Joanna Murray-Smith

Joanna Murray-Smith (born 17 April 1962) is a Melbourne based playwright, screenwriter, novelist, librettist and newspaper columnist.

Biography

Joanna Murray-Smith was born in Mount Eliza, Victoria; her father was the literary editor and academic Stephen Murray-Smith (1922–1988). She attended Toorak College, Mt Eliza [cite web
url = http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20060614-Famous-alumni-on-Lathams-hit-list.html
title = Famous alumni on Latham's hit list
accessdate = 2008-02-17
date = 30 March 2005
publisher = Crikey] and graduated with a BA (Hons) from the
University of Melbourne. [cite web
url = http://www.unimelb.edu.au/alumni/prominent.html
title = Prominent Alumni
accessdate = 2008-02-17
publisher = University of Melbourne] On a Rotary International Scholarship in 1995, Murray-Smith attended the writing program at Columbia University, New York.cite web
url = http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/23/24/24.html
title = Homework in Writing Program Becomes a Play on Broadway
accessdate = 2008-02-18
author = A. Dunlap-Smith
date = 12 June 1998
work = Columbia University Record, Vol.23, No.24
publisher = Columbia University in the City of New York] In 2003, she took a sabbatical in Italy. [cite web
url = http://www.theage.com.au/cgi-bin/common/popupPrintArticle.pl?path=/articles/2003/05/10/1052280480071.html
title = (Column for The Age)
accessdate = 2008-02-18
last = Murray-Smith
first = Joanna
date = 11 May 2003
publisher = The Age] She is married to husband Raymond Gill and has two sons Sam and Charlie and a daughter Lucy.cite web
url = http://www.education.theage.com.au/pagedetail.asp?intpageid=1685&strsection=students&intsectionid=3
title = Life, love and betrayal
accessdate = 2008-02-18
last = Murray-Smith
first = Joanna
date = 7 August 2006
publisher = The Age] [cite news
last =Sullivan
first = Jane | title = Scenes from a survivor
pages =
publisher = theage.com.au
date = 2008-08-16
url = http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/scenes-from-a-survivor/2008/08/14/1218307120751.html
accessdate = 2008-09-06 ]

Notable productions

Many of Murray-Smith's plays have been performed around the world. "Honour" has been produced in more than three dozen countries, including productions on Broadway and at the Royal National Theatre in London.cite web
url = http://www.education.theage.com.au/pagedetail.asp?intpageid=1685&strsection=students&intsectionid=3
title = Life, love and betrayal
accessdate = 2008-02-18
last = Murray-Smith
first = Joanna
date = 7 August 2006
publisher = The Age]

"Honour" was created in 1995 when Murray-Smith was studying in the writing program at Columbia University in New York. There, the play's first public appearance was in a reading with Meryl Streep, Sam Waterston and Kyra Sedgwick.

"Honour" was performed at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway in 1998 with Jane Alexander, Robert Foxworth, Laura Linney, Enid Graham; [cite web
url = http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4868
title = Honour
accessdate = 2008-02-18
year = 1998
publisher = Internet Broadway Database] it earned Alexander and Graham Tony Award nominations, Enid Graham winning a Tony. It was performed at London's Royal National Theatre with Eileen Atkins and in the West End at Wyndham's Theatre in 2006 with Diana Rigg, Martin Jarvis and Natascha McElhone [cite web
url = http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/shows/display?contentId=87245
title = Honour
accessdate = 2008-02-18
year = 2006
publisher = The Society of London Theatre]

"Ridge's Lovers" was performed in New York under the direction of Brian Leahy Doyle. [cite web
url = http://www.stcloudstate.edu/theatrefilmdance/theatre/facstaff/briandoyle.asp
title = Brian Doyle
accessdate = 2008-02-18
date = 27 September 2007
publisher = St. Cloud State University] "Scenes from a Marriage" was performed in January 2008 at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, directed by Trevor Nunn, with Iain Glen and Imogen Stubbs. [cite web
url = http://www.belgrade.co.uk/site/scripts/show_details.php?showID=153
title = Scenes from a Marriage
accessdate = 2008-02-18
year = 2008
publisher = The Belgrade Theatre]

"The Female of the Species" opened in the West End at the Vaudeville Theatre in July 2008, directed by Roger Michell and starring Eileen Atkins. A Broadway production, originally planned for 2008 with Annette Bening has been postponed. [cite web
url = http://www.playbill.com/news/article/114747.html
title = Broadway Engagement of Female of the Species Postponed
accessdate = 2008-09-05
last = Gans
first = Andrew
date = 31 January 2008
publisher = Playbill] [ [http://www.vaudeville-theatre.co.uk Vaudeville Theatre listing] ]

