Laurie Graff
{{short description|American author, playwright, and actress (born 1956)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Laurie Graff
|image =
|caption=
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|5|25}}
|birth_place = New York
|death_date =
|death_place =
|othername =
|notable works = You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs
Looking for Mr. Goodfrog
The Shiksa Syndrome
|occupation = Author, playwright, publicist
|yearsactive =
|spouse =
|domesticpartner =
|website = {{URL|https://www.lauriegraff.com}}
}}
Laurie Graff (born in New York, May 25, 1956){{cite news |title=Laurie Graff |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1000184758/BIC |access-date=30 June 2022 |work=Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors |date=March 18, 2009|via=Gale}} is an American author, playwright, actress, and publicist. Her written works include You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs, Looking for Mr. Goodfrog, and The Shiksa Syndrome.
Career
As an actress, Graff appeared as Frenchy in Grease on Broadway and a national tour.{{cite news |last1=Glikas |first1=Bruce |title=Photos: GREASE Celebrates 50th Broadway Anniversary |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photos-GREASE-Celebrates-50th-Broadway-Anniversary-20220607 |access-date=30 June 2022 |work=Broadway World |date=June 7, 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://eeriedigest.com/2011/10/interview-with-author-laurie-graff/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020064518/https://eeriedigest.com/2011/10/interview-with-author-laurie-graff/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=October 20, 2020|title=TAEM interview with Author Laurie Graff « the Eerie Digest}} She also performed in a national tour of Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and an off-Broadway production of In the Boom Boom Room, in addition to other stage productions during her acting career. She also appears as herself in a documentary about dating in New York City, titled Mr. Right.
Her first novel You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs was published in 2004 and became a bestseller. It was reviewed by Publishers Weekly.{{cite news |title=You Have To Kiss A Lot of Frogs |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780373250462 |access-date=30 June 2022 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=December 15, 2003}}
In 2005, she published a holiday-themed romance novella in the collection Scenes From a Holiday.{{cite journal |last1=Huntley |first1=Kristine |title=Scenes from a Holiday |journal=Booklist |date=November 15, 2005 |volume=102 |issue=6 |pages=31–32|via=MasterFILE Complete}} In 2006, she published her second novel, Looking for Mr. Goodfrog, which continues the story from You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs.{{cite journal |last1=Huntley |first1=Kristine |title=Looking for Mr. Goodfrog |journal=Booklist |date=April 1, 2006 |volume=102 |issue=15 |page=26|via=MasterFILE Complete}} A review by Publishers Weekly states, "While Graff doesn't break any new ground, she offers a fun tour of New York, and readers will welcome the return of her smart narrator."{{cite news |title=Looking for Mr. Goodfrog |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780373895731 |access-date=1 July 2022 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=April 3, 2006}}
The Shiksa Syndrome was published in 2008 and described as a novel about "a thirtysomething single Jewish woman who, wanting to find "a nice Jewish boy," attempts to pass for a shiksa (non-Jewish woman)" in a Library Journal review of the audiobook.{{cite journal |last1=Gordon |first1=Ilka|date=December 1, 2008 |title=The Shiksa Syndrome |journal=Library Journal |volume=133 |issue=20|via=Business Insights Global}} A review by Publishers Weekly states, "Graff's prose crackles with winning wit, making her potentially annoying conceit go down like a chocolate-covered macaroon."{{cite news |title=The Shiksa Syndrome |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780767927611 |access-date=1 July 2022 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=June 16, 2008}} In a review for Booklist, Patty Engelmann writes, "Graff's latest is by turns funny and poignant as she explores religious identity and modern relationships and finds that sometimes Mr. Wrong may be more right than Mr. Right."{{cite journal |last1=Engelmann |first1=Patty |title=The Shiksa Syndrome |journal=Booklist |date=August 1, 2008 |volume=104 |issue=22 |page=39|via=MasterFILE Complete}}
Her work as a playwright is included in the anthologies New Monologues for Women by Women and Best Men's Stage Monologues of 1999. One-act plays All My Problems, Telephone Call for Francine Stein, Love in the Time of Recession, and Charlie & Flo (at PS NBC) have been produced at WorkShop Theater Company where she is a member.
Selected works
- You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs (Red Dress Ink, 2004)
- Scenes From a Holiday (Red Dress Ink, 2005)
- Looking for Mr. Goodfrog (Red Dress Ink, 2006)
- The Shiksa Syndrome (Broadway Books, 2008)
- Charlie & Flo (one-act play) (WorkShop Theater Company and PSNBC, 2008)
- Preface author in Marjorie Hillis, Live Alone and Like It: The Classic Guide for the Single Woman (5 Spot, 2008)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|https://lauriegraff.com}}
- [https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Laurie-Graff/ Broadway World] profile
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graff, Laurie}}
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:American fiction writers
Category:American musical theatre actresses
Category:American women dramatists and playwrights