, then studied briefly at The Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Michigan before beginning a career as a secondary school English teacher and mother. She returned to Wayne State University in 1965 to undertake graduate studies, which culminated in 1979 with her earning a Master of Arts degree in English. It was at Wayne State in 1978 that Rattner discovered Their Eyes Were Watching God, an encounter that she has described as life-changing. She decided to adapt the novel for the stage as her Master's thesis under the guidance of Professor L. Todd Duncan - a play initially titled Eatonville. She then spent the next several years in a long, involved, and arduous quest to obtain the stage rights from Hurston's estate and longtime publishers. The piece, now retitled To Gleam It Around, To Show My Shine, had its first performance at Wayne State's Hilberry Graduate Theatre in 1983. Rattner devoted herself to convincing producers across the country to stage the play, which she referred to as her second child. Readings followed at many leading regional theaters. Then the play received an award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays in 1987, followed by its professional premiere in a production at New Jersey's Crossroads Theater in 1988. Under the direction of Crossroads' Artistic Director Rick Kahn, and featuring Denise Nicholas and Novella Nelson, the play won universal plaudits - including from Alvin Klein of The New York Times, who wrote of its stage worthy dialogue that is so pure and lyrical, it positively stings and pierces the heart.Subsequently, another series of readings and workshops followed through the late '80s and on through the '90s, as several theaters and producers pursued the play. Over the years, a host of luminaries - including Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Leslie Uggams, Alfre Woodward, and others - were drawn to the play as it continued to evolve. Wynton Marsalis composed a score, and a series of almost-weres and near-misses had it just missing financing or suffering from cutbacks at various venues. Meanwhile, Rattner co-wrote an adaptation of Langston Hughes' Not Without Laughter. She also became co-producer of Asinamali, a musical that opened on Broadway in 1987; and she sought wider recognition for the work of Phillip Hayes Dean, whose plays Robeson and Freedman obtained international success. In the '90s, Rattner and Duncan joined forces again for a book on the life of former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Otis M. Smith, the state's first Black Supreme Court Justice. All the while, she continued to work on and believe in her adaptation. Finally, fast forward to August 2011, when CENTERSTAGE came calling. Now, today, the play will enjoy its third production and first revival in nearly 25 years.
http://www.centerstage.org/gleam/Dramaturgy/BonnieLeeMossRattnertheLongStrangeSagA.aspx

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below is a list of Bonnie Lee Moss Rattner's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

Eatonville         Gleam         Not Without laughter