Christopher Durang was born on January 2, 1949, in Montclair,
New Jersey. Educated at Harvard College and the Yale School of
Drama, he has had plays both on and off Broadway including The
Nature and Purpose of the Universe; Titanic; A
History of the American Film; Sister Mary Ignatius Explains
It All For You; Beyond Therapy; Baby With the Bathwater;
The Marriage of Bette and Boo; Laughing Wild; and
Betty's Summer Vacation. He won Obie Awards for Sister
Mary Ignatius and The Marriage of Bette and Boo, received
a Tony nomination for "Best Book of a Musical" for
A History of the American Film, and received a Drama Desk
nomination for Betty's Summer Vacation. He has also written
several screenplays including Beyond Therapy; The Nun
Who Shot Liberty Valence; The House of Husbands (which
he co-authored with Wendy Wasserstein); and The Adventures
of Lola.
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, one of
Durang's most popular plays, revolves around a nun who boasts
of the righteousness of her charges, including Thomas, a little
boy who can recite the Ten Commandments on cue. When some of
the Sister's former charges show up however, the picture begins
to darken. One of them is the happy mother of an illegitimate
child; another is a contented homosexual; and yet another has
had two abortions--the first after having been raped on the night
of her mother's death! The one thing that all of these young
people have in common is their loathing for Sister Mary Ignatius
and the unyielding dogma that she forced down their throats in
their formative years. Soon, it becomes apparent that the only
possible outcome is a violent (and hilarious) one!
Another of Durang's classics is Baby With the Bathwater,
a satiric black comedy that enjoyed a long run at Playwrights
Horizons. It tells the story of Daisy, a child who's parents
were too polite to chech her sex when she was born--so they just
"decided" she was a girl. Of course, when Daisy turns
out to be a boy, he/she must work through all manner of emotional
and personal trauma caused by his strange childhood. Another
family-related comedy is The Marriage of Bette and Boo
in which a disturbed couple turns for advice to Father Donnally,
a Roman Catholic priest who dodges their questions by impersonating
a strip of bacon! Like all of Durang's plays, The Marriage
of Bette and Boo uses off-beat humor to examine issues that
are, in truth, deeply disturbing.
Durang has also performed for both stage and screen. As an
actor, he appeared in Lauging Wild in Los Angeles and
The Marriage of Bette and Boo in New York (for which he
shared an acting ensemble Obie Award). He performed his cabaret
Chris Durang and Dawne in numerous venues, earning himself
a 1996 Bistro Award. He also appeared with Julie Andrews in the
Sondheim review Putting it Together and with Sigourney
Weaver in the Brecht-Weill parody Das Lusitania Songspiel--which
they co-wrote. He has made guest appearances on several sitcoms
including Frasier (episode 6.8: "The Seal Who Came
To Dinner" as "Sebastian Melmoth") and has had
supporting roles in several feature films including The Out
of Towners (Paranoid Man), Simply Irresistible (Gene
O'Reilly), Joe's Apartment (Boss Clergy), The Cowboy
Way (Waiter), Life With Mikey (Santa), Housesitter
(Reverend Lipton), The Butcher's Wife (Mr. Liddle), In
the Spirit (Ambulance Attendant), A Shock to the System
(Convention Speaker), Penn & Teller Get Killed (Jesus
Freak), Mr. North (YMCA Clerk), The Secret of My Success
(Davis), and Heaven Help Us (Priest).
Durang has been awarded numerous fellowships and grants including
a Guggenheim, a Rockefeller, the CBS Playwriting Fellowship,
the Lecompte du Nouy Foundation Grant, the Kenyon Festival Theatre
Playwriting Prize, and the Lila Wallace Readers Digest Writers
Award. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and is
co-chair of the playwriting program at Juilliard.
- Search eBay! for Christopher Durang collectibles
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