Editing Christopher Durang

{{Short description|American playwright (1949–2024)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
|name           = Christopher Durang
|image          = <!-- name of file on Wikipedia or Commons -->
|birth_name     = Christopher Ferdinand Durang
|birth_date     = {{birth date|1949|1|2}}
|birth_place    = [[Montclair, New Jersey]], U.S.
|death_date     = {{death date and age|2024|4|2|1949|1|2}}
|death_place    = [[Pipersville, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
|education      = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Yale University]] ([[Master of Fine Arts|MFA]])
|occupation     = Playwright
|period         = 1974–2018
|website        = {{URL|https://www.christopherdurang.com/}}
|spouse         = {{marriage|John Augustine|2014}}
}}

'''Christopher Ferdinand Durang''' (January 2, 1949 – April 2, 2024) was an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often [[Theatre of the Absurd|absurd]] comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s, though his career seemed to get a second wind in the late 1990s.

''[[Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You]]'' was Durang's watershed play as it brought him to national prominence when it won him the Obie Award for Best Playwright (1980). His play ''[[Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike]]'' won the [[Tony Award for Best Play]] in 2013. The production was directed by Nicholas Martin, and featured [[Sigourney Weaver]], [[David Hyde Pierce]], [[Kristine Nielsen]], [[Billy Magnussen]], [[Shalita Grant]] and [[Genevieve Angelson]]. Durang was a past co-director of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at [[Juilliard]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Juilliard. I got into Juilliard.|publisher=Chelsea Days|url=http://www.chelseadays.com/2014/06/05/juilliard-i-got-into-juilliard/|date=June 5, 2014|access-date=November 19, 2018|archive-date=November 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119220007/http://www.chelseadays.com/2014/06/05/juilliard-i-got-into-juilliard/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Durang was born on January 2, 1949, in [[Montclair, New Jersey]], the son of two WWII veterans, architect Francis Ferdinand Durang Jr. and Patricia Elizabeth Durang (née Mansfield), a secretary.<ref name = Soloski>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/03/theater/christopher-durang-dead.html|title = Christopher Durang, Playwright Who Mixed High Art and Low Humor, Dies at 75|last = Soloski|first = Alexis|date = April 3, 2024|accessdate = April 3, 2024|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|url-access = limited|archive-date = April 3, 2024|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240403125445/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/03/theater/christopher-durang-dead.html|url-status = live}}</ref> He grew up in [[Berkeley Heights, New Jersey]], and attended Catholic schools: Our Lady of Peace School ([[New Providence, New Jersey|New Providence]]) and [[Delbarton School|Delbarton]] ([[Morristown, New Jersey|Morristown]]).<ref>{{cite web|author=Dunlap, LucyAnn|url=https://princetoninfo.com/a-play-that-asks-what-happens-after/|title=A Play That Asks, 'What Happens After?'|work=[[U.S. 1 (newspaper)|U.S. 1 Newspaper]]|date=August 17, 2005|access-date=November 19, 2018|quote=He wrote his first play at age eight. His Catholic grammar school cancelled class one afternoon and put on his play. Later while he was attending Delbarton School in Morristown, he and a friend wrote two musicals, 'Banned in Boston' and 'Businessman's Holiday.' You won't find these in his collected works but they certainly suggest a young man with an active imagination and a penchant for writing.|archive-date=November 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119164414/https://princetoninfo.com/a-play-that-asks-what-happens-after/|url-status=live}}</ref> He received a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in [[English studies|English]] from [[Harvard College]] and an [[Master of Fine Arts|M.F.A.]] in playwriting from [[Yale School of Drama]].<ref name = Fierberg>{{cite news|url = https://broadwaynews.com/2022/07/19/tony-winning-playwright-christopher-durang-diagnosed-with-aphasia-sigourney-weaver-and-more-share-why-the-writer-has-faded-from-public-view/|title = Tony-winning playwright Christopher Durang diagnosed with aphasia; Sigourney Weaver and more share why the writer has faded from public view|work = Broadway News|date = July 19, 2022|accessdate = July 20, 2022|last = Fierberg|first = Ruthie|archive-date = July 19, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220719204003/https://broadwaynews.com/2022/07/19/tony-winning-playwright-christopher-durang-diagnosed-with-aphasia-sigourney-weaver-and-more-share-why-the-writer-has-faded-from-public-view/|url-status = live}}</ref>

