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Bruce Norris

BRUCE NORRIS

  (1960 - )
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Harden-Curtis Associates  represented by Mary Harden

Bruce Norris is the author of the play Clybourne Park, which was produced at the Royal Court Theatre and won the Evening Standard Award for Best Play, 2010. Other plays include the Infidel (2000), Purple Heart (2002), We All Went Down to Amsterdam (2003), the Pain and the Itch (2004), and the Unmentionables (2006) all of which had their premieres at Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago. His newest play, titled A Parallelogram, premiered there in July. His work has also been seen at Playwrights Horizons (New York), Lookingglass Theatre (Chicago), Philadelphia Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre (Washington D.C.) StaatsTheater Mainz (Germany) and the Galway Festival (Ireland), among others. He is the recipient of the Steinberg Playwright Award (2009), and the Whiting Foundation Prize for Drama (2006) as well as two Joseph Jefferson Awards (Chicago) for Best New Work. As an actor he can be seen in the films A Civil Action and the Sixth Sense, and the recent All Good Things. He lives in New York.

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

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

         Actor Retires, The         Clybourne Park         Domesticated         Infidel, The         Low Road, The         Pain and the Itch, The         Parallelogram, A         Purple Heart         Qualms, The         Unmentionables, The         Up Against It         Vanishing Twin, The         We All Went Down To Amsterdam

Actor Retires, The

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Clybourne Park

Clybourne Park
This is from the press release: "In 1958, a white family moves out. In 2008, a white family moves in. In the intervening years, change overtakes a neighborhood, along with attitudes, inhabitants, and property values. Bruce Norris's pitch-black comedy takes on the issue of gentrification in our communities, leaving no stone unturned-and taking no prisoners-in the process."
- nytheatre.com

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Genre:
Play/Drama

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Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

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Domesticated

Synopsis:
After a scandal a married couples private life is thrust into the public arena

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1st Produced:
Mitzi E Newhouse Theater, New York     10 Oct 2013

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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

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Genre:
Drama

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Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Infidel, The

Infidel, The
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Contained in: "Purple Heart and the Infidel" published by Northwestern University Press, 2005   978-0810122143

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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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

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Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Low Road, The

Low Road, The
A young entrepreneur sets out on a quest for wealth with priceless ambition and a purse of gold. A fable of free market economics and cut-throat capitalism.

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  20            Female:  11            Other:  1 boy and may extras

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Pain and the Itch, The

Pain and the Itch, The
With a young daughter in serious need of attention and a ravenous creature possibly prowling the upstairs bedrooms, what begins as an average Thanksgiving for one privileged family unravels into an expose of disastrous choices and less-than-altruistic motives. the Pain and the Itch is a scathing satire of the politics of class and race, a controversial, painfully human examination of denial and its consequences.
Press Release

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commissioned by the Philadelphia Theatre Company

1st Published:
Nick Hern Books, London >>>, 2007   978-1854595843

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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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

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Parallelogram, A

Synopsis:
Bee has the ability to get in touch with herself in the future. If you know what is going to happen to you and you cannot change would you continue your life?

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1st Produced:
Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre, Chicago     01 Jul 2010

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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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Purple Heart

Purple Heart
A deeply moving meditation on love, loss and grief. October 1972. In a city somewhere in the American Midwest, Carla is trying to rebuild her life. Her husband is gone - killed in Vietnam. Now, under the watchful eye of her mother-in-law, she must raise her young son whilst struggling to avoid the sympathy of her local community. But everything changes with the unexpected arrival of a soldier on her doorstep.

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Contained in: "Purple Heart and the Infidel" published by Northwestern University Press, 2005
Nick Hern Books, London (2013) >>>   978-1848423084

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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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  12 year old boy

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Qualms, The

Synopsis:
A group of friends meet at a beach side apartment for an evening of food, drink, drugs and swapping partners. A new couple turn up wanting to join in

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1st Produced:
Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre, Chicago     03 Jul 2014

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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

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Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Unmentionables, The

Unmentionables, The
We're thrust into a fictional West African country with an edgy prologue delivered by Etienne, an African teenager who wears earphones, carries a digital MP3, and shouts at us from the audience balcony to go home and watch TV, save time and money. Do not watch this no good show, he warns us. Don't take him seriously and leave. the Unmentionables by Bruce Norris, when brilliantly performed by a troupe of polished actors, as it is here, is worth the stay, even if it raises questions that make us squirm.
- Rosalind Lacy, DC theatre Scene

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1st Published:
Northwestern University Press 2009   978-0810125841

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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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

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Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Up Against It

Synopsis:
Three friends are exiled. They experiment with cross dressing; have their teeth knocked out; assassinate a public figure and end up marrying each other

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Based on the screenplay "Up Against It" by Joe Orton

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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

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Genre:
Gay of interest full length

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Vanishing Twin, The

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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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

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Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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We All Went Down To Amsterdam

Synopsis:
At a nursing home resident Wood has a visitor but he does not know who he is. Nurse Stefie has accused handyman Cox of sexual harassment

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1st Produced:
Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre, Chicago     12 Jun 2003

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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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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