Extremities: The Playwright

William Mastrosimone
Mr. Mastrosimone made his debut with The Woolgatherer in 1981, which later won the L.A. Drama Critics Award for Best Play of 1982. His play Extremities won the New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play of 1982-83, the John Gassner Award for Playwrighting, and later became a feature film of the same title (screenplay also written by him) starring Farrah Fawcett. His play NANAWATAI! opened in Bergen, Norway at Den Nationalscene, and later became a film called The Beast directed by Kevin Reynolds, which won several film festival awards. He wrote the five-hour mini-series Sinatra, which won the Golden Globe for Best Mini-Series in 1982. His most recent mini-series, Into the West, which was produced in 2005, was nominated for 9 Emmys. He has also written several screenplays, including Chico, about the life of Brazilian hero Chico Mendes, and With Honors for Warner Brothers. His other plays include A Tantalizing, Shivaree (Warner Communications Award), A Stone Carver, The Undoing, Sunshine, and Cat's Paw. He also wrote Bang Bang You're Dead, which was inspired by the Columbine High School shootings and can be downloaded off of the internet and performed by students for no fee. His most recent play is Sleepwalk, a story that also focuses on the traumas of modern teenage society in the United States. He currently resides in Bucks County and holds an M.F.A. in playwrighting from Rutgers University.