Alex Finlayson

{{short description|American playwright|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{for|the Welsh rugby union player|Alex Finlayson (rugby union)}}

{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}

File:Alex Finlayson, Playwright.jpg

{{Infobox writer | name = Alex Finlayson

| birth_date = 1951

| birth_place = Tyler, Texas, United States

| occupation = Playwright

}}

Alex Finlayson was an American playwright whose work found more success on the English stage than in the United States.{{cite news |last=Morrison |first=Bill |date=8 November 1998 |title= Meet Ms Write|url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/657469230/?match=1&terms=%22alex%20finlayson%22|work=The News and Observer |location= Raleigh NC|publisher= |access-date=}} After winning a Mobil Oil International Playwriting Prize, Winding the Ball was produced by The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester,{{cite news |last=Kellaway |first=Kate |date=29 October 1989 |title=Winding the Ball |work=The Observer |location=London}}{{cite news |last=Thornber |first=Robin |date=28 October 1989 |title=Appalachian Gunsling |work=The Guardian |location=London}} which also commissioned and produced Finlayson's Misfits (1996){{cite news |last=Billington |first=Michael |date=13 May 1996 |title=Misfits: Royal Exchange, Manchester|work=The Guardian |location=London }} and Tobaccoland (1999).{{cite news |last=Gardner|first=Lyn |date=24 April 1999 |title=Smoke Without Fire|work= The Guardian|location= London}} All three plays starred American stage and film actress Lisa Eichhorn{{cite news |last=Isted |first=Gill |date=9 April 1999 |title= Lisa Gets Yanked Between Accents|work=Chester Chronicle |location= Chester UK}} and were directed by Greg Hersov.

Finlayson's play, Misfits, was inspired by Arthur Miller's autobiography, Timebends,[https://books.google.com/books?id=TF3MmJZ4t3wC&dq=Alex+Finlayson+Royal+Exchange+Theatre&pg=PT100 Greg Hersov, REMEMBERING ARTHUR MILLER edited by Christopher Bigsby] specifically his account of the 1961 film The Misfits as a "valentine" for his wife Marilyn Monroe. Misfits portrays the film's historic box office and artistic failure as the fault of screenwriter Miller, director John Huston, and producer Frank Taylor, and not its star, Marilyn Monroe, who is most often blamed for the film disaster. Misfits received mixed reviews, with some critics attacking Finlayson for daring to put Miller onstage as a character.{{cite news |last= |first= |date=18 January 2001 |title=Misfits |url= |work=Times-Dispatch |location= Richmond Virginia|publisher= |access-date=}}{{cite news |last=Proctor |first=Roy |date=7 Jan 2001 |title=Surf's Up for Finlayson |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/835871881/?terms=%22alex%20finlayson%22 |work=Times-Dispatch |location= Richmond VA|publisher= |access-date=}} However, The Times proclaimed the play "riveting" and "inventive."Kingston, Jeremy. "A Hit at Long Last," The Times, 13 May 1996. (Arthur Miller's last play, Finishing the Picture, would present his version of Marilyn Monroe and the making of The Misfits (film) eleven years after Finlayson’s Misfits had debuted and been challenged by his lawyers. [http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/guilt-by-association-dont-mess-with-arthur-miller-green-ties-black-skies/Content?oid=916646 Don't Mess With Arthur Miller, Chicago Reader]

Alex Finlayson was born and grew up in East Texas the daughter of an actor. She was an early protege of Julia Miles and the Women's Project.[https://books.google.com/books?id=cKOSkzqeQYkC&dq=The+women%27s+project+%22Alex+Finlayson%22&pg=PP7 Introduction; WomensWork: Five New Plays] from the Women's Project By Julia Miles Her first play, Ladies' Side, was produced by the Source Theatre, Washington, D.C., and received a Helen Hayes nomination for Best New Play.[http://www.theatrewashington.org/hha-nominees?field_award_year_value_many_to_one=1986 Helen Hayes Awards and Nominees 1986] Another early play World of Beauty won the Texas Playwrights Festival (1988) at Stages Repertory Theatre, Houston during producer Ted Swindley’s tenure as Artistic Director.{{cite news |last=Evans |first=Everett |date=7 April 1987 |title=Playwright Follows Road to Success in Reverse |url= |work=The Houston Chronicle |location=Houston, Texas |publisher= |access-date=}}{{cite news |last=Everett |first=Evans |date=13 October 1989 |title=Stages Revives Texas Salon Comedy |url= |work=The Houston Chronicle |location=Houston, Texas |publisher= |access-date=}} Three of Finlayson's plays were published by Oberon Books.