Bess Wohl (USA)
Authors / Theater
is a playwright. A native New Yorker, she holds a BA in English from Harvard University and an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. In 2019, she received a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut, GRAND HORIZONS.
Bess Wohl’s work has been produced at many theaters in the U.S., particularly in New York City, as well as around the world, and has won various awards including the Sam Norkin Special Drama Desk Award, the Georgia Engel Playwriting Award, and a MacDowell Fellowship. She has likewise been named to the Hollywood Black List of Best Screenplays.
Bess Wohl is an Associate Artist with The Civilians theater company and an alumna of Ars Nova’s Play Group. She is currently writing new plays for the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. She also writes for film and TV.
Her plays include CAMP SIEGFRIED, GRAND HORIZONS, CONTINUITY, AMERICAN HERO, SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS.
Works
GRAND HORIZONS
Premiere: 2019
New York City
German premiere: December 2022, Komödie am Kurfürstendamm at the Schillertheater, Berlin
with Franziska Walser and Edgar Selge, among others.
Directed by: Titus Selge
“A … very successful production, well cast throughout … that also has a lot going for it in terms of theatrical technique.” – Patrick Wildermann, Der Tagesspiegel
SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS
Premiere: 2015
New York City
In the silence of the woods, six city slickers meet at a silent retreat. As these strangers confront their own problems, both profound and absurd, their vows of silence collide with the painfully human need for contact.
Bess Wohl’s beguiling and insightful play is full of awkward and charming humor. It brilliantly captures the unique eloquence of a silent retreat, asking how we address life’s biggest questions when words fail us.
“Leaves you moved, refreshed and, yes, maybe even enlightened.” — New York Times (Critic’s Pick)