Rich Orloff

Biography

Rich Orloff is the author of 15 award-winning full-length comedies, three comic revues, oodles of short plays (61 of which have been published by Playscripts, Inc. in eight collections), and the documentary-style play Vietnam 101: The War on Campus, which has had over 40 productions at theaters and schools around the country. His two-person comedy Romantic Fools has had 100 productions around the world and has had two productions in Madrid, where apparently they're no better at romance than we are. His comedy Funny as a Crutch was a New York Times Critic's Pick, a Backstage Critic's Pick, and nytheatre.com's Pick of the Week.

Mr. Orloff's short plays have received over 1800 productions on six of the seven continents (and a staged reading in Antarctica) and are particularly popular in schools and community theaters. His short comedies have been published seven times in the annual Best American Short Plays anthology series, three times in the annual Best Ten-Minute Plays series, and in The Art of the One-Act Play, Take Ten II, The Bedford Introduction to Literature and An Anthology of American Short Plays (published in China).

Mr. Orloff's full-length plays also include The Naked Truth ("a rare gem of a comedy" - Show Business Weekly), Big Boys ("rip-roaringly funny" - The New York Times), Someone's Knocking (Back Stage West Critic's Pick) and several others. They've been presented at such theaters as Arizona Theatre Company, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Dayton Playhouse, Florida Studio Theatre, New Jersey Rep, Phoenix Theatre Company, West Coast Ensemble, and three times at the Key West Theatre Festival. His plays have won such awards and contests as the Festival of Emerging American Theatre, the Playwrights First Award, the InterPlay International Play Festival, the Theatre Conspiracy New Play Contest, the Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence and the Abeles Foundation Playwrights Award.

A popular guest on college campuses, Mr. Orloff has given lectures and workshops on playwriting at New York University, Ohio State University, Oberlin College, Central Washington University, Western Michigan University, and other schools throughout America. He lives in New York City but loves getting out of town. For more about Rich Orloff and his plays, visit www.richorloff.com.