==Work==
{{multiple issues|section = yes|
{{sources|section|date=April 2022}}
{{essay like|section|date = April 2024}}
}}
His work often deals critically with issues of [[child abuse]], [[Roman Catholic]] [[dogma]], culture, and [[homosexuality]]. [[Ben Brantley]] summarized key themes from Durang's plays in a review written in 1994: 1) narcissism; 2) fear of engagement with a danger-filled world; 3) the strangulating nature of family ties; 4) sexual disorientation and the tenuousness of individual identity.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Brantley|first=Ben|date=November 14, 1994|title=Durang Durang: Plays That Cast as Irreverent Eye Over Two Revered Playwrights.|work=New York Times}}</ref> To this list the abusive power of authority figures could be added.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Chirico|first=Miriam|title=The Theatre of Christopher Durang|publisher=Methuen Drama|year=2020|pages=12–13}}</ref> 

While Durang's use of parody and his criticism of many social institutions might appear overly cynical at times, he stated:<blockquote> ... when I say everyone is crazy that means it's a very bad day where the amount of crazy people in the world has spread out to the entire universe and it doesn't seem possible to cope with anything... I think we're all [[Neurosis|neurotic]]. And I do think relationships are certainly difficult. Nonetheless, those lines in the play do get a laugh, so there's something. It's not as despairing as it sounds, but I don't not believe it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bombmagazine.org/articles/1987/07/01/christopher-durang/|title=Interview: Christopher Durang|website=BOMB Magazine|access-date=January 18, 2024|archive-date=January 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118153855/https://bombmagazine.org/articles/1987/07/01/christopher-durang/|url-status=live}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Much of Durang's style can be attributed to the aesthetic of [[black comedy]], a humor style that offers a fatalistic view of life. Durang discussed the particular frame of mind that requires the viewer to distance himself from the horrific episode of human suffering and pain; he explained:<blockquote>I exaggerate awful things further, and then I present it in a way that is funny, and for those of us who find it funny, it has to do with a very clear [[suspension of disbelief]]. It is a play, after all, with acted characters; it allows us a distance we couldn’t have in reality.&nbsp; To me this distance allows me to find some rather serious topics funny.</blockquote>Durang suggested that his form of humor requires a double-consciousness, an ability to register scenes of cruelty or pain, while simultaneously comprehending the humor.&nbsp; He credited [[Arthur Kopit]]'s “tragicfarce” ''[[Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad]]'' as an early influence on his creative vision, a black comedy in which a woman totes her dead husband's corpse on vacation with her.  Humor is one way of resolving conflict and anxiety, and black comedy goes a step further to relieve tension regarding subjects that are typically difficult to think about, such as death, family dysfunction, or torture.<ref name=":0" />

His plays have been performed nationwide, including on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] and [[Off-Broadway]].<ref name="ibdb">{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=4832|title=Christopher Durang|publisher=Internet Broadway Database|access-date=November 19, 2018|archive-date=September 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924131430/http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=4832|url-status=live}}</ref> His works include those in the bibliography as well as a collection of one-act parodies meant to be performed in one evening entitled ''[[Durang/Durang]]'' that includes "Mrs. Sorken", "For Whom The Southern Belle Tolls" (a parody of ''[[The Glass Menagerie]]'' by [[Tennessee Williams]]), "A Stye of the Eye", "Nina in the Morning", "Wanda's Visit", and "Business Lunch at the Russian Tea Room".

Together with [[Marsha Norman]], Durang directed The Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at the [[Juilliard School]] from 1984 to 2016, teaching playwrights Joshua Harmon and Noah Haidle, as well as Pulitzer-Prize winning [[David Lindsay-Abaire]], who succeeded Durang as co-director.

Durang performed as an actor for both stage and screen. He first came to prominence in his [[Off-Broadway]] satirical review ''Das Lusitania Songspiel'', which he performed with friend and fellow Yale alum [[Sigourney Weaver]]. Later he co-starred in one of his own plays as Matt in ''The Marriage of Bette and Boo'', as well as Man in the original production of ''Laughing Wild''.

===In film===
Durang denounced the [[Robert Altman]] 1987 [[Beyond Therapy (film)|film adaptation]] of ''[[Beyond Therapy]]'', calling it "horrific". He accused Altman of totally rewriting the script "so that all psychology is thrown out the window, and the characters dash around acting crazy but with literally no behavioral logic underneath."<ref>Durang, Christopher (1995). [https://books.google.com/books?id=fkAsAQAAIAAJ ''Christopher Durang: Complete Full-Length Plays, 1975–1995'']. United States: Smith and Kraus. pg. 212; {{ISBN|9781575250175}}</ref>

