Meridith Friedman

Meridith Friedman

Meridith was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She received her BA from Connecticut College, and her MFA in Writing for the Stage & Screen from Northwestern University. She is the recipient of a Dramatist Guild Writers Alliance Grant and a former Dramatist Guild fellow. She is also a National New Play Network affiliated artist and has participated in numerous NNPN programs and...
Meridith was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She received her BA from Connecticut College, and her MFA in Writing for the Stage & Screen from Northwestern University. She is the recipient of a Dramatist Guild Writers Alliance Grant and a former Dramatist Guild fellow. She is also a National New Play Network affiliated artist and has participated in numerous NNPN programs and initiatives including the Playwright-in-Residence program, Rolling World Premieres, MFA Playwright's workshop, Collaboration Fund, Commissions Program, and the National Showcase of New Plays. Meridith resides in Los Angeles and writes for television. An episode she co-wrote of NBC's Chicago Med received a 2018 Sentinel Award from Hollywood Health & Society.



Her work has received productions at Curious Theatre Company, Kitchen Dog Theater, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, LOCAL Theatre Company, Actor's Theater of Charlotte, Stage Left Theatre, Chicago's Theatre on the Lake, The Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival and The American Southwest Theatre Company at NMSU. Her work has also been developed and workshopped at The Kennedy Center, Chicago Dramatists, The Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals, Florida Repertory Theatre, The Ashland New Play Festival, Florida Studio Theatre, The NNPN National New Play Showcase, New Repertory Theatre, The Lark, Actor's Express, The Greenhouse Theatre Center, The Abbey Theatre in Orlando and Capital Rep. Upcoming: The Firestorm at First Folio Theatre.



Meridith was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Drama at Kenyon College from 2011-2012, and taught screenwriting at Northwestern University while completing her graduate work there. She has also taught playwriting to talented high school and middle school dramatists at Interlochen Center for the Arts, Curious Theatre Company, and Westridge School for Girls.

Plays

  • Your Best One
    Eight-years since the death of their beloved matriarch, the Hoffman family rallies together–and against each other–when one of their own is confronted by a sudden heath crisis. With their trademark wit and inherited neurosis, they wage battles over health insurance, child custody, inheritance, and superfoods. The second play in The Luckiest People trilogy, Your Best One is a rich exploration of our capacity to...
    Eight-years since the death of their beloved matriarch, the Hoffman family rallies together–and against each other–when one of their own is confronted by a sudden heath crisis. With their trademark wit and inherited neurosis, they wage battles over health insurance, child custody, inheritance, and superfoods. The second play in The Luckiest People trilogy, Your Best One is a rich exploration of our capacity to continue “growing up” while past adolescence.
  • The Luckiest People
    After the matriarch of the Hoffman family passes away, Richard is blindsided when his elderly father demands to leave his assisted living facility. With his sister Laura living in Shanghai, and Richard soon to become a first time father with his partner, he is less than thrilled at the prospect of housing his–to put it mildly–difficult father. Accusations begin to fly and defenses are drawn, spiraling father...
    After the matriarch of the Hoffman family passes away, Richard is blindsided when his elderly father demands to leave his assisted living facility. With his sister Laura living in Shanghai, and Richard soon to become a first time father with his partner, he is less than thrilled at the prospect of housing his–to put it mildly–difficult father. Accusations begin to fly and defenses are drawn, spiraling father and son, brother and sister, and spouses into a heated game of finger pointing with unintended consequences. The first play in a trilogy about the Hoffman family.
  • The Firestorm
    Gaby and Patrick, an interracial political power couple hot on the campaign trail, are thrust into the center of a media frenzy when a racially charged incident from Patrick’s past surfaces. As the pressure intensifies, the political becomes explosively personal and the foundation of their seemingly picture-perfect marriage begins to fracture.
  • Blue Monday
    An aspiring oil painter is devastated when her husband, a talented poet and her former professor, develops Semantic Dementia. As he begins to lose the semantic meanings of words and objects, painting becomes a way for him to recall mental pictures without the mediation of language. A silent rivalry soon develops as his paintings start to garner attention.