Bess Wohl

Teaches at Primary Stages ESPA

Bess Wohl’s plays include SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS (Top ten of 2015 in The New York Times, The Guardian, New York Post, and others), AMERICAN HERO, BARCELONA, TOUCHED, IN, CATS TALK BACK, and the original musical PRETTY FILTHY, in collaboration with Michael Friedman and The Civilians (Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Musical).

Her work has been produced or developed at Second Stage, Ars Nova, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Geffen Playhouse, People’s Light and Theatre Company, The Contemporary American Theater Festival, Vineyard Arts Project, The Pioneer Theatre, The Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Northlight Theater, TheaterWorks New Works Fesitval, Ojai Playwright's Conference, the Cape Cod Theatre Project, PlayPenn. and the New York International Fringe Festival (Award for Best Overall Production).

In 2015, Bess won the Sam Norkin special Drama Desk Award for “establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater, and having a breakthrough year.” Other awards and honors include the Athena Award for her screenplay, VIRGINIA, a MacDowell Fellowship, and inclusion on Hollywood’s Black List of Best Screenplays. She is an associate artist with The Civilians, an alumna of Ars Nova’s Play Group, and the recipient of new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club, Hartford Stage. and Lincoln Center.

Bess also writes for film and television, and has developed projects for HBO, ABC, USA, Disney, Paramount. and others. In her previous life as an actress, she appeared onstage in New York and regionally, and in numerous films and TV shows where she has given birth, solved crimes, committed crimes, been wrongly accused, and come back from the dead.

She is a graduate of Harvard and the Yale School of Drama.