Bruce Norris (playwright)

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Bruce Norris is an American actor and more recently a playwright known for works including The Actor Retires, The Infidel, Purple Heart, The Unmentionables and perhaps his most recent play, The Pain and the Itch.

After graduating from Northwestern University in 1982 with a degree in theatre he set out to become an actor. He performed at Victory Gardens Theater, the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre and on Broadway. His Broadway credits include David Hirson's Wrong Mountain, Wendy Wasserstein's An American Daughter, and Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues. During this time he was also “hired and fired from a number of television pilots.” These rebuttals led to his fist play The Actor Retires. This signalled the start of his transition from working actor to respected playwright. The Steppenwolf Theatre has produced the last four of Norris' plays and confirmed its reputation as a progressively daring theatre.

Norris' verbally dexterous and fast-paced dramas are reminiscent of Edward Albee's comically tragic plays, which contemplate the complexities of the American psyche and the family dynamic.