Rebecca Gilman

Rebecca Gilman was born in 1965 in Trussville, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. Raised in the South, she developed an early interest in theater, attending plays at her local Jewish Community Center. She attended Middlebury College and is a graduate of Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. Her Alabama roots would later influence her work, as she often explores themes of violence, social issues, and the complexities of American life in her naturalistic plays.

Gilman emerged as a significant voice in contemporary American theater in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her play The Glory of Living. Her breakthrough works include "Spinning Into Butter" and "Boy Gets Girl," both of which tackle difficult subject matter with unflinching honesty. A common thread in playwright Rebecca Gilman's widely performed, often gritty and self-described 'naturalistic' works is violence against women, though her plays address broader social issues including racism, class, and institutional failures.

Rebecca Gilman is an American playwright, the first to win an Evening Standard Award, which she won for Most Promising Playwright. Her numerous accolades reflect her impact on the theater world. Among her many awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship, along with Harper Lee, Scott McPherson, George Devine, Great Plains Playwright, Theatre Masters Visionary, and Roger L. Stevens Awards. She is a three-time Joseph Jefferson Award-winner. These honors recognize her contribution to American drama and her skill in addressing contemporary social issues through theater.

Gilman's extensive body of work demonstrates remarkable range and consistency. Her plays include Swing State, Luna Gale, Boy Gets Girl, Twilight Bowl, Spinning Into Butter, Blue Surge, The Glory of Living, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Dollhouse, The Crowd You're in With and A Woman of the World. Her plays have been widely produced, including by the Goodman Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre, Lincoln Center Theater, Audible Theater, the Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Hampstead Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, The Acting Company, New York Theatre Workshop and MCC Theater. This widespread production history speaks to the universal resonance of her work across diverse audiences and venues.

Rebecca Gilman is an artistic associate at Goodman Theatre. She is an associate professor of playwriting and screenwriting at Northwestern University, where she mentors the next generation of playwrights. Previously a longtime resident of Chicago, she resides in Green County, Wisconsin as of 2023. Through her dual roles as educator and working playwright, Gilman continues to influence American theater while developing new works that examine the fault lines of contemporary society with the same keen insight that made "Spinning Into Butter" and "Boy Gets Girl" such powerful theatrical statements.