Lee Blessing
LEE BLESSING (Playwright). Lee Blessing's Cobb opened at the Lucille Lortel Theatre Off-Broadway. His Going to St. Ives was seen recently at the La Jolla Playhouse. Blessing directed the world premiere of The Winning Streak at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. His play Chesapeake, starring Mark Linn-Baker, produced by Jim Freydberg in conjunction with New York Stage and Film, opened at Second Stage Theatre in October, 1999 and received nominations for both Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for best solo performance. The Signature Theatre devoted its second season to Blessing's work, including Patient A, a world premiere. A Walk in the Woods ran on Broadway and was produced in London's West End. Later it toured to Moscow and was seen on PBS's American Playhouse. Blessing's plays have premiered at the Manhattan Theatre Club (Eleemosynary), the La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theater and the Actors Theater of Louisville among others, and have been nominated for Tony and Olivier Awards as well as the Pulitzer Prize. His plays have won the American Theater Critics Award and the George and Elisabeth Marton Award. Eleemosynary won the 1997 L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award. Blessing has received grants from the NEA as well as the Guggenheim, Bush, McKnight and Jerome Foundations. Heinemann has published two collections of his plays. Blessing's work has been performed at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference in six different summers. Bio as of August, 2006. American Theatre Wing programs, interviews and/or credits include: Downstage Center (audio) Lee Blessing - April, 2005 - Listen Now. Internet Broadway Database Listing (IBDB.com)