Will Arbery | playwright & filmmaker
BIO
Will Arbery is a playwright, performer, and filmmaker from Texas + Wyoming.
Plays include: Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Playwrights Horizons) //Plano (Clubbed Thumb) // Evanston Salt Costs Climbing (New Neighborhood) // Wheelchair (3 Hole Press). He's currently under commission at Playwrights Horizons and Shadowcatcher Entertainment.
He's a member of New Dramatists, P73's I-73, EST/Youngblood, an alum of The Working Farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm, a Colt Coeur Resident, a member of Calliope, and the recipient of a 2016-2017 Claire Rosen & Samuel Edes Foundation Prize for Emerging Artists. While in grad school, he was named one of Variety’s “110 Students to Watch.”
His work has been developed at Playwrights Horizons, Vineyard Theater, Clubbed Thumb, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Cape Cod Theater Project, The New Group, EST/Youngblood, The Bushwick Starr, Theater Masters, Alliance Theatre/Kendeda, Tofte Lake Center, Calliope, 100W Corsicana, Two Headed Rep and White Heron. His play The Mongoose was an L.A. Times Critic’s Pick and winner of the 2017 Stage Raw Theatre Award for Best Playwriting.
His dance work with BOOMERANG has performed at Steppenwolf, Pioneer Works, The Watermill Center, and MCA Chicago, and has been featured on Desus & Mero and Creators Project.
He's been featured in The New York Times, Brooklyn Rail, Purple Mag, Howl Round, I Interview Playwrights, and TDF Stages. His writing has been published by Better Magazine, Word Riot, decomP, The Awl, Howl Round, Neutrons Protons, Snow Monkey, and more.
He's the former Writing & Research Assistant for Young Jean Lee.
MFA in Writing for the Screen + Stage from Northwestern University. BA in English & Drama from Kenyon College.
He grew up in Dallas, TX, the only boy with seven sisters.
AGENTS | ICM Partners
THEATER | Di Glazer + Sam Barickman | dglazer@icmpartners.com + sbarickman@icmpartners.com
TV | Zach Carlisle | zcarlisle@icmpartners.com
FILM | Viviane Telio + Will Watkins | vtelio@icmpartners.com + wwatkins@icmpartners.com
MANAGEMENT | Odenkirk-Provissiero
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.
NEWS (& OLDS)
+ Heroes of the Fourth Turning is performing at Playwrights Horizons until November 10! Directed by Danya Taymor. Read some wonderful responses in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vulture, Towleroad, Catholic Herald, and Time Out.
+ Loved this conversation with Rachel Lin on her podcast, Upstage Left.
+ Thrilled to be part of the new class at New Dramatists, where I interned seven years ago.
+ PLANO recently closed its run at the Connelly, produced by Clubbed Thumb for a full Off-Broadway run! You can read more about the experience in Vulture, The New Yorker, Time Out, Theater Mania, Culture Bot, The New York Times.
+ So moved by this profile ("In Pursuit of the Urgently Inexplicable") in The Brooklyn Rail, the product of a lovely dinner with Billy McEntee.
+ Thrilled to be a member of Page 73's writer's group this year: Interstate 73.
+ I curated a collection of mini-essays, in response to a question I asked, as Occasional No. 2 for 53rd State Press. Featuring an incredible roster of performance makers, including Julia Jarcho, David Greenspan, Celine Song, Korde Arrington Tuttle, Daaimah Mubashshir, Jordan Tannahill, Agnes Borinsky, and many more. Available now!
+ I spent five weeks as a member of the Working Farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm. What a perfect place. I'll be back there in February for their Season Extension Residency.
+ Thrilled to be a Colt Coeur Resident for 2018-2019.
+ In August 2018, I was in Nantucket working on the world premiere of my play Evanston Salt Costs Climbing, a co-production between New Neighborhood and White Heron. Directed by Dustin Wills. Starring Justin Kirk, Keira Naughton, Howard Overshown, and Rachel Sachnoff.