Durang appeared as an actor in the 1987 comedy ''[[The Secret of My Success (1987 film)|The Secret of My Success]]'', 1988's ''[[Mr. North]]'', 1989's ''[[Penn & Teller Get Killed]]'', 1990's ''[[In the Spirit (film)|In the Spirit]]'', 1992's ''[[Housesitter]]'', and 1994's ''[[The Cowboy Way (film)|The Cowboy Way]]''.<ref>Baltake, Joe (June 5, 1990). [https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=80773677 "Actresses bring right spirit to this odd-couple comedy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183555/https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=80773677 |date=July 9, 2021 }}. ''The Sacramento Bee''. pg. 57. Retrieved July 4, 2021.</ref><ref name = Evans>{{cite news|url = https://deadline.com/2024/04/christopher-durang-dead-playwright-1235872874/|title = Christopher Durang Dies: Playwright With A Genius For The Absurd Was 75|last = Evans|first = Greg|date = April 3, 2024|accessdate = April 3, 2024|work = [[Deadline Hollywood]]|archive-date = April 3, 2024|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240403141740/https://deadline.com/2024/04/christopher-durang-dead-playwright-1235872874/|url-status = live}}</ref>

Durang wrote a number of unproduced screenplays, including ''The Nun Who Shot Liberty Valance'', ''The House of Husbands'' (which he co-authored with [[Wendy Wasserstein]]), and ''The Adventures of Lola''.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

===On television===
''Wanda's Visit'', one of the six one-acts in ''Durang/Durang,'' was originally written for the [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] series ''[[Trying Times]]''. Durang played the part of The Waiter in that production.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christopherdurang.com/OneActsLong-Belle-Stye-Wanda.htm|author=Durang, Christoper|title=Longer One Act Plays (between 30 and 60 minutes)|website=ChristopherDurang.com|access-date=November 19, 2018|archive-date=September 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916224542/http://www.christopherdurang.com/OneActsLong-Belle-Stye-Wanda.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Durang appeared as himself on the October 11, 1986 episode of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', hosted by his longtime friend Sigourney Weaver. In the episode, Durang and Weaver parodied the works of [[Bertolt Brecht]], and both were interviewed in the debut of the recurring sketch ''[[Church Lady|Church Chat]]'', with Durang as himself.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/flashback-friday-who-knew-sigourney-weaver-and-chr_64585.html|title=Flashback Friday: Who Knew? Sigourney Weaver and Chris Durang Had a German Phase Before Vanya Made Them Russian|author=Levitt, Hayley|date=March 15, 2013|website=TheaterMania.com|access-date=September 6, 2015|archive-date=November 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119214350/https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/flashback-friday-who-knew-sigourney-weaver-and-chr_64585.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Durang's 1987 sketch "The Funeral", written for a televised [[Carol Burnett]] special, features a grieving widow (Burnett) who is disturbed at her husband's wake by an eccentric mourner, played by [[Robin Williams]].<ref name = Evans/>

==Personal life and death==
Durang lived in [[Pipersville, Pennsylvania]], with his husband, actor/playwright John Augustine.<ref name = Soloski/><ref name = Naila>{{Cite web|last=Naila|first=Francis|date=July 17, 2014|title=Erwinna playwright Durang takes the stage in his Tony-winning play|url=https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20140717/LIFESTYLE/307179664|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620015757/https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20140717/LIFESTYLE/307179664|archive-date=June 20, 2021|access-date=June 20, 2021|website=[[Burlington County Times]]|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = https://playmakersrep.org/durang-on-chekhovdurang-on-durang/|title = Durang on Chekhov/Durang on Durang|website = [[PlayMakers Repertory Company]]|accessdate = July 20, 2022|archive-date = July 7, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220707113819/https://playmakersrep.org/durang-on-chekhovdurang-on-durang/|url-status = live}}</ref> They began their relationship in 1986 and were legally married in 2014.<ref name = Naila/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/theater/newsandfeatures/christopher-durang-explores-the-afterlife-including-his-own.html|title=Christopher Durang Explores the Afterlife, Including His Own|author=Dinitia Smith|author-link=Dinitia Smith|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 26, 2005|access-date=November 19, 2018|archive-date=November 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119214407/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/theater/newsandfeatures/christopher-durang-explores-the-afterlife-including-his-own.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Durang was at first reluctant to discuss his homosexuality publicly, concerned that he would be diminished by the label "gay playwright." But in 1988, he told ''[[The Advocate (magazine)|The Advocate]]'' that he felt the need to be more public about his gay identity given the intense homophobia surrounding the [[HIV/AIDS activism|AIDS crisis]] and the Supreme Court's decision in ''[[Bowers v. Hardwick]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schildcrout |first=Jordan |date=July–August 2024 |title=Christopher Durang, Satirist of Everything Holy |url=https://glreview.org/article/christopher-durang-satirist-of-everything-holy/ |journal=The Gay & Lesbian Review |pages=6–7}}</ref>  

In 2016, Durang was diagnosed with [[logopenic progressive aphasia]], which is thought to be caused by a form of [[Alzheimer's disease]]; as with all forms of aphasia, it primarily impeded his ability to process language, though it subsequently affected his short-term memory. Durang gradually withdrew from public life before his condition was publicly announced in 2022.<ref name = Fierberg/>

