Guest Artist Series
Stephen Adly Guirgis
Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright,
Screenwriter, Director, and Actor
In Conversation with Andrea Syglowski
Wednesday, October 30, 2024 – 7:00pm
ART/New York, 520 8th Avenue, 3rd Floor, Haimes Studio
Award-winning playwright, screenwriter, actor and director, Stephen Adly Guirgis, joins Andrea Syglowski and members of The Actors Center’s Resident Company on Wednesday, October 30, 2024 at 7:00pm for an intimate evening of conversation about his writing process and what it means to be a multi-hyphenate artist—how his acting informs his writing and how his writing informs his acting.
The conversation will be followed by discussion and Q&A and will take place at ART/New York, 520 8th Avenue, 3rd Floor, in the Haimes Studio.
Stephen Adly Guirgis is a member of LAByrinth Theater Company. He won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Between Riverside and Crazy, which previously played at the Atlantic and Second Stage and had its Broadway debut in 2022, earning a Tony Nomination for Best Play.
His plays have been produced on five continents and throughout the United States. They include Our Lady of 121st Street (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle Best Play Nominations), Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award, Barrymore Award, Olivier Nomination for London’s Best New Play), In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings (2007 LA Drama Critics Best Play, Best Writing Award), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (’10 Best’ from Time Magazine & Entertainment Weekly), and The Little Flower of East Orange (with Ellen Burstyn & Michael Shannon). All five of these plays were directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and originally produced by LAByrinth.
His play The Motherfucker with the Hat (6 Tony nominations, including Best Play), was directed on Broadway by Anna D. Shapiro and marked his third consecutive world premiere co-production with The Public Theater and LAByrinth. His play Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven premiered in 2019 at the Atlantic Theater Company.
In London, his plays have premiered at The National Theatre, The Donmar Warehouse, The Almeida (directed by Rupert Goold), The Hampstead (directed by Robert Delamere), and at The Arts Theater in the West End.
He also wrote, produced, and co-created the Netflix series The Get Down.
He has received the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, the Yale Wyndham-Campbell Prize, a PEN/Laura Pels Award, and a TCG fellowship. He is also a New Dramatists Alumnae and a member of MCC’s Playwright’s Coalition, The Ojai Playwrights Festival, and New River Dramatists.
As an actor, he has appeared in theater, film and television, including roles in Kenneth Lonergan’s film Margaret, Todd Solondz’s Palindromes, Brett C Leonard’s Jailbait opposite Michael Pitt, Edward Norton’s Motherless Brooklyn, Jason Chaet’s Seneca, and Russian Doll on Netflix. He most recently played Frank Mariani for two seasons on Winning Time on HBO and can be seen in the A24 film Funny Pages written and directed by Owen Kline.
Hosting Stephen in conversation is Andrea Syglowski, actor and member of The Actors Center’s Resident Company. Andrea was in the 2019 Off-Broadway production of Stephen’s play Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven at the Atlantic.
She was last seen in John Patrick Shanley’s Brooklyn Laundry at Manhattan Theater Club and in Dig at Primary Stages written and directed by Theresa Rebeck. Some of her other New York credits include Pass Over on Broadway and queens by Martyna Majok at Lincoln Center. Her regional credits include Lost in Yonkers (Hartford Stage), Venus in Fur—IRNE, Elliott Norton Award—and A Doll’s House (Huntington), Dear Elizabeth and Dig (Dorset Theatre Festival), Cry It Out (Humana), and Of Good Stock (South Coast Rep). Her film and television credits include: Blue Bloods, New Amsterdam, The Good Wife, HTGAWM, Elementary, Evil, and And Just Like That.
Upcoming projects include The Terror, Devil in Silver on AMC as well as Will Trent on ABC/Hulu. Andrea was the recipient of the Robin Williams Scholarship and is a graduate of The Juilliard School. She teaches acting and coaches actors privately.