Susan Kathryn Hefti is an American Playwright. An active member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Hefti's debut work for the stage was launched by the highly successful 2003 world premiere of her play Dear Prudence which enjoyed an extended run Off-Broadway.
Hailed by Gay City News as "a light, wonderful play that will have you laughing all the way through", Dear Prudence is now wowing a whole new audience - this time in Paris - having enjoyed exciting staged readings at Théâtre Mélo d'Amelie in June 2010 and again at La Comédie Bastille in October 2010 - in preparation for an upcoming French production!
The impressive success of Dear Prudence also led Tony Award winning Arielle Tepper Productions to select Hefti as Guest Speaker for the 2003 Syracuse University Tepper Theater Program in Manhattan.
Hefti's next play, Keepin' Cool, was honored as a Semi-Finalist for the 2004 Princess Grace Award. Inspired by the tragic and sudden death of one of her Yale students, Keepin' Cool is a bittersweet love story exploring questions of fate, romance, loss, the boundaries of social convention and the deep connections that can transcend them all when unlikely souls unexpectedly collide.
In 2006, Hefti's history play A Defiant Soul, set in 1661 and bringing to life the dramatic battle of wills between New Amsterdam‘s Dutch Director-General, Petrus Stuyvesant, and the English Quaker John Bowne, whose dangerous and singular act of civil disobedience led directly to the establishment of religious freedom in the new world, was presented Off-Broadway (directed by Vernice Miller) as part of a city-wide program entitled 5 Dutch Days.
A Defiant Soul was later adapted to be used as a teaching tool in the NYC school system, where it has been widely performed by students exploring early NYC history and the establishment of religious freedom in America.
The success of that play also brought Hefti a commission from the City of NY; to write the narrative for the related exhibit on the 1657 document protesting religious intolerance in New Amsterdam. The exhibit, The Flushing Remonstrance: Who Shall Plead For Us?, was designed to travel around the country following its celebrated 2009 NYC debut.
Hefti's other full-length plays include American Dames (or…Waiting for Dolley); Off The Bench; Robbed and The Cocktail Party about a clutch of Columbia University Professors whose annual Christmas party devolves into tragedy evoking the cannibalism referenced in the T.S. Eliot play by the same name. Impressed by its wit and insights, Playwrights Horizons wrote of The Cocktail Party, "[w]e found it bitingly wry and intelligent."
In 2003 Hefti authored a series of one-act plays entitled, The Farmer Trilogy - comprised of The Home Stretch, Parlor Beauty and Tea & Sympathy. Her other one-act plays include Actias Luna; Positively Glowing; Eros & Sophia; Venus Under Water; Broadway@Fulton and Crashing Into Moonlight.
Nominated to the 2010 Nantucket Screenwriters Colony by acclaimed filmmaker Mitchell Lichtenstein (Teeth, Happy Tears), Hefti is the author of the screenplays The Polka Dot Tea Party and Sum Luv Kitchen. With Canadian filmmaker Chris Smets, Hefti co-authored the screenplay Bad Dates a dark comedy about dating and mating in NYC based on Hefti's original story idea.
Hefti also spent a number of years working as a journalist and writing for television and radio. Her column, The Preservation Diaries, is published online by NY Theater Critic Leonard Jacobs at The Clyde Fitch Report.
A 2004 recipient of a PEN American Center Writers Grant, Hefti has taught at several Universities including Brown and Yale.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Susan Kathryn Hefti - Dear Prudence - Theater Review by Ranjit Jose
Susan Kathryn Hefti's Off-Broadway comedy hit Dear Prudence was hailed by Gay City News as "a light, wonderful play that will have you laughing all the way through". To read the full review, you can click here or simply click on the image of the review below:
Susan Kathryn Hefti's Hit Comedy 'Dear Prudence' Goes to Paris!
