John Patrick Shanley Named Distinguished Artist-in-Residence by The New School for Drama

John Patrick Shanley will be The New School for Drama’s Distinguished Artist-in-Residence for 2006-2007.

Shanley won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play, and several more honors for Doubt. His other plays include Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Four Dogs and a Bone, and Defiance, which was presented last season by Manhattan Theatre Club. A director and screenwriter as well as a playwright, Shanley won an Academy Award and a Writers Guild of America Award for his screenplay for Moonstruck.

“John Patrick Shanley is an inspiration to up-and-coming playwrights,” said Robert LuPone, director of The New School for Drama. “His success proves that there is still a market in this business and in this city for imaginative, risky, and — most important — original plays. For our students, this is an outstanding opportunity to learn from a true artist whose vision goes well beyond the page. We are eager to have him join us this fall.” In his new position, Shanley will teach two master classes to the third-year student playwrights. He will also join two performance labs in which writers, actors, and directors work with faculty members from all three departments to develop new works.

In related news, two of The New School for Drama’s student playwrights have been named winners of the 31st annual Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Original Short Play Festival. Ted Nusbaum’s Pischer and Rebecca Brunstetter’s Sick will be published in French’s annual collection of short plays. More than 300 works from across the United States were submitted to the competition this year.

For further information, visit www.drama.newschool.edu.