Introduction
Joshua Harmon (born 1983) is a New York City-based playwright, whose works include Bad Jews and Significant Other, both produced off-Broadway by Roundabout Theatre Company.
Harmon has also had his plays produced and developed by the Manhattan Theatre Club, Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Ars Nova, the O'Neill and Actor's Express. He has been awarded fellowships from MacDowell, Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Eudora Welty Foundation.
Early Life and education
Harmon is a graduate of Northwestern University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Juilliard where he worked with playwrights Christopher Durang and Marsha Norman.
Work
Bad Jews (2012)
Bad Jews was the first play of Harmon's which was performed for longer than three nights.
After its success in 2012 in Roundabout Theatre Company's 63-seat black box theatre, Bad Jews transferred to the company's 420-seat theatre the next year. Bad Jews went on to be the third most-produced play in America in the 2014-2015 season, and earned nominations for best play from the Outer Critics Circle and the Lucille Lortel awards. It also ran for five months on the West End in London at the Arts Theatre, after sold out runs at London's St. James and Theatre Royal Bath, and has had productions in Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel and South Africa.
Significant Other (2015)
The Roundabout Theatre Company produced the play Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre. The play premiered on May 16, 2015 in previews, officially on June 18, and closed on August 16, 2015. Directed by Trip Cullman, the cast featured Sas Goldberg, Gideon Glick, Carra Paterson, Lindsay Mendez, Luke Smith, John Behlmann and Barbara Barrie. The play involves the lives of four college friends and their search for relationships. It was included in the New York Times Top Ten Productions of 2015. Significant Other is forthcoming from Samuel French. The play was produced by the SpeakEasy Stage Company, Boston Massachusetts, in September to October 2016. Harmon explained the premise: “How do you make life work for yourself when you feel that you’re not living the life you’re supposed to be living or want to be living? And how do you deal with that when the changes that you need to make are in some ways outside of your control?”
The play is expected to premiere on Broadway in February 2017 at the Booth Theatre.
Honors
He was Playwright in Residence at the 2013 National Playwrights Conference of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center (Waterford, Connecticut).
He was in residence at SPACE at Ryder Farm in Brewster, New York.
While at the MacDowell Colony (Peterborough, New Hampshire) he started writing Bad Jews. He was the 2010–2011 National New Play Network Playwright-in-Residence at Actor's Express, Atlanta, Georgia. He also worked on Bad Jews while in residence.
Award nominations
- 2014 Lucille Lortel Award Nomination for Best Play for Bad Jews
- 2013 Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination for Best Play for Bad Jews