Matthew Lopez (writer)
Lopez was born in Panama City, Florida to two public school teachers. His father, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is the older brother of actor Priscilla Lopez. Lopez graduated from the University of South Florida with a bachelor's degree in theatre performance. He is openly gay. Lopez's breakout play "The Whipping Man" debuted at Luna Stage in Montclair, New Jersey in 2006 and premiered Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club on February 1, 2011, directed by Doug Hughes and starring Andre Braugher and Andre Holland. The Off-Broadway production of "The Whipping Man" was extended four times, and won the 2011 Obie Award for Performance (Braugher) and the 2011 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lighting Design. Lopez won the John Gassner New Play Award. "The Whipping Man" is set in Richmond, Virginia in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War and concerns two recently freed slaves encountering their former master. The former slaves, like their former master, identify as Jewish. The play examines the unique occurrence of Passover in 1865 beginning the day after Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. It explores the meaning of freedom and the various ways people are enslaved — to addictions, to prejudices. In his "The New York Times" review Charles Isherwood called the play "emotionally potent, almost surreal in the layers of meaning it conjures." Braugher and Holland both earned critical acclaim for their performances. Between 2012 and 2016, "The Whipping Man" was one of most widely produced plays in America. "Somewhere" premiered at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in September 2011, before moving to Hartford Stage, Hartford, Connecticut. Matthew Lopez was the Playwright-in-Residence at the Old Globe Theatre. The play, featuring a majority Latin cast, concerns a theatrical family living in Manhattan in 1959, as "West Side Story" captured the zeitgeist. The proposed construction of Lincoln Center and the ensuing demolition of their neighborhood leaves the family to fight for their home and their dreams. "Somewhere" was directed by Giovanna Sardelli, and featured Matthew Lopez's aunt Priscilla Lopez. Critics lauded the production, comparing Lopez's writing to Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie". The story of "Somewhere" has roots in Lopez's family history. His father was an extra in the 1961 film adaptation of "West Side Story", and appears on screen in the playground, just after the prologue Lopez's next play "Reverberation" premiered at Hartford Stage, Hartford, Connecticut running from February 19, 2015 to March 15, directed by Maxwell Williams and starring Luke Macfarlane. The story follows Jonathan, a young gay New Yorker, who spends increasingly more time holed up in his Astoria apartment following a violent attack that has left him afraid to go out into the world. He is befriended by his new upstairs neighbor, Claire, a Holly Golightly-like character who, despite her active social life, is just as afraid and lonely as Jonathan. The play examines how violence – against women, against the LGBTQ community – impacts the lives of those both directly and indirectly affected by it. Charles Isherwood of "The New York Times" writes that "the play is marked by a perceptiveness about the echoing loneliness that many urban dwellers live with." "The Legend of Georgia McBride" debuted at Denver Center of Performing Arts in 2014, and premiered Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in 2015. The play tells the story of Casey, a down-on-his-luck Elvis impersonator who is induced to turn his jumpsuits into dresses and become a drag queen. The play toggles between quippy comedy and show-stopping dance numbers, with Charles Isherwood of "The New York Times" commenting that the play was "full of sass and good spirits – along with a spritz or two of sentimentality. "
In February 2018, New Regency announced it was developing the film adaptation of the play in association with Jim Parsons' production company. Matthew's play "The Inheritance," directed by Stephen Daldry, premiered London's Young Vic Theatre in 2018, where it was hailed by The "Daily Telegraph" as "the most important American play of the century." It transferred to the Noel Coward Theatre in the West End later that year, and opened on Broadway last autumn. "The Inheritance" earned eleven nominations for the 74th Tony Awards, including Best Play, as well as eight nominations at the 2019 Laurence Olivier Awards, winning for Best New Play, Best Director (Stephen Daldry), Best Actor (Kyle Soller), and Best Lighting Design (Jon Clark). Lopez received the Evening Standard Award and Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play as well. Sweeping the "Best Play" awards in both London and New York including the Olivier Award, Drama Desk Award, Evening Standard Award, London Critics Circle Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Award, WhatsOnStage Award, and the Southbank Sky Arts Award, "The Inheritance" is the most honoured American play in generation. Matthew is the first Latino writer to win any of these awards for Best Play. "The Inheritance" was also selected as the recipient for the GLAAD Media Awards "Outstanding Broadway Production". Set in New York three decades after the height of the AIDS epidemic, "The Inheritance" wrestles with what it means to be a gay man today, exploring relationships and connections across age and social class and asking what one generation's responsibilities may be to the next. The play is a loose adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel "Howards End". The premiere featured a cast that included Vanessa Redgrave, John Benjamin Hickey, and Paul Hilton as Forster himself. The play received widespread critical acclaim and was lauded as an instant modern classic by those who viewed it. "The Evening Standard" declared the play "a work of rare grace, truth, and beauty." The play premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on September 27, 2019 in previews, with the official opening on November 17. It won the Tony Award for Best play at the 2021 Tony Awards. In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade, "Queerty" named him among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people". In October 2020, he signed a overall deal with Amazon Studios. In September 2021, it was reported that Lopez will be writing the remake of "The Bodyguard". He is also co-writing the musical adaptation of the classic film "Some Like it Hot", as well as a feature film adaptation of the novel "Leading Men", which centers on Tennessee Williams and his longtime partner Frank Merlo, for Searchlight Pictures.
Career ; "The Whipping Man"
In New York, Lopez's work has been seen off-Broadway with "The Whipping Man" (Manhattan Theatre Club), and "The Legend of Georgia McBride" (MCC Theatre), productions that received Obie, Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards.