Eric Simonson Biography

Eric Simonson (born June 27, 1960, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American writer and director in theatre, film and opera. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 1993 for The Song of Jacob Zulu.

Biography

Personal life

Simonson was born in Milwaukee but grew up on a farm in the small town of Eagle. After graduating with a B.A. in Theatre from Lawrence University, he moved to Madison, Wisconsin for a short period, where he worked with the then fledgling Ark Repertory Theatre. He moved to Chicago in 1983, where he helped found Lifeline Theatre, and eventually worked with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. He became a member of the theatre's ensemble in 1993.

Simonson now lives in Los Angeles, but often works throughout the United States. In 2004 he married theatre producer Susan Raab; she died of breast cancer in 2006, aged 37. They had one child.

Career

Simonson is the writer (with Jeffrey Hatcher) of Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright, which was commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and was subsequently was produced across the United States. His film A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin won the 2005 Academy Award for Short Subject Documentary. He also directed the premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie's opera The Grapes of Wrath at Minnesota Opera in 2007. In 2007 he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

His recent plays, Lombardi/The Only Thing (Madison Repertory Theatre), Carter's Way (Steppenwolf Theatre) and Slaughterhouse-Five (Godlight Theatre of New York) received premieres in 2008. Honest premiered at Carthage College in 2009 and was then part of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's 5th Annual First Look Repertory of New Work. The Carthage production traveled to the 2010 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (Region 3). Simonson's play Lombardi ran on Broadway from October 2010 to May 2011.

Simonson's Louder Faster, co-authored with Jeffrey Hatcher, premiered at City Theatre in Pittsburgh in May 2011. His play, Magic/Bird, premiered on Broadway in March 2012. His new play, Bronx Bombers, about the New York Yankees, is set to open in October 2013.