Joe Sutton
Playwright
Andy Decker
Official Website of Best Selling Author, Including the Award-Winning Book
HARMONY & RAGE
"Sutton is capable of focusing a viewer's attention in ways news cannot." - Variety
Selected Plays
THE THIRD ARMY
“Casts a fascinating spell" -- Hartford Courant
"Sophisticated, smart, and sexy" -- WMNR Radio
RESTORING THE SUN
“A fast-moving, engrossing drama" -- Philadelphia Inquirer
"Shows us how sexy science can be" -- Akron Beacon Journal
VOIR DIRE
“An open-and-shut case of strong, thought-provoking drama" -- Seattle Times
"Excellent" -- Connecticut Post
“An open-and-shut case of strong, thought-provoking drama" -- Seattle Times
"Excellent" -- Connecticut Post
ORWELL IN AMERICA
AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
COMPLICIT
“This theatrical jewel entertains and captivates its audience” – Broadway World
“Brilliant” – Berkshire Fine Arts
“This theatrical jewel entertains and captivates its audience” – Broadway World
“Brilliant” – Berkshire Fine Arts
“A sharp, raw, sometimes chilling satire" -- Christian Science Monitor
"Thought and laughter provoking" -- The Nation
"Compulsively engrossing" -- Clive Barnes
“Packs a powerful message about state-inspired hypocrisy when it comes to torture" -- Daily and Sunday Express
IN THE PRESS
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"Special Interests" presents sympathetic views of people caught up in situations that bring out the best and worst in them. It is a traditional play, well told, an obverser of how we behave rather than a proponent of how things should be"
"Great theaters are made by great plays and Southern Rep has one in "The Breach"
Times-Picayune
"Few plays or movies give us the kind of searching look at our collective past as "The Winner"
Dallas Morning News
New York Times
JAKE RANDELL, THE WASHINGTON PAPER
BIO
Born in New York and raised in LA, Joe returned to New York in 1987 where the New York Theatre Workshop produced his breakout play, As It Is In Heaven. A satire about evangelical Christians infiltrating the Republican Party, this play established Joe as one of American theatre’s freshest and most provocative theatre voices.
Following this, Joe's play Voir Dire about criminal justice and race premiered at Seattle Rep, where it was nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and the Best Play Award of the American Theatre Critics Association, and was produced by dozens of theatres across the country.
Joe’s many other works, on subjects ranging from water-boarding and Hurricane Katrina, to real estate speculation, fraudulent science, and life after communism in Eastern Europe have been performed across the U.S. at such theatres as Trinity Rep, the Old Globe, Arena Stage, Primary Stages, and the Cleveland Playhouse. His plays have also been produced internationally at such theaters as the National Theatre of Turkey, the Vaganten Buhne in Berlin, and Maggio Musicale in Florence.
In 2009, Joe's play Complicit premiered to great effect at the Old Vic Theatre in London. More recently, Joe's play Orwell in America transferred from Northern Stage to a sold out run at 59E59 in New York. Joe's latest play, Twirl, received the 2021 Julie Harris Best New Play Award from the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild
From many years, Joe taught playwriting at Dartmouth College. He now lives in West Orange, NJ with his wife Anne Travers.
Production History
(World Premieres)
ORWELL IN AMERICA
59E59 2016
Northern Stage 2015
COMPLICIT
Old Vic Theatre, London, 2009
THE BREACH
(with Tarell Alvin McCraney and Catherine Filloux)
Southern Rep 2007
THE WINNER
Lyric Stage 2007
RESTORING THE SUN
Cleveland Play House, 2005
RED BADGE OF COURAGE (adaptation)
Seattle Children’s Theatre 2005
THE MAGIC CITY (adaptation)
Seattle Children’s Theater 2004
THE THIRD ARMY
Long Wharf Theatre, 2001
HANKY AND GIRLO
Omaha Theatre Company for Young People 2000
THE PREDATORS' BALL
Maggio Musicale, Florence Italy, 1996
Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1996
VOIR DIRE
Seattle Repertory Theatre, 1995
THE BENEFITS OF DOUBT
The Actors' Studio, 1996
SPECIAL INTERESTS
The Working Theatre, 1990
BLACK MARKET
Primary Stages Company, 1989
AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
New York Theatre Workshop, 1987
CONTACT
For all inquires, please contact me directly at joe@joesutton.com