Richard Maxwell

Richard Maxwell is a playwright and director living in New York. Maxwell studied acting at Illinois State University. In Chicago, he was a founder of the Cook County Theater Department. He is now the artistic director of New York City Players and a resident writer at New Dramatists. In addition to his Guggenheim Fellowship, Maxwell has won an OBIE Award, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant, and the Best in Festival Award at Zürcher Theater Spektakel. His plays have been commissioned by the Barbican Centre, London; the Lyric Hammersmith, London; Theater Bonn; the Wexner Center, Columbus; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Steirischer Herbst, Graz; the Hebbel- Theatre, Berlin; Toneelgroep Amsterdam; Festival Theaterformen, Hannover; Festival d’Automne, Paris; Project Arts Centre, Dublin; Performance Space 122 and the Kitchen and Soho Rep in New York. A volume of his plays, Plays, 1996- 2000: Richard Maxwell, has been published by Theatre Communications Group. In 2011 he will premiere his latest work, Neutral Hero, at Kunsten Festival, Brussels.

Profile photograph by Michael Schmelling.