About Jeffrey Sweet
Jeffrey Sweet was part of the wave of writers, actors and directors who transformed Chicago’s off-Loop theater scene beginning in the Seventies. Chicago hosted more than 20 productions of his works, including premieres of Flyovers (Jeff Award), The Action Against Sol Schumann (ATCA Award), American Enterprise (ATCA and Kennedy Center Awards, Best Play Citation), Court-Martial at Fort Devens (Audelco Award), Bluff (Jeff nomination), With and Without, Porch and his solo show, You Only Shoot the Ones You Love. His most-produced play, The Value of Names, was a particular favorite of Jack Klugman, who starred in it in six theaters, including the George Street Playhouse and the Falcon where it was an LA Times critic’s choice. Jeff’s most recent play, Kunstler, played off-Broadway in 2017 at 59E59th Street after runs at Hudson Stage and in the NY Fringe (where it was named a Time Out critic’s choice); it moved to an extended run at Barrington Stage.
He wrote the book of the musical What About Luv? (a/k/a Love) starring Nathan Lane and Judy Kaye (based on Murray Schisgal’s comedy, music by Howard Ashman and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead) and the book and lyrics of I Sent a Letter to My