will arbery | playwright & filmmaker
BIO
Will Arbery is a playwright, TV/film writer, and filmmaker from Texas + Wyoming + seven sisters.
Plays: Corsicana (Playwrights Horizons) // Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Playwrights Horizons) // Plano (Clubbed Thumb) // Evanston Salt Costs Climbing (The New Group 2022, New Neighborhood 2018) // Wheelchair (3 Hole Press) // You Hateful Things (development at The Public, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and NYTW Dartmouth Residency). He's currently under commission from Audible, MTC, and Playwrights Horizons.
TV/Film: Writer and Co-Producer on "Succession" (HBO). Supervising Producer on "Irma Vep" (HBO). Currently developing a TV project with Fifth Season and Boku Films. Previous TV development with A24/HBO, Littlefield Co./Hulu. Film projects with BBC Films/A24, Tango/Animal Kingdom, and Sight Unseen.
Awards: Pulitzer Prize Finalist (Heroes of the Fourth Turning), Whiting Award for Drama, Obie Award for Playwriting (Heroes of the Fourth Turning), New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play (Heroes of the Fourth Turning), Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play (Heroes of the Fourth Turning), Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Playwriting Award (Heroes of the Fourth Turning), Tow Foundation Grant, Edes Prize for Emerging Artists, and Stage Raw Award for Best Playwriting (The Mongoose).
Member/alum: New Dramatists, P73's I-73, EST/Youngblood, The Working Farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Clubbed Thumb's Early Career Writers Group, Colt Coeur.
Features/interviews/podcasts: The New York Times Magazine (feature by Chloe Cooper Jones), The New York Times (for Corsicana), The New York Times (for Heroes 1), The New York Times (for Heroes 2), The Paris Review (for Corsicana), The Paris Review (for Whiting Award), The Paris Review (for Plano), BOMB Magazine, Vox, Politico, American Theatre, Brooklyn Rail, NPR, Vanity Fair, On Point, Upstage Left, Know Your Enemy, MUSEUM, The Subtext, America Magazine, HowlRound, Dallas Morning News, Texas Monthly, Wyoming Public Media, The Brian Lehrer Show, Patheos, Jesuitical, The Antenna Method, and The Wicked Stage. While in grad school, he was named one of Variety’s “110 Students to Watch.”
Dance work: Steppenwolf, Pioneer Works, The Watermill Center, and MCA Chicago, Featured on Desus & Mero and Creators Project.
Education: MFA in Writing for the Screen + Stage from Northwestern University. BA in English & Drama from Kenyon College.
AGENTS | CAA
Theater: John MacGregor | john.macgregor@caa.com
Film: Sue Carls | sue.carls@caa.com
TV: Angela Dallas | angela.dallas@caa.com
MANAGEMENT | Range Media Partners
Manager: Eva Dickerman | edickerman@rangemp.com
EVANSTON SALT COSTS CLIMBING (2022) - The New Group
Directed by Danya Taymor. Starring Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Jeb Kreager, Ken Leung, and Rachel Sachnoff. Set by Matt Saunders. Lights by Isabella Byrd. Sound by Evan Cook and Mikaal Sulaiman. Costumes by Sarafina Bush. Vocal and Text Coaching by Gigi Buffington. Associate direction by Joan Sergay. Stage Management by Rachel April. Choreography by Tilly Evans-Kreuger. Song "Knock" by Elise Kibler. Photos by Monique Carboni.
CORSICANA (2022) - Playwrights Horizons
Directed by Sam Gold. Starring Jamie Brewer, Will Dagger, Deirdre O'Connell, and Harold Surratt. Set by Laura Jellinek and Cate McCrea. Lights by Isabella Byrd. Sound by Justin Ellington. Costumes by Qween Jean. Music Composed by Joanna Sternberg. Music Directed by Ilene Reid. Vocal and Text Coaching by Gigi Buffington. Photos by Julieta Cervantes.
HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING (2019) - Playwrights Horizons
Directed by Danya Taymor. Starring Jeb Kreager, Julie McDermott, Michele Pawk, Zoe Winters, and John Zdrojeski. Set by Laura Jellinek. Lights by Isabella Byrd. Sound by Justin Ellington. Costumes by Sarafina Bush. Photos by Sara Krulwich.
PLANO (2018) - Clubbed Thumb Summerworks
Directed by Taylor Reynolds. Starring Brendan Dalton, Crystal Finn, Susannah Flood, Ryan King, Cesar J Rosado, Mary Shultz, and Miriam Silverman. Set by Daniel Zimmerman. Lights by Isabella Byrd. Costumes by Stephanie Levin. Photos by Elke Young.
EVANSTON SALT COSTS CLIMBING (2018) - New Neighborhood
Directed by Dustin Wills. Starring Justin Kirk, Keira Naughton, Howard Overshown, and Rachel Sachnoff. Set by Jean Kim. Lights by Masha Tsimring. Projections by Nick Hussong. Costumes by Seth Bodie. Photos by Joey Moro.
