Nancy Harris is an Irish playwright and screenwriter. She was given the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2012.[1]

Early life and education

Harris is the daughter of Anne and Eoghan Harris. She was educated at Trinity College Dublin, earning a B.A. in Drama Studies and Classical Civilization,[2] and the University of Birmingham, where she completed an M.Phil. in Playwriting Studies (a course founded by playwright David Edgar) in the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts.[3]

Career

She was awarded The Stewart Parker Award 2012 for her first original full-length play No Romance which premiered at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The play was also nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award, a Zebbie Award and was a finalist for The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2012. Her play Our New Girl, premiered at The Bush Theatre London and was long-listed for an Evening Standard 'Most Promising Playwright Award' in 2013.

In December 2017, Dublin's Gate Theatre presented Harris' unique spin on a classic fairytale, about the challenges of reimagining The Red Shoes for a new generation.[4]

Harris had two commissioned plays opening in September 2019: The Beacon for Druid Theatre[5] which premiered at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway before transferring to the Gate Theatre, Dublin in October[6] and Two Ladies for The Bridge theatre, starring Zoë Wanamaker and Zrinka Cvitešić.[7]

Harris wrote the stage musical adaptation of The Magician's Elephant (based on Kate DiCamillo's novel) with Marc Teitler for the Royal Shakespeare Company Having been delayed a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was rescheduled to premiere in winter 2021.

On television, she was BAFTA nominated for her episodes of the Channel 4 series Dates and contributed scripts for Secret Diary of a Call Girl, The Good Karma Hospital and the epic miniseries Troy: Fall of a City.

She was the screenwriter for The Dry, a comedy about a party girl returning home to Ireland to a troubled family.[8]

Her play Somewhere Out There You opened at the Abbey Theatre in September 2023 as part of Dublin Theatre Festival.[9]

Personal life

Harris lives in London. She is married to Ghanaian scientist, Kwasi Agyei-Owusu.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Dramatist Harris wins Rooney Prize". The Irish Times. 2 October 2012. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  2. ^ Drama Graduate Nancy Harris receives the Rooney Prize
  3. ^ Walsh, Fintan (12 December 2011). "I try to get under the skin". Irish Theatre Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014.
  4. ^ The Red Shoes-Nancy Harris on The Gate's modern fairytale. RTE
  5. ^ Druid Theatre website
  6. ^ Gate Theatre website
  7. ^ Nancy Harris "Plays are kind of cool now", Irish Times, 21 September 2019
  8. ^ "The Dry and Dead Still among TV projects to receive BAI funding".
  9. ^ "Somewhere Out There You". Abbey Theatre. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Upfront-Sunday Independent". 13 November 2022.

External links

Recipients of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature
Categories