Plays Written by Lee Blessing
THE FAMILY LINE
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL
Synopses:
The Family Line – Finn’s mother has died suddenly of COVID. He’s a mixed-race 15-year-old who must now be transported to his estranged father. No one dares fly, so Finn’s white grandfather Jonah (whom he’s never met) is tasked with making the nonstop cross-country drive. They spend 24 hours together, each getting to know a perfect stranger at the most imperfect time. Will they find common ground? Will they get there at all? Are they a family in name only, or something more?
Minneapolis / St. Paul – Randall, a successful mystery writer with a wife and teenaged daughter, lives in Minneapolis. Mandy, a bit of a mystery with a husband and a troublesome, drug-addicted stepson, lives in St. Paul. Randall and Mandy are the same person. This gender-bending tale of bigamy chronicles the struggle of Randall/Mandy’s searching for him/herself without destroying the lives of those who matter most. We flow back and forth in time as well as back and forth between characters. We learn the whys and especially the hows of a highly specific life and everyone it affects.
Bio:
Broadway and London’s West End: A Walk in the Woods (also seen on PBS’s “American Playhouse”), most recently revived by Keen Company on Theatre Row. Off-Broadway: A Body of Water, When We Go Upon the Sea, Going to St. Ives, (Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Play, OBIE for ensemble performance); Thief River (Drama Desk nomination, Best Play); Cobb (Drama Desk award, best ensemble); Chesapeake, Eleemosynary and Down the Road. Signature Theatre season: Fortinbras, Lake Street Extension, Two Rooms and the world premiere of Patient A. Notable premieres: For the Loyal, Illusion Theater; A User’s Guide to Hell, Featuring Bernard Madoff; produced by Project Y at the Atlantic Theatre; A View of the Mountains, New Jersey Repertory Company; Perilous Night, Nimbus Theatre, Minneapolis, Seven Joys (part of The Bomb: A Partial History, Tricycle Theatre, London); Wood for the Fire (part of The Great Game, Tricycle Theatre, London); Great Falls, Humana New Play Festival of the Actors Theatre of Louisville; A Body of Water, Tyrone Guthrie Theater and The Old Globe; Lonesome Hollow, Flag Day and Whores, Contemporary American Theatre Festival; The Scottish Play, La Jolla Playhouse; Black Sheep, Florida Stage and The Winning Streak, George Street Playhouse.
Other plays include The Family Line, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Uncle, The Hourglass Project, Independence, Riches, Oldtimers Game and Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music. Adaptations include: Courting Harry, from “Becoming Justice Blackmun” by Linda Greenhouse, premiered at History Theatre. Heaven’s My Destination, from Thornton Wilder’s 1935 novel, premiered at the Cleveland Play House. Profile Theatre in Portland, OR devoted an entire season to Blessing’s work. In October, 2011 Tricycle Theatre in London produced a revival of A Walk in the Woods. Additional awards: The Steinberg/American Theater Critics Association Award and Citation, the L.A. Drama Critics Award, The Great American Play Award, The Humanitas Award and the George and Elisabeth Marton Award among others. Nominations for Tony and Olivier awards, as well as the Pulitzer Prize.
For a dozen years Blessing headed the graduate playwriting program at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He is married to playwright and TV writer-producer Melanie Marnich and currently lives in Los Angeles.
In 2016 McFarland & Co. published. The Theater of Lee Blessing, A Critical Study of 44 Plays, by Philip Zwerling.
Blessing is a current member or alumnus of the Writers Guild of America, west; the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis; New Dramatists in NY and the Societe des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques.
Website: www.leeblessing.com