Monica Wood

Monica Wood

MONICA WOOD is novelist, memoirist, and playwright, the 2019 recipient of the Maine Humanities Council Carlson Prize for contributions to the public humanities, and the 2018 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Distinguished Achievement Award for contributions to the literary arts. In 2015 her first play, PAPERMAKER, debuted at Portland Stage, the theater's highest-grossing show in its 40-year history....
MONICA WOOD is novelist, memoirist, and playwright, the 2019 recipient of the Maine Humanities Council Carlson Prize for contributions to the public humanities, and the 2018 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Distinguished Achievement Award for contributions to the literary arts. In 2015 her first play, PAPERMAKER, debuted at Portland Stage, the theater's highest-grossing show in its 40-year history. The play has had eight subsequent productions in regional theaters, including Shadowland Stages in Ellenville, NY, and Chenango RiverTheatre in Greene, NY. Her second play, THE HALF-LIGHT, recently debuted at Portland Stage, its second highest-grossing show ever. Her most recent novel, THE ONE-IN-A-MILLION BOY, has been translated into 20 languages in over 30 countries. She is also the author of WHEN WE WERE THE KENNEDYS, a New England bestseller, Oprah magazine summer-reading pick, and winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award and the Maine Literary Award. Her novel Any Bitter Thing was an ABA bestseller and Book Sense Top Ten pick. Her other fiction includes ERNIE'S ARK, which has been excerpted on NPR's "Selected Shorts" and selected by several towns and cities as their "One Book, One Community" read; MY ONLY STORY, a finalist for the Kate Chopin Award; and SECRET LANGUAGE, her first novel. Her widely anthologized short stories have won a Pushcart Prize and been featured on public radio. She also writes books for writers and teachers. Her nonfiction has appeared in Oprah, New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Parade, and many other publications.

Plays

  • Saint Dad by Monica Wood
    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: family ties, siblings + 7 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: family ties, siblings, class, Academia, gentrification, blue collar, witty, audience pleaser, new england
    "Damn good payday, but you just sold your memories and your own dog won't look you in the face."
    SAINT DAD is a warmhearted, serious comedy about family, gentrification, and belonging. Denise, Bud, and Suzanne have sold their childhood cottage on Greany Lake out from under their dying father ("a flatulent drunk who hates kids") to a rich out-of-stater. Now the lake has been...
    "Damn good payday, but you just sold your memories and your own dog won't look you in the face."
    SAINT DAD is a warmhearted, serious comedy about family, gentrification, and belonging. Denise, Bud, and Suzanne have sold their childhood cottage on Greany Lake out from under their dying father ("a flatulent drunk who hates kids") to a rich out-of-stater. Now the lake has been discovered by other wealthy buyers, starting a property grab that threatens to change the local culture for good. When dear old Dad recovers—either a miracle from God, or rotten luck, depending on which sibling you ask—the sibs scramble to hide their transgression by asking Leona, the new owner, to pose as the renter until they can safely break the news. A corporate exec used to running the show, Leona gets more than she can manage when her 18-year-old daughter bursts in ("You couldn't buy a place on the Cape like everybody else?") as the siblings are making their case. Over the course of a few hours, both the locals and the outsiders reckon with their mistakes, memories, and shared humanity.
  • The Half-Light by Monica Wood
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama, romantic comedy
    ·
    Keyword: family, drama + 8 more
    Genre: drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: family, drama, humor, Relationships, magic, romance, workplace humor, tenderness, working class, ghost encounters
    After a chance encounter with a flamboyant psychic, a college secretary asks herself a profound question: Can certain people be trained to see the dead? Iris's pursuit of an answer leads to a more earthbound challenge when her beloved colleague, Andrew, is suddenly felled by grief. Armed with her ow n intuition and the garrulous enthusiasm of her friend Helen, Iris attempts to coax Andrew back to the land...
    After a chance encounter with a flamboyant psychic, a college secretary asks herself a profound question: Can certain people be trained to see the dead? Iris's pursuit of an answer leads to a more earthbound challenge when her beloved colleague, Andrew, is suddenly felled by grief. Armed with her ow n intuition and the garrulous enthusiasm of her friend Helen, Iris attempts to coax Andrew back to the land of the
    living. As Iris tests her growing powers of perception, Helen faces off with her daughter, Teresa, an
    alcoholic who believes her house is haunted. These four characters' entwined journeys all tilt
    toward the same goal: to be fully seen in the light and the half-light by another living being.
  • Papermaker by Monica Wood
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: family, blue collar + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: family, blue collar, working class, labor strike, humor, emotional, History, America, political
    Abbott Falls, Maine. 1989. A bitter strike at the paper mill has everyone on edge. Ernie Donahue,
    the union VP, is building an ark for his dying wife as his son contemplates crossing the picket line.
    Back in New York City, Henry McCoy, CEO of Atlantic Paper, discovers that his most formidable
    opponent is not the Abbott Falls union but his daughter, who chooses this pressure-cooker
    ...
    Abbott Falls, Maine. 1989. A bitter strike at the paper mill has everyone on edge. Ernie Donahue,
    the union VP, is building an ark for his dying wife as his son contemplates crossing the picket line.
    Back in New York City, Henry McCoy, CEO of Atlantic Paper, discovers that his most formidable
    opponent is not the Abbott Falls union but his daughter, who chooses this pressure-cooker
    moment to address his fatherly failures. After a road trip goes alarmingly awry, these two wounded
    families collide in the shadow of Ernie's ark. Told with compassion, warmth, and humor,
    Papermaker has resonated profoundly with audiences who have felt the sting of industrial change.

Recommended by Monica Wood

  • Pudding by Michael Tooher
    14 Nov. 2019
    “ I saw this play a couple of years go and STILL remember it. Funny as hell, also a little heartbreaking. My perfect combo for a satisfying evening of theater. The dialogue sparkles, too! ”
  • American Underground by Brent Askari
    14 Nov. 2019
    “ I saw this brand-new play at Barrington Stage. Absolutely first-rate: suspenseful, so timely, wonderfully written. Highly, highly recommended! ”