Heather McDonald

Heather McDonald (MFA, NYU Tisch School of the Arts) is professor of theater and head of playwriting and dramaturgy concentration. McDonald’s plays include An Almost Holy Picture; When Grace Comes In; Dream of a Common Language; Available Light; The Rivers and Ravines; Faulkner’s Bicycle; The Two Marys; Rain and Darkness; and The Suppressed-Desire Ball. Her work has been produced on and off Broadway. Her most recent work, STAY, is the result of a 2-year collaboration with choreographer Susan Shields. STAY combines theatre, dance, music and SLAM multimedia projections. McDonald wrote the libretto for the opera, The End of the Affair. She has also directed many productions, most recently Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, a steampunk version of The Elephant Man, The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh and the world premiere of Two-Bit Taj Mahal by Paul D’Andrea. The production she directed of Dream of a Common Language was nominated for eight Helen Hayes Awards and won four, including Outstanding Resident Production.
Her work has been honored with a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize and three NEA Playwriting Fellowships. She has written and sold two screenplays, Rocket 88 and Walking After Midnight and is at work on a new project for television, Gold. 

Degrees

• MFA, Playwriting, New York University