Works

The plays and novels of Joanna Murray-Smith have been translated and performed widely around the world.cite web
url = http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowAgent&agentId=A)%2B5
title = Murray-Smith, Joanna
accessdate = 2008-02-18
date = 27 June 2006
publisher = AustLit] However, she feels that within Australia, and especially at the Sydney Theatre Company, her work and that of other Australian writers, e.g. David Williamson's, is insufficiently supported. [cite web
url = http://www.thewest.com.au/printfriendly.aspx?ContentID=27066
title = Perth to meet bombshell
accessdate = 2008-02-18
last = Leach
first = Pier
date = 26 April 2007
publisher = The West Australian] [cite web
url = http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23176762-16947,00.html
title = More bubble bath than kitchen sink
accessdate = 2008-02-18
last = Croggon
first = Alison
date = 8 February 2008
publisher = The Australian] According to the Australia Council, "Joanna Murray-Smith and Daniel Keene account for half of all foreign productions of Australian plays".cite web
url = http://www.australianstage.com.au/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=451&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=200
title = Female Of The Species to Star Annette Bening On Broadway
accessdate = 2008-02-18
date = 14 June 2007
publisher = Australian Stage Online]

Plays

*"Angry Young Penguins" (1987) (see also: Ern Malley)
*"Atlanta" (1990)
*"Love Child" (1993)
*"Ridge's Lovers"
*"Flame" (1994)
*"Honour" (1995)
*"Redemption" (1997)
*"Rapture" (2002)
*"Bombshells" (2004) (written for Caroline O'Connor)
*"The Female of the Species" (2006)
*"Nightfall" (2007)
*"Ninety" (August 2008 at the Melbourne Theatre Company) [cite web
url = http://www.mtc.com.au/default.aspx?eventID=114
title = Ninety
accessdate = 2008-09-06
year = 2008
publisher = Melbourne Theatre Company]
*"Scenes from a Marriage" (January 2008) (based on the 1973 Bergmann film)
*"Rockabye" (August 2009, Melbourne Theatre Company)

Novels

*"Truce" (1994) ISBN 978-0-14-015252-4
*"Judgement Rock" (2002) ISBN 978-0-14-025429-7
*"Sunnyside" (2005) ISBN 978-0-14-300536-0

Other

*"The poems of Ern Malley" (ed) ISBN 978-0-04-150088-2 (1988)
*"Georgia", (film, 1988)
*"Cassidy" (1989, for ABC Television) (after the novel by Morris West)
*"Mimi Goes to the Analyst" in "Six Pack" (1992, for SBS TV)
*"Greed" in "The Seven Deadly Sins" (1993, for ABC TV)
*Lyrics to a song cycle about Harold Holt, music by Paul Grabowsky
*"Janus": episodes "Fit to Plead", "An Unnatural Act", "A Prima Facie Case" (1995, for ABC TV)
*Libretto to the opera "Love in the Age of Therapy" (2002) by Paul Grabowsky for Opera Australia. [cite web
url = http://middlec.customer.netspace.net.au/c_writing/love_therapy.htm
title = Interview
accessdate = 2008-02-18
last = Middleton
first = Carol
year = 2002
month = December]

Awards

*Australian Film Institute Award nomination in 1989 for the screenplay to "Georgia" (shared with Ben Lewin, Bob Weis).
*Braille Book of the Year for "Judgement Rock"
*Victorian Premier's Literary Award: Southbank Pacific Prize for Drama for "Honour" in 1996
*Victorian Premier's Literary Award: Louis Esson Prize for Drama for "Rapture" in 2003
*Winner 2004 Fringe First Award, Edinburgh Fringe Festival for "Bombshells"
*International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award nomination in 2004 for "Judgement Rock" [cite web
url = http://impacdublinaward.ie/2004%20Award/Titles/Murray-Smith.htm
title = The 2004 Award
accessdate = 2008-02-18
year = 2004
publisher = Dublin City Public Libraries]
*Winner 2005 London Theatregoers Choice Award for "Bombshells"
*Final list of twelve of the Miles Franklin Award in 2006 for "Sunnyside"

References

External links

*Imdb|0615341
* [http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsM/murray-smith-joanna.html Plays by Joanna Murray-Smith (incomplete)]
* [http://www.bstc.com.au/go/2008-shows/the-female-of-the-species "The Female of the Species" at the Black Swan Theatre Company, plus overview of Murray-Smith's work.]

Persondata
NAME=Murray-Smith, Joanna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Australian playwright
DATE OF BIRTH=1962
PLACE OF BIRTH=Mount Eliza, Victoria, Australia
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=