Durang died from complications of aphasia at his Pennsylvania home on April 2, 2024, at the age of 75.<ref name = Evans/>

==Bibliography==
{{Columns-list|;Plays
* 1974: ''The Idiots Karamazov''
* 1974: ''[[Titanic (play)|Titanic]]''
* 1975: ''Death Comes To Us All, Mary Agnes''
* 1975: ''[[The Nature and Purpose of the Universe]]''
* 1976: ''[[The Vietnamization of New Jersey]]''
* 1978: '''Dentity Crisis''
* 1979: ''[[Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You]]''
* 1981: ''[[Beyond Therapy]]''
* 1981: ''[[The Actor's Nightmare]]''
* 1983: ''[[Baby with the Bathwater]]''
* 1985: ''The Marriage of Bette and Boo''
* 1987: ''[[Laughing Wild]]''
* 1988: ''Naomi in the Living Room''
* 1994: ''For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls''
* 1996: ''Sex and Longing''
* 1999: ''[[Betty's Summer Vacation]]''
* 2005: ''[[Miss Witherspoon]]''
* 2009: ''Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them''
* 2012: ''[[Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike]]''
* 2018: ''Turning Off the Morning News''<ref name = Fierberg/>}}

;Musicals
* 1978: ''A History of the American Film''
* 1979: ''Das Lusitania Songspiel''
* 2002: ''[[Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge]]''
* 2007: ''Adrift in Macao''

==Awards and honors==
Durang received [[Obie Award]]s for ''Sister Mary Ignatius'',<ref name = Evans/> ''The Marriage of Bette and Boo'' and ''Betty's Summer Vacation''. He received a nomination for a [[Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical]] for ''A History of the American Film'', and he won a [[Tony Award for Best Play]] in 2013 for his play ''[[Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike]]''.<ref name = Evans/>

Durang was awarded numerous fellowships and high-profile grants including a [[Guggenheim Fellowship|Guggenheim]], a [[Rockefeller Foundation]], the [[CBS ]] Playwriting Fellowship, the ''Lecomte du Nouy Foundation'' grant, and the ''Kenyon Festival Theatre Playwriting Prize''.

Durang was a member of the council for the [[Dramatists Guild of America]], and was named the 2024 recipient of the guild's lifetime achievement award.<ref name = Evans/><ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.dramatistsguild.com/members/christopherdurang|title = Christopher Durang|website = [[Dramatists Guild of America]]|accessdate = April 3, 2024|archive-date = April 3, 2024|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240403143146/https://www.dramatistsguild.com/members/christopherdurang|url-status = live}}</ref> He was also a finalist for the [[Pulitzer Prize]] in Drama in 2006 for ''Miss Witherspoon''.<ref name = Evans/>

On May 17, 2010, he was presented with the very first Luminary Award from the [[New York Innovative Theatre Awards]] for his work [[Off-Off-Broadway]].

Durang was awarded the [[PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award]] in 2012. That same year, he was inducted into the [[American Theater Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/exclusive-betty-buckley-sam-waterston-trevor-nunn-christopher-durang-andre-bishop-among-theater-hall-of-fame-inductees-com-197937|title=EXCLUSIVE: Betty Buckley, Sam Waterston, Trevor Nunn, Christopher Durang, Andre Bishop Among Theater Hall of Fame Inductees|author1=Gans, Andrew|author2=Gioia, Michael|work=[[Playbill]]|date=September 24, 2012|access-date=November 19, 2018|archive-date=November 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119214518/http://www.playbill.com/article/exclusive-betty-buckley-sam-waterston-trevor-nunn-christopher-durang-andre-bishop-among-theater-hall-of-fame-inductees-com-197937|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Christopher Durang}}
*[http://bombsite.com/issues/20/articles/950 ''BOMB Magazine'' interview with Christopher Durang by Craig Gholson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514123553/http://bombsite.com/issues/20/articles/950 |date=May 14, 2013 }}
*{{IBDB name|4832}}
*{{IOBDB name|2641}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20151125231037/http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=people&first=Christopher&middle=&last=Durang archive])
*{{IMDb name|0243837}}
*{{official website|https://www.christopherdurang.com/}}
*{{discogs artist|Christopher Durang}}

{{Christopher Durang}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durang, Christopher}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ male actors]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ screenwriters]]
[[Category:American gay writers]]
[[Category:American male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Deaths from dementia in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Delbarton School alumni]]
[[Category:Educators from New Jersey]]
[[Category:Former Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:Juilliard School faculty]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from New Jersey]]
[[Category:Obie Award recipients]]
[[Category:People from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from New Jersey]]
[[Category:Writers from Bucks County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Writers from Montclair, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Deaths from primary progressive aphasia]]
[[Category:Writers from Union County, New Jersey]]