On June 8, 2010, Susan Kathryn Hefti's hit comedy Dear Prudence - which enjoyed an extended run Off-Broadway in 2003 - wowed a brand new audience in an exciting staged reading at Théâtre Mélo d'Amelie in Paris - in preparation for an upcoming French production!
Adapted for the French audience by Myriam Blanckaert - a popular French actress best know to American audiences for her portrayal of Evelyne the Paris Bookstore owner in the final episodes of Sex and The City - Chere Prudence hit all the right notes with the Parisian audience and had them laughing out loud through the play!
So keep your passports handy and your calendars clear: We all may be headed for Paris before too long!
Special thanks (Merci! Merci!) to Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. - a man who truly does have the midas touch - for taking a chance on a little known playwright when - in the middle of a blizzard that blanketed Manhattan - he threw open his doors and hosted the original Backer's Reading for Dear Prudence in the warmth and glow of his living room- raising all the money for the original NYC production in just one snowy evening!
We'll be sure to keep you all posted on the exciting progress of Chere Prudence!
In the meantime, congratulations to Myriam Blanckaert and her spirited troupe of Parisian actors on the successful staged reading of Chere Prudence in Paris this summer: C'est si bon!
Or as Paris Hilton used to say...that's hot!
Adapted for the French audience by Myriam Blanckaert - a popular French actress best know to American audiences for her portrayal of Evelyne the Paris Bookstore owner in the final episodes of Sex and The City - Chere Prudence hit all the right notes with the Parisian audience and had them laughing out loud through the play!
So keep your passports handy and your calendars clear: We all may be headed for Paris before too long!
Special thanks (Merci! Merci!) to Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. - a man who truly does have the midas touch - for taking a chance on a little known playwright when - in the middle of a blizzard that blanketed Manhattan - he threw open his doors and hosted the original Backer's Reading for Dear Prudence in the warmth and glow of his living room- raising all the money for the original NYC production in just one snowy evening!
We'll be sure to keep you all posted on the exciting progress of Chere Prudence!
In the meantime, congratulations to Myriam Blanckaert and her spirited troupe of Parisian actors on the successful staged reading of Chere Prudence in Paris this summer: C'est si bon!
Or as Paris Hilton used to say...that's hot!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Playwright, Susan Kathryn Hefti
Susan Kathryn Hefti is an American Playwright. An active member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Hefti's debut work for the stage was launched by the highly successful 2003 world premiere of her play Dear Prudence which enjoyed an extended run Off-Broadway. Hailed by Gay City News as "a light, wonderful play that will have you laughing all the way through" Dear Prudence attracted the attention of a European Creative Team who has adapted the play for an upcoming Paris production.
The impressive success of Dear Prudence also led Tony Award winning Arielle Tepper Productions to select Hefti as Guest Speaker for the 2003 Syracuse University Tepper Theater Program in Manhattan.
Hefti's next play, Keepin' Cool, was honored as a Semi-Finalist for the 2004 Princess Grace Award. Inspired by the tragic and sudden death of one of her Yale students, Keepin' Cool is a bittersweet love story exploring questions of fate, romance, loss, the boundaries of social convention and the deep connections that can transcend them all when unlikely souls unexpectedly collide.
In 2006, Hefti's history play A Defiant Soul, set in 1661 and bringing to life the dramatic battle of wills between New Amsterdam‘s Dutch Director-General, Petrus Stuyvesant, and the English Quaker John Bowne, whose dangerous and singular act of civil disobedience led directly to the establishment of religious freedom in the new world, was presented Off-Broadway (directed by Vernice Miller) as part of a city-wide program entitled 5 Dutch Days.
A Defiant Soul was later adapted to be used as a teaching tool in the NYC school system, where it has been widely performed by students exploring early NYC history and the establishment of religious freedom in America.
The success of that play also brought Hefti a commission from the City of NY; to write the narrative for the related exhibit on the 1657 document protesting religious intolerance in New Amsterdam. The exhibit, The Flushing Remonstrance: Who Shall Plead For Us?, was designed to travel around the country following its celebrated 2009 NYC debut.
