Kenneth Lonergan
TFI Support
About
Kenneth Lonergan has been represented in New York by LOBBY HERO (Playwrights Horizons, John Houseman Theatre, Drama Desk Best Play nominee, Outer Critics Circle Best Play and John Gassner Playwrighting nominee, included in the 2000-2001 Best Plays annual), THE WAVERLY GALLERY (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Promenade; 2001 Pulitzer Prize runner-up), and THIS IS OUR YOUTH (Drama Desk Best Play nominee). LOBBY HERO (Olivier Award Nominee for Best Play) and THIS IS OUR YOUTH have also received productions on London’s West End. He co-wrote the film GANGS OF NEW YORK which garnered a WGA and Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His film YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, which he wrote and directed, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, won the Sundance 2000 Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the NY Film Critics Circle, LA Film Critics Circle, Writers Guild of America and National Board of Review awards for Best Screenplay of 2001, the AFI awards for Best Film and Best New Writer, as well as The Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival. He is currently in post-production on his film MARGARET, which he wrote and directed. He is a member of Naked Angels. He is married to actress J. Smith-Cameron.
The Starry Messenger
The Starry Messenger by Kenneth Lonergan is an affecting and intimate portrait of an astronomy teacher who, with the imminent destruction of his beloved Hayden Planetarium approaching, finds himself all but lost in the everyday routines and disappointments that take up the better part of his day. At 42, Mark Williams finds himself restless in his marriage, and sick to death of his work. An unexpected romance with a young, single mother, however, begins to change his perspective on everything. With unflinching naturalism and sharp-edged humor, this play, which Lonergan will adapt for the screen for the Tribeca/Sloan Screenplay Development Program, explores the vast highs and lows of human existence and how easily they can be all but obscurred by the encroachments, concerns, and practical details of daily life.