Nancy Harris
{{short description|Irish playwright and screenwriter}}
{{for|the physician|Nancy Lee Harris}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
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| name = Nancy Harris
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| occupation = Playwright and screenwriter
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| nationality = Irish
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| alma_mater = Trinity College Dublin and the University of Birmingham
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| spouse = Kwasi Agyei-Owusu
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| parents = Anne and Eoghan Harris
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| awards = Rooney Prize for Irish Literature (2012)
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Nancy Harris is an Irish playwright and screenwriter. She was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2012.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1002/breaking55.html|title=Dramatist Harris wins Rooney Prize|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=2 October 2012|accessdate=2 October 2012|archive-date=5 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005095857/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1002/breaking55.html|url-status=dead}}
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,[http://www.tcd.ie/drama-film-music/news/articles/2011-2012/Nancy%20Harris.php Drama Graduate Nancy Harris receives the Rooney Prize] 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.irishtheatremagazine.ie/Features/Current/Try-to-get-under-the-skin|title=I try to get under the skin|first=Fintan|last=Walsh|work=Irish Theatre Magazine|date=12 December 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222205242/http://www.irishtheatremagazine.ie/Features/Current/Try-to-get-under-the-skin|archivedate=22 February 2014}}
Career
In 2009, Harris adapted Leo Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata, creating a one-act monologue for the Gate Theatre in Dublin, which was then also presented in New York City in 2012.Eberson, Sharon. "[https://www.newspapers.com/image/96402845/ PICT offers love triangle set to music]." Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 27, 2013, p. D3 (subscription required).
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, the Gate Theatre presented Harris' unique spin on a classic fairytale, about the challenges of reimagining The Red Shoes for a new generation.[https://www.rte.ie/culture/2017/1204/924910-the-red-shoes-nancy-harris-on-the-gates-modern-fairytale/ The Red Shoes-Nancy Harris on The Gate's modern fairytale. RTE]
Harris had two commissioned plays opening in September 2019: The Beacon for Druid Theatre[https://www.druid.ie/productions/the-beacon Druid Theatre website] which premiered at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway before transferring to the Gate Theatre, Dublin in October[https://www.gatetheatre.ie/production/the-beacon/ Gate Theatre website] and Two Ladies for The Bridge theatre, starring Zoë Wanamaker and Zrinka Cvitešić.[https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/nancy-harris-plays-are-kind-of-cool-now-1.4017249 Nancy Harris "Plays are kind of cool now", Irish Times, 21 September 2019]
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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/the-dry-and-dead-still-among-tv-projects-to-receive-bai-funding-1.4444056|title=The Dry and Dead Still among TV projects to receive BAI funding}}
Her play Somewhere Out There You opened at the Abbey Theatre in September 2023 as part of Dublin Theatre Festival.{{Cite web |title=Somewhere Out There You |url=https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/whats-on/somewhere-out-there-you/ |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=Abbey Theatre |language=en}}
Her play The Beacon is slated to open in fall 2024 as an Off-Broadway production by the Irish Repertory Theatre with actress Kate Mulgrew in the lead.Gans, Andrew. "[https://playbill.com/article/kate-mulgrew-will-return-to-the-new-york-stage-in-the-beacon Kate Mulgrew Will Return to the New York Stage in The Beacon]." New York, New York: Playbill, July 25, 2024.
Personal life
Harris lives in London. She is married to Ghanaian scientist, Kwasi Agyei-Owusu.{{cite news |title=Upfront-Sunday Independent |date=13 November 2022}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|8721537|Nancy Harris}}
- [https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/bushgreen/from-the-archive-bushgreen-meets-nancy-harris/ From the Archive: Bushgreen Meets Nancy Harris]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20121026130918/http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/stewart-parker-trust-award-wins-for-nancy-harris-stacey-gregg-and-paul-mercier/ Stewart Parker Trust Award Wins for Nancy Harris, Stacey Gregg and Paul Mercier]
- [http://www.irishtheatremagazine.ie/Reviews/Current/No-Romance Irish Theatre Magazine review of No Romance]
{{Rooney Prize for Irish Literature}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Nancy}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Alumni of the University of Birmingham
Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Category:21st-century Irish dramatists and playwrights
Category:Irish women dramatists and playwrights
Category:Irish television writers
Category:Irish women television writers
Category:21st-century Irish women writers