Eleanor Burgess
Eleanor Burgess
Eleanor Burgess is an American Playwright, the author of "The Niceties".
Career
The Niceties poster
Eleanor is known as the author of The Niceties, a riveting two-person drama, in which Zoe, a black student, and Janine, her white professor, meet to discuss their differing views on Zoe’s paper about slavery and the American Revolution. This polite clash of ideas soon landslides into an explosive discussion of race, history, privilege, and social justice.
Eleanor Burgess's work has been produced at Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre Center, Huntington Theatre Company, the Alliance Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, the Contemporary American Theater Festival, Portland Stage Company, and Centenary Stage, and developed with The New Group, New York Theatre Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Salt Lake Acting Company, the Lark Play Development Center, and the Kennedy Center/NNPN MFA Playwrights Workshop. She’s been a member of Page 73's writers' group Interstate 73 and The Civilians’ R&D Group, and the recipient of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Award, an EST/Sloan commission, a Huntington Playwriting Fellowship, a Keen Teens Commission, and the Susan Glaspell Award for Women Playwrights.
Early Years & Education
Eleanor grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, studied history at Yale College, and recently completed the M.F.A in Dramatic Writing at Tisch School of the Arts.