Christopher Durang's first professionally produced play was The Idiots Karamazov which he co-authored with Albert Innaurato. The play premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre on October 31, 1974, featuring Meryl Streep as the 80-year-old "translatrix" Constance Garnett. Durang also acted in the production, appearing as Alyosha, the monk.
The Actor's Nightmare, by Christopher Durang, details the plight of George Spelvin, an unlucky accountant who is suddenly thrust on stage to replace an ailing actor, with no knowledge of the lines, the plot, or even what play he's supposed to be performing!
Christopher Durang co-wrote and performed Das Lusitania Songspiel with Sigourney Weaver -- both were nominated for Drama Desk awards for Best Performer in a Musical.
David Hyde Pierce (then billed as David Pierce) earned his Equity card in the 1982 Broadway production of Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy, playing the funny supporting role of Andrew the waiter.
In 2001, Christopher Durang was cast as the Reverend Thornhill, a regular on Kristin, a TV sitcom starring Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth as a small-town girl who leaves her sheltered life in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, to pursue her dream of becoming a Broadway star. The series premiered on NBC on June 5, 2001. Unfortunately, it was canceled in July of that same year.
Christopher Durang has earned "Playwriting" Obie Awards for Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You (1980), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (1985), and Betty's Summer Vacation (1999) -- but not for
New York Times theater critic Mel Gussow once wrote that Christopher Durang's style "has the wiggishness of four Marxes and the malice of a Jonathan Swift."
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