Background
Lauro, Shirley Mezvinsky was born on November 18, 1933 in Des Moines. Daughter of Phillip and Helen Frances (Davidson) Shapiro.
( Full Length, Drama Characters: 1 male, 6 female Unit ...)
Full Length, Drama Characters: 1 male, 6 female Unit set This is a powerful, true drama of six women who went to Viet Nam five nurses and a country western singer booked by an unscrupulous agent to entertain the troops. The play portrays each young woman before, during, and after her tour in the war torn jungle and ends as each leaves a personal token at The Wall in Washington. A Piece of My Heart premiered in New York at Manhattan Theatre Club, and now has enjoyed over 1000 productions here and abroad. It has recently been named "The most enduring play on Vietnam in the nation," by The Vietnam Vets Association. "There have been a number of plays dealing with Viet Nam, but none with the direct, emotional impact of Ms. Lauro's work."-N.Y. Times "Brought the audience to tears... and a standing ovation."-Variety "A riveting, rending dramatic experience."-Louisville Courier Journal
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0573693331/?tag=2022091-20
(Drama / Characters: 5f / Simple Set Nominee! 2006 Joseph ...)
Drama / Characters: 5f / Simple Set Nominee! 2006 Joseph Jefferson nomination as Best New Chicago Play of the Year All Through the Night speaks directly with a warning for today. Set during and after the Third Reich, a stylistic, surrealistic play inspired by interviews with German Gentile women. The play sweeps from their teen years through adulthood during the Holocaust and beyond. The Nazi Regime impacts the women's lives as they struggle over work, religion, marriage and motherhood. Making overwhelmingly hard choices, they survive or succumb to Hitler's Reign and are changed forever. A sylistic, surrealistic play. Minimal set and minimal props. An unconventional timeframe that jumps a chronological order "Events...elevated to artistic dramatization. Most interesting is character transformations as the stories unfold." - Backstage "We may know history but this play is electrifying!" - Chicago Free Press
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0573698023/?tag=2022091-20
(Full-length drama for 4 men, 7 women. Publisher's (Samuel...)
Full-length drama for 4 men, 7 women. Publisher's (Samuel French, Inc.) description: "This drama for a racially and ethnically mixed cast explores equal opportunity in college admissions. Calvin Jefferson, a sophomore at an urban college not unlike New York's City College, reads at the fifth grade level but always gets Bs. He is only dimly beginning to understand is that it will take more than a sheepskin to make him competitive in the real world. It will take basic skills he lacks. Calvin begs his speech teacher, an overburdened, underpaid and under appreciated victim of the system, for help. She does try but it is likely too little, too late.On Broadway, Open Admissions received one Tony® nomination, two Drama Desk nominations, a Theatre World Award, The Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, and was adapted by Ms. Lauro for a CBS TV Special starring Jane Alexander." Frank Rich of the NY Times wrote, "Shirley Lauro's drama is a rarity for Broadway these days: It thrusts us onto the front line of an agonizing contemporary social crisis and refuses to show us the easy way out. Though Mrs. Lauro tells of the conflict between a white woman teacher and a black male student in a public New York college, she refuses to present the usual blacks and whites in either the racial or moral sense. Both her characters are decent people; both are casualties on a battleground that neither of them has made."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0573618461/?tag=2022091-20
Lauro, Shirley Mezvinsky was born on November 18, 1933 in Des Moines. Daughter of Phillip and Helen Frances (Davidson) Shapiro.
Bachelor of Science cum laude, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1955. Master of Science, University Wisconsin, 1957. Postgraduate, Columbia University, 1970—1973.
Instructor speech and theaterCCNY, New York City, 1967-1971. Instructor speech, theater and playwriting Yeshiva University, New York City, 1971-1976. Instructor creative writing Manhattan Marymount College, New York City, 1978-1979.
Instructor speech and drama Manhattan Community College, New York City, 1978-1979.
Instructor playwriting Tisch School of Arts New York University, 1989. Literature consultant Ensemble Studio Theater, New York City, 1975-1980, production critic,1975—, member of council, since 1975.
( Full Length, Drama Characters: 1 male, 6 female Unit ...)
(Drama / Characters: 5f / Simple Set Nominee! 2006 Joseph ...)
(Full-length drama for 4 men, 7 women. Publisher's (Samuel...)
Member of Writers' Guild, Authors' Guild, Authors' League, Dramatists' Guild, League Professional Theatre Women, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association.
Married Norton Mezvinsky, July 22, 1956 (divorced 1967). Married Louis Paul Lauro, August 18, 1973. 1 child, Andrea Mezvinsky.