Terrence McNally Biography

Terrence McNally has won four Tony Awards for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! (as well as the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play and the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Best Play) and Master Class and his musical books for Kiss of the Spiderwoman and Ragtime. Recent Broadway credits include the revivals of his plays The Ritz and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. His other plays include A Perfect Ganesh, Corpus Christi, Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams, The Stendal Syndrome, Lips Together, Teeth Apart (Drama Desk Award Best New Play) and Its Only a Play. Earlier stage works include Bad Habits (Obie Award Best Play), Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?, …And Things That Go Bump In the Night and Next. He also wrote the books for the musicals The Full Monty, The Rink, and A Man of No Importance. The San Francisco Opera presented Dead Man Walking with McNally's libretto and music by Jake Heggie. McNally has written a number of TV scripts, including "Andre's Mother" for which he won an Emmy Award. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, a Lucille Lortel Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Dramatists Guild since 1970 and is a three time recipient of the Hull-Warriner Award for Best Play.

The Kennedy Center recently produced three of his plays under the title Terrence McNally’s Nights at the Opera: Master Class, The Lisbon Traviata and the world premiere of Golden Age. Other recent work includes his musical adaptation of The Visit at Arlington’s Signature Theatre, his play Deuce on Broadway and his play Some Men at Philadelphia Theatre Company and off-Broadway’s Second Stage.

Upcoming Broadway productions include his book for the new musical Catch Me if You Can with a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and the revival of Master Class at Manhattan Theatre Club.