Hefti's other full-length plays include American Dames (or…Waiting for Dolley); Off The Bench; Robbed and The Cocktail Party about a clutch of Columbia University Professors whose annual Christmas party devolves into tragedy evoking the cannibalism referenced in the T.S. Eliot play by the same name. Impressed by its wit and insights, Playwrights Horizons wrote of The Cocktail Party, "[w]e found it bitingly wry and intelligent."
In 2003 Hefti authored a series of one-act plays entitled, The Farmer Trilogy - comprised of The Home Stretch, Parlor Beauty and Tea & Sympathy. Her other one-act plays include Actias Luna; Positively Glowing; Eros & Sophia; Venus Under Water; Broadway@Fulton and Crashing Into Moonlight.
She is the author of the screenplays The Polka Dot Tea Party and Sum Luv Kitchen and co-author of Bad Dates a dark comedy about dating and mating in NYC.
Hefti also spent a number of years working as a journalist and writing for television and radio. Her column, The Preservation Diaries, is published online by NY Theater Critic Leonard Jacobs at The Clyde Fitch Report.
A 2004 recipient of a PEN American Center Writers Grant, Hefti has taught at several Universities including Brown and Yale.
The impressive success of Dear Prudence also led Tony Award winning Arielle Tepper Productions to select Hefti as Guest Speaker for the 2003 Syracuse University Tepper Theater Program in Manhattan.
Hefti's next play, Keepin' Cool, was honored as a Semi-Finalist for the 2004 Princess Grace Award. Inspired by the tragic and sudden death of one of her Yale students, Keepin' Cool is a bittersweet love story exploring questions of fate, romance, loss, the boundaries of social convention and the deep connections that can transcend them all when unlikely souls unexpectedly collide.
In 2006, Hefti's history play A Defiant Soul, set in 1661 and bringing to life the dramatic battle of wills between New Amsterdam‘s Dutch Director-General, Petrus Stuyvesant, and the English Quaker John Bowne, whose dangerous and singular act of civil disobedience led directly to the establishment of religious freedom in the new world, was presented Off-Broadway (directed by Vernice Miller) as part of a city-wide program entitled 5 Dutch Days.
A Defiant Soul was later adapted to be used as a teaching tool in the NYC school system, where it has been widely performed by students exploring early NYC history and the establishment of religious freedom in America.
The success of that play also brought Hefti a commission from the City of NY; to write the narrative for the related exhibit on the 1657 document protesting religious intolerance in New Amsterdam. The exhibit, The Flushing Remonstrance: Who Shall Plead For Us?, was designed to travel around the country following its celebrated 2009 NYC debut.
Hefti's other full-length plays include American Dames (or…Waiting for Dolley); Off The Bench; Robbed and The Cocktail Party about a clutch of Columbia University Professors whose annual Christmas party devolves into tragedy evoking the cannibalism referenced in the T.S. Eliot play by the same name. Impressed by its wit and insights, Playwrights Horizons wrote of The Cocktail Party, "[w]e found it bitingly wry and intelligent."
In 2003 Hefti authored a series of one-act plays entitled, The Farmer Trilogy - comprised of The Home Stretch, Parlor Beauty and Tea & Sympathy. Her other one-act plays include Actias Luna; Positively Glowing; Eros & Sophia; Venus Under Water; Broadway@Fulton and Crashing Into Moonlight.
She is the author of the screenplays The Polka Dot Tea Party and Sum Luv Kitchen and co-author of Bad Dates a dark comedy about dating and mating in NYC.
Hefti also spent a number of years working as a journalist and writing for television and radio. Her column, The Preservation Diaries, is published online by NY Theater Critic Leonard Jacobs at The Clyde Fitch Report.
A 2004 recipient of a PEN American Center Writers Grant, Hefti has taught at several Universities including Brown and Yale.
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