+ My play Wheelchair is now available for purchase from 3 Hole Press.
+ My play PLANO was produced in June 2018 in Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks. Directed by Taylor Reynolds. Starring Crystal Finn, Miriam Silverman, Susannah Flood, Mary Shultz, Ryan King, Cesar J Rosado, and Brendan Dalton.
+ Loved developing my play Heroes of the Fourth Turning in four places this summer: the Vineyard Theater Reading Series, the Cape Cod Theater Project, Playwrights Horizons, and New York Theater Workshop. All directed by Danya Taymor.
+ My short film Your Resources premiered at the Bushwick Film Festival.
+ Thrilled to be a part of The Working Farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm this year.
+So lucky to have done a Superlab at Playwrights Horizons (partnering with Clubbed Thumb) of Evanston Salt Costs Climbing in December.
+ Have had a wonderful time working on Two Headed Rep's Miss Julie, co-written with Amanda Keating and Brittany K. Allen. Directed by Molly Rose Clifford. Starring Fernando Gonzalez, Sarah Jes Austell, and Rachel Sachnoff!
+ For the toward had two beautiful shows at Pioneer Works in August.
+ Had a wonderful (and sweaty) time performing in Intuitive Men by Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, directed by Jack Beck, and co-starring Brendan Dalton!
+ I had an incredible time working on my play Evanston Salt Costs Climbing at the Ojai Playwrights Conference this August. My director was Casey Stangl, and my cast was Justin Kirk, Shannon Cochran, Larry Powell, and Emily James.
+ In June, I had a reading of my play Evanston Salt Costs Climbing at The New Group, part of their Spring Reading Festival. Directed by Jess Chayes, starring J. Smith-Cameron, Pete Simpson, Frank Harts, and Rachel Sachnoff.
+ Honored to have won Best Playwriting for The Mongoose at the Stage Raw Theatre Awards.
+ Check out this music video I made for Pinegrove, starring my sister Monica.
+ Read this feature in VICE Creators on For the toward.
+ Thrilled to have performed For the toward at the MCA in Chicago in April.
+ Had at a great time at my workshop for Claustrophile at The Bushwick Starr, directed by Knud Adams.
+ Can't wait to go down to Texas for my residency at 100W Corsicana.
+ Performed "For the toward" with boomerang at PULSE Miami.
+ Thrilled to be a new member of Youngblood, and a semi-finalist for the Page 73 Fellowship.
+ I had a new short play called "Lander, WY" go up at Youngblood Brunch on November 6. Directed by Liz Carlson.
+ As part of the Alliance Theatre's Kendeda Festival, my play The Confession had a reading at Rattlestick on October 18. Directed by Portia Krieger.
+ The Thing Between Us, co-wrriten with Sofya Weitz, was part of Active Culture at JACK on September 10.
+ BOOMERANG's piece Repercussion, to which I contributed text and dramaturgy, played at Steppenwolf Theatre's LookOut Series.
+ I had an incredible time writing, kayaking, and uncoiling at the Tofte Lake Center Emerging Artist Residency.
+ Finished my short film Your Resources, starring my sister Julia. Shot by Kenny Polyak. Music by Alex Martin.
+ My play The Mongoose received its world premiere at The Road Theatre in Los Angeles. It was named a Critic's Pick by the LA Times. Check out this lovely review from LA Weekly.
+ I was in residence with BOOMERANG at The Watermill Center from January 13th - 16th, 2016. Robert Wilson said about the piece: "Brilliant. Exceptionally strong work. BOOMERANG made me listen." Check out the beautiful trailer, and this feature from the New York Times.
+ Listen to this little NPR feature about one of my plays.
+ In February 2016, I was in Atlanta, where my play The Confession was part of the Alliance Theater Kendeda festival. My reading was directed by Jessica Holt. Read more about it in American Theatre here.
+ Also, want to get meta?
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