Mike Birbiglia's Titles, Including THE OLD MAN AND THE POOL, Acquired By Concord Theatricals

Concord Theatricals has acquired the titles of Mike Birbiglia, with five of his stage works soon to be available for publishing and licensing worldwide. Sleepwalk with Me, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, Thank God for Jokes, The New One, and The Old Man and the Pool are now part of the Samuel French imprint. For more information, visit concordsho.ws/MikeBirbiglia.

"Occasionally people have performed some of my solo shows at high schools and at theaters around the world. It's a surreal experience to have someone else perform something that is entirely personal to you,” said Birbiglia. “There's that great James Joyce quote: ‘In the particular lies the universal.' Which applies here because I've written five solo plays about my experiences in Dublin. No, they're actually just about life and death and mortality and finding humor in the most unlikely of places. I can't wait to see people perform them. I'm hoping they do it better than I do and I'm honored that Samuel French has included me in their legendary collection."

“The team at Concord is honored to have Mike and his brilliant work join the Samuel French family of exceptional dramatists,” said Amy Rose Marsh, Vice President of Acquisitions & Artistic Development at Concord Theatricals. “A masterful storyteller for this generation, his writing displays a humor and humanity that evokes the tradition of great artists like Spalding Grey, Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner, and Claudia Shear, among others. We can't wait to see performers and producers put their own stamp on these stories and really make them their own.”

Birbiglia's first solo show, Sleepwalk With Me, a “simply perfect” (New York Times) tale of his bouts with sleepwalking, premiered Off-Broadway at the Bleecker Street Theater on November 11, 2008. My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, a play chronicling Birbiglia's romantic blunders, premiered Off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theater on March 31, 2011. A commentary on modern joke-telling, Thank God for Jokes premiered Off-Broadway at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre on February 11, 2016. The New One, a comic look at parenting featuring additional writing from his wife, the poet Jennifer Hope Stein, premiered Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre on August 2, 2018, making its Broadway debut on November 11, 2018, at the Cort Theatre (now the James Earl Jones). Most recently, Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool premiered on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre on November 13, 2022, to rave reviews. All productions were directed by Seth Barrish, starring playwright Mike Birbiglia.

Biographies

Concord Theatricals is the world's most significant theatrical company, comprising the catalogs of R&H Theatricals, Samuel French, Tams-Witmark and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, plus dozens of new signings each year. Our unparalleled roster includes the work of Irving Berlin, Agatha Christie, George & Ira Gershwin, Marvin Hamlisch, Lorraine Hansberry, Kander & Ebb, Tom Kitt, Ken Ludwig, Marlow & Moss, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anaïs Mitchell, Dominique Morisseau, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Thornton Wilder and August Wilson. We are the only firm providing truly comprehensive services to the creators and producers of plays and musicals, including theatrical licensing, music publishing, script publishing, cast recording and first-class production. www.concordtheatricals.com

Mike Birbiglia is a comedian, storyteller, director, and actor who has performed in front of audiences worldwide, from the Sydney Opera House to Broadway. His repertoire of one-man shows, including What I Should Have Said Was Nothing: Tales from My Secret Public Journal, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, The New One, and Thank God for Jokes, have all been captured on film for Netflix. Notably, The New One ran for an impressive 99 shows at the Cort Theater.

Of particular note, Birbiglia's latest special, derived from his critically lauded one-person show, The Old Man and The Pool, recently debuted on Netflix. This production concluded a successful run at London's West End's Wyndham's Theatre, earning Birbiglia praise as "one of the best stand-ups in London." It achieved record-breaking, sold-out performances on Broadway, in Los Angeles, and Chicago, earning him an Outer Circle Nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance and recognition in the New York Times' list of Best Comedy in 2022.

Most recently, a Peacock Original docu-series adaptation of the popular Vulture comedy podcast, “Good One: A Show About Jokes” follows Mike Birbiglia from Providence, R.I. to Washington, D.C. as he builds jokes based on personal truths, mixing comedy with revelations and anecdotes from family and his fellow comedians.

Beyond the stage, Birbiglia is an author and filmmaker, celebrated for his works such as Sleepwalk with Me and Don't Think Twice. His literary works include Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories, a New York Times bestseller, and Thurber Prize for American Humor finalist. As an actor, he's appeared in notable productions like "Inside Amy Schumer," "Girls," Trainwreck, The Fault in Our Stars, "Orange Is the New Black," and "Billions." Birbiglia's talents extend to his contributions to "This American Life" on public radio, for which he was honored with the Kurt Vonnegut Award for humor in 2017.

Most recently, Birbiglia starred alongside Tom Hanks in A Man Called Otto, an American adaptation of the acclaimed Swedish comedy, and made waves with a notable appearance in Taylor Swift's "Anti-Hero" video. Currently, Birbiglia is on his latest tour, "Please Stop The Ride." Mike also served as executive producer in "Jacqueline Novak: Get On Your Knees" streaming now on Netflix Birbiglia also continues to host the popular “Working It Out” podcast, where he welcomes a different comedian or creator each week; past guests include Michael J. Fox, Ray Romano, Jimmy Kimmel, Chloe Fineman, Jimmy Fallon, and many more.