FOR THE TOWARD
Dance performance with Matty Davis. Co-choreographed by Kora Radella. Performances at Pioneer Works, MCA Chicago, and site-specifically in Brooklyn, Miami, and Chicago.
PLAYS + PUBLICATIONS
EVANSTON SALT COSTS CLIMBING
+ Produced by The New Group at Signature Theatre Fall 2022. Directed by Danya Taymor.
+ Read reviews in The New Yorker, Variety, The Paris Review, The New Criterion, New York Sun, and The Brooklyn Rail.
+ Read this lovely feature by Chloe Cooper Jones in The New York Times Magazine.
+ Interviews/features: National Resources Defense Council, The Chicago Tribune, All of it on WNYC, BOMB Magazine, Forbes, Huffington Post, Playbill, and Culture Vulture.
+ Produced by New Neighborhood at White Heron Theater, August 30 - September 15 2018. Directed by Dustin Wills. Starring Justin Kirk, Rachel Sachnoff, Keira Naughton, and Howard Overshown.
+ Developed at Ojai Playwrights Conference, Clubbed Thumb + Playwrights Horizons Superlab, The New Group, and Little Theater.
CORSICANA
+ Performed at Playwrights Horizons from June 2 - July 17 2022. Directed by Sam Gold.
+ Read Reviews in The New Yorker, The New York Times (Critic's Pick!), Commonweal Magazine, TheatreMania, Exeunt, The New Criterion, 4Columns, Onstage NTX, or listen to this discussion on Theater Practice
+ Featured in the Spring 2022 Edition of The Paris Review
+ Read beautiful responses from Almanac by Jia Tolentino, Emily Davis, and Ryan Haddad
+ Interviews: The New York Times, The Paris Review, BOMB Magazine, Texas Monthly
+ Development at Playwrights Horizons, Interstate 73, and Ojai Playwrights Conference
HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING
+ Performed at Playwrights Horizons from September 13 - November 17 2019. Directed by Danya Taymor.
+ Awards: Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Obie Award for Playwriting, Obie Award for Cast and Creative Team, Lortel Award for Best Play, New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Playwriting Award.
+ Best of 2019: The New York Times, Vulture, Towleroad, Time Out, Theater Mania.
+ Read reviews in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vulture, The Outline, Towleroad, Catholic Herald, and Time Out.
+ Named by Politico as one of the Eight Pieces of Pop Culture That Defined the Trump Era.
+ Upcoming productions include Studio Theatre (DC), Victory Gardens (Chicago), The Wilma (Philadephia).
+ Developed at Cape Cod Theater Project, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Vineyard Theater.
+ Available for purchase here. (Support local bookstores!) Acting editions / licensing here.
+ Also published in the March 2019 issue of American Theatre. Forthcoming trade publication from TCG. Licensing available through Concord Theatricals.
PLANO
+ Produced by Clubbed Thumb for a full Off-Broadway run, April 8 - May 11 2019. Directed by Taylor Reynolds.
+ Responses in The Paris Review, Vulture, The New Yorker, Time Out, Theater Mania, Culture Bot, The New York Times.
+ Produced by paper chairs in Austin, TX, where it graced three Austin Chronicle year-end lists: 1, 2, 3. Directed by Dustin Wills.
+ Produced by First Floor Theater in Chicago, presented at Steppenwolf's LookOut Series. Directed by Audrey Francis.
+ Available for purchase here.
WHEELCHAIR
+ Performed at Dixon Place for one-night-only in December 2016. Directed by Will Arbery + Jacob Brandt.
+ Published by 3 Hole Press with an introduction by Bill Callahan.
+ Available for purchase here. Also available as a digital download.
YOU HATEFUL THINGS
+ Developed at The Public, SPACE on Ryder Farm, EST/Youngblood, and NYTW Dartmouth Residency.
CLAUSTROPHILE
+ Developed at Bushwick Starr and Clubbed Thumb.
53RD STATE OCCASIONAL NO. 2
+ I asked Agnes Borinsky, Matty Davis, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, Corinne Donly, David Greenspan, Phillip Howze, Julia Jarcho, Modesto Flako Jimenez, Mia Katigbak, MJ Kaufman, Kristine Haruna Lee, Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Daaimah Mubashshir, Rachel Marlene Kauder Nalebuff, Caitlin Ryan O'Connell, Zach Rufa, Ren Dara Santiago, Celine Song, Jordan Tannahill, Kate Tarker, Alice Tuan, Korde Arrington Tuttle, and Madeline Wise a question. They responded.
+ Available for purchase here.
MISCELLANY
+ Here's a short monologue I wrote for 24 Hour Plays, starring Michael Shannon. Here's another starring Adriene Mishler, of Yoga with Adriene.
+ Here's a music video I made for Pinegrove, starring my sister Monica.
+ And a short film, Your Resources, starring my sister Julia.
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