David Lindsay- Abaire

I decided to research the director of my directing show to get
a better feel for his style. My show Baby Food was written by the acclaimed playwright
David Lindsay-Abaire. This play was written for the 24 hour theater Broadway Benefit in
2005. I think it is a fun idea to do a play that was written in so little time, but is so
entertaining. David Lindsay-Abaire was born in South Boston, Massachusetts. He was
born in a family of five which he considered very “Blue collar.” His father worked for a
fruit market and his mother was a faculty worker. In eighth grade he attended a New
England Boarding School called Milton Academy and that’s where he first became
interested in writing for theater. He then continued theatre at Sarah Lawrence College
and he was accepted in an American Playwrights Program at the Julliard School. There
he was tutored by Christopher Durang and Marsha Norman. It is very evident that he
was influenced by Christopher Durang because they have very similar writing and
absurdity in their works. David has always thought that theatre is a place for absurd
things to happen which is why he tends to stay away from realism in his writing. David
says that "My plays tend to be peopled with outsiders in search of clarity." Some of his
works include Fuddy Meers, Wonder of the World, High Fidelity, Kimberly Akimbo a Devil
Inside, The Other Person, and Crazy Eights. Fuddy Meers was actually performed here at
IUP in the fall of 2004. In 2007 David received the Pulitzer Prize for his play Rabbit Hole.
Rabbit Hole also received five Tony nominations including Best Play. His newest work is
Shrek the Musical which he wrote both the book and lyrics. It premiered at Seattle’s 5th
Avenue Theater and opened on Broadway.    He is now working on screen adaptations of
his play Rabbit Hole which would star Nicole Kidman and also his play Kimberly Akimbo
for Killer Films and DreamWorks. He was most recently awarded the 2008 Ed Kleban
Award as most promising musical theatre lyricist. David Lindsay-Abaire says that some
of his influences are playwrights: Edward Albee, Georges Feydeau, John Guare, and
George S. Kaufman. Abaire is credited with two screen plays Robots and InkHeart and is
currently writing Spiderman 4. He is also working on the book for the musical High
Fidelity. David Lindsay-Abaire has a wife named Christine and one child a son named
Jason.