Bio:
Pamela Gien is the playwright and original performer of The Syringa Tree, which won the 2001 OBIE Award for Best Play, and received a John Gassner Playwriting Award nomination. As the original solo performer of The Syringa Tree in New York, she also won the Outer Circle Critics Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, and a Drama League Honour. She was chosen as one of Entertainment Weekly’s 2001 It List: 100 Most Creative Artists. She is also the author of The Syringa Tree novel, published by Random House in 2007. Her novel was longlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award for Fiction 2008 and was a finalist for the 2007 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
Produced by Matt Salinger and directed by Larry Moss, The Syringa Tree, a fictional work inspired by two true incidents in Gien’s early life, had its world premiere at ACT Seattle, before moving to Off-Broadway in New York. Pamela Gien has since performed it in London at the Royal National Theatre, in Toronto at the World’s Festival, in Los Angeles at the Pasadena Playhouse and Canon Theatre, at the Weston Playhouse in Vermont, at The Vancouver Playhouse in Canada, and in Boston at the American Repertory Theatre, where she won Boston’s Elliot Norton Award for Best Solo Performance. She was honored to perform the play in her home country of South Africa at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town where she was nominated for the Fleur du Cap Award, Best Solo Drama for The Syringa Tree. The original New York stage production was filmed for television, also directed by Larry Moss, and produced by Matt Salinger with Trio Arts Network. The original stage production has been performed by numerous other artists, including Yanna McIntosh, Gin Hammond, Kate Blumberg, and Caroline Cave–on both US and Canadian stages–all directed by Larry Moss and produced by Matt Salinger. An award-winning Italian version of the original production was performed by actress Rita Maffei in Italy. Independent productions have included a French translation staged in Canada.
Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, Pamela began her training at Rhodes University, then graduated with a BA Honours cum laude in English and Dramatic Art from the University of the Witwatersrand, where she received the Olive Schreiner Award. At 24, she became the youngest winner of the DALRO Critics Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Helen Keller in William Gibson’s world premiere of Monday after the Miracle, directed by Francois Swart. She was nominated for Best Actress by the DALRO Critics Award for her many comedic portrayals in the satiric State Theatre Overflow Show. She was also nominated for two Star Tonight Awards for Best Actress for her television performances for the SABC, as Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as for Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, both directed by Ken Leach. She played Mary Warren in The Crucible, and among other leading roles played Clara in Rookery Nook, Felice in After the Fall starring Brian Murray, and Lydia Languish in The Rivals.
After moving to America, Pamela Gien became a principal member of the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, where she played Sonya opposite Christopher Walken in the world premiere of David Mamet’s adaptation of Uncle Vanya. Her leading roles at ART over five seasons included Anabella in ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, and Estrella in Life’s A Dream directed by Ann Bogart. In Andrei Serban’s productions, she played Gabriella in Sweettable at the Richelieu, Marianna in The Miser, and both Clarice and Angela in The King Stag. She played Stella/Ann in The End of the World with Symposium to Follow, the Stepdaughter in Robert Brustein’s production of Six Characters in Search of an Author, and Cathy in Gillette, among others. She then played Lavinia opposite Donald Moffat in Titus Andronicus for the Public Theatre’s New York Shakespeare Festival. In Los Angeles she played Alicia in Piano by Anna Deavere-Smith, and Hannah Jelkes opposite David Selby in The Night of the Iguana at the LATC, for which she won a Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre Performance. She has performed several leading roles in the New Works Festival at the Mark Taper Forum, the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, at CATF Shepherdstown, and at South Coast Repertory.
Her TV and film appearances include The Earthmover, series lead in Die Sandlopertjie, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Miser; a recurring role in New York on ABC’s One Life To Live, and numerous guest starring roles including Tales From the Crypt, Reasonable Doubts, Hunter, Secret Lives, Into Thin Air, Men Seeking Women, The Last Supper, and The Syringa Tree.