Kenneth Lonergan - Details

Biography

Kenneth is a New York-based playwright whose works have been performed at such distinguished companies as Naked Angels, H.B. Playwright's Foundation, Atlantic Theatre Company, Manhattan Punchline, The Royal Court Theatre, the Williamstown Theatre Festival and the annual Young Playwright's Festival at Circle Rep. His play The Rennings Children won the first Young Playwrights Festival Award in 1982.
His 1996 autobiographical dark comedy, This Is Our Youth, is currently running at off-Broadway's Douglas Fairbanks Theatre. Produced by The New Group, the play has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Best Play. He is also under commission by Playwrights Horizon for an original stage work and recently completed the play The Lobby for an off-Broadway run this fall.
Lonergan's motion picture work includes Tribeca's hit comedy, Analyze This (1999), directed by Harold Ramis and starring Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal. He has also written The Lost Army, which Martin Scorsese will executive produce for Walt Disney Studios. He will compose the big screen adaptation of Sherman and Peabody, also based on Jay Ward's classic cartoon. And, he made his feature film directorial debut on another of his original scripts, You Can Count on Me (2000), with Matthew Broderick. The film, which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, garnered a Best Feature Award and the Waldo Salt screenplay honor for Lonergan.
Lonergan, the son of a doctor and psychiatrist, grew up in Manhattan. He graduated from the prestigious Walden School before attending Wesleyan University. While working for the Shubert Organization, one of New York's premiere theatrical producers, he took playwriting classes at Herbert Berghof's HB Studio in Greenwich Village, and, later, graduated from New York University's drama writing program