1995–2003: Quills and I Am My Own Wife Wright's play
Quills premiered at the
Off-Broadway at
New York Theatre Workshop followed by a run at
Washington, D.C.'s
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in 1995. The play recounts the imagined final days in the life of the
Marquis de Sade.
Quills garnered the 1995
Joseph Kesselring Prize for Best New American Play from the
National Arts Club and, for Wright, a 1996
Village Voice Obie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting. In 2000, Wright wrote the screenplay for
the film version of Quills which was directed by
Philip Kaufman and starred
Geoffrey Rush,
Kate Winslet,
Joaquin Phoenix, and
Michael Caine. The production earned positive reviews with
Variety film critic
Todd McCarthy writing, "Kaufman‘s intelligently boisterous screen version of Doug Wright‘s successful play...maintains a sharp focus on the notorious writer’s compulsive creativity" adding, "Wright’s script is at its best when centered on the Marquis". For his work Wright received a nomination for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay as well as the
Writers Guild of America's
Paul Selvin Award. Wright's
I Am My Own Wife was produced
Off-Broadway by
Playwrights Horizons in 2003. It transferred to
Broadway where it won the
Tony Award for Best Play, as well as the
Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The subject of this one-person play, which starred
Jefferson Mays, is the
German transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. With his play
I Am My Own Wife, Wright tied in with the film
I Am My Own Woman by
avant-garde director
Rosa von Praunheim (1992).
2006–2017: Focus in musical theatre Wright returned to Broadway in 2006, writing the
book for
Grey Gardens, starring
Christine Ebersole and
Mary Louise Wilson. The
musical is based on the
Maysles brothers' 1975
film documentary of the same title about
Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale ("Big Edie") and her daughter
Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie"),
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's aunt and cousin. For his work he received a
Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical nomination. He then adapted the
Disney film
The Little Mermaid for
the Broadway musical, which opened in 2007. In 2009, he was commissioned by the
La Jolla Playhouse to adapt and direct
Creditors by
August Strindberg. In another La Jolla commission, he wrote the book for the musical
Hands on a Hardbody, with the score by
Amanda Green and
Trey Anastasio. The musical had a brief run on Broadway in March and April 2013 after premiering at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2012. As an ardent supporter for writers' rights in the theatre industry, he is a member of the
Dramatists Guild of America and was formerly the elected president of the non-profit organization, succeeded in 2021 by
Amanda Green (the first woman to hold the role in the Guild's history). Wright also serves on the board of
New York Theatre Workshop. He serves on the boards of
Yaddo and
New York Theatre Workshop. He is a recipient of the William L. Bradley Fellowship at Yale University, the
Charles MacArthur Fellowship at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, an HBO Fellowship in playwriting and the Alfred Hodder Fellowship at
Princeton University. In 2010 he was named a
United States Artists Fellow. He wrote the book for the musical,
War Paint, about
Helena Rubinstein and
Elizabeth Arden. The music is by
Scott Frankel and the lyrics by
Michael Korie.
War Paint premiered at the
Goodman Theatre, Chicago, from June 28 to August 14, 2016, with stars
Patti LuPone as Helena Rubinstein and
Christine Ebersole as Elizabeth Arden. It ran on Broadway in 2017. The musical received four Tony Award nominations for Ebersole, LuPone, set design, and costume design.
2021–present: Good Night, Oscar For television, Wright worked on four pilots for producer
Norman Lear and
teleplays for
Hallmark Entertainment and
HBO. In film, Wright’s credits include screenplays for
Fine Line Features,
Fox Searchlight, and
DreamWorks SKG. He wrote screenplay for the upcoming
courtroom drama The Burial (2023) directed by
Maggie Betts starring
Jamie Foxx and
Tommy Lee Jones. Also in 2023, Doug wrote the play
Good Night, Oscar a drama centered around pianist and actor
Oscar Levant's appearance on
The Tonight Show with
Jack Paar. The play starred
Sean Hayes and premiered at the
Goodman Theatre in
Chicago before making its transfer to
Broadway. The production earned three
Tony Award nominations for
Best Actor in a Play (Hayes),
Best Scenic Design of a Play and
Best Costume Design of a Play. ==Personal life==