Bruce Norris (playwright)

Bruce Norris (born May 16, 1960) is an American actor and playwright associated with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago. His play Clybourne Park won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

After graduating from Northwestern University in 1982 with a degree in theatre, Norris set out to become an actor. He performed at Victory Gardens Theater, the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre and on Broadway. His Broadway acting credits include David Hirson's Wrong Mountain (January to February 2000), Wendy Wasserstein's An American Daughter (April to June 1997), and Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues (March 1985 to June 1986).

During this time he was also "hired and fired from a number of television pilots." These rejections led to writing his first play, The Actor Retires, produced in a late-night venue in Chicago in 1991 and then as a radio play for later broadcast by WFMT-FM as part of the Guest Quarters Hotel`s series Chicago Theatres on the Air in 1992.

The Steppenwolf Theatre has produced the last seven of Norris' plays.

Purple Heart was produced at the Steppenwolf Theatre from July 5, 2002 to August 25, 2002, with direction by Anna D. Shapiro and featuring Laurie Metcalf and Rosemary Prinz. The play relates the story of a Vietnam War widow and was commissioned by Steppenwolf.

We All Went Down to Amsterdam was produced at the Steppenwolf Theatre from June 12, 2003 to July 13, 2003, directed by Amy Morton.

The Pain and the Itch was produced at Steppenwolf Theatre from June 30, 2005 to August 28, 2005 directed by Anna D. Shapiro, with the cast that featured Jayne Houdyshell, Tracy Letts and Kate Arrington. It then was produced Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons from September 21, 2006 to October 15, 2006, directed by Shapiro, and at the Royal Court Theatre, London in June to July 2007. The Guardian (London) reviewer called the play "...social satire, in the style of Jules Feiffer, ... very funny." The play takes place at Thanksgiving at an upper-middle-class family's home. This was the fourth play by Norris that Steppenwolf had produced.

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