will arbery | playwright & filmmaker
BIO
Will Arbery is a playwright, TV/film writer, and filmmaker from Texas + Wyoming + seven sisters.
Plays: Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Playwrights Horizons) // Plano (Clubbed Thumb) // Evanston Salt Costs Climbing (New Neighborhood) // Corsicana (development at Playwrights Horizons & Ojai Playwrights Conference) // 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.
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.
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).
TV/Film: Developing TV series with A24/HBO, as well as Littlefield Co./Touchstone. Film projects with BBC Films/A24, Animal Kingdom, and Sight Unseen. Consultant on "Succession" (HBO).
Features/interviews/podcasts: The New York Times, The Paris Review (for Whiting Award), The Paris Review (for Plano), Vox, American Theatre, Brooklyn Rail, NPR, Vanity Fair, On Point, Upstage Left, Know Your Enemy, MUSEUM, The Subtext, America Magazine, HowlRound, Dallas Morning News, Wyoming Public Media, The Brian Lehrer Show, Patheos, 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 | ICM Partners
THEATER | Di Glazer + Sam Barickman | dglazer@icmpartners.com + sbarickman@icmpartners.com
TV | Zach Carlisle | zcarlisle@icmpartners.com
FILM | Viviane Telio | vtelio@icmpartners.com
MANAGEMENT | Odenkirk-Provissiero
Manager: Eva Dickerman | eva@op-ent.com
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
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.
+ 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.
+ 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.
EVANSTON SALT COSTS CLIMBING
+ Produced by New Neighborhood at White Heron Theater, August 30 - September 15 2018. Directed by Dustin Wills.
+ Developed at Ojai Playwrights Conference, Clubbed Thumb + Playwrights Horizons Superlab, The New Group, and Little Theater.
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.
CORSICANA
+ Comissioned by Shadowcatcher Entertainement. Developed at Playwrights Horizons. Upcoming development at Ojai Playwrights Conference. Directed by Sam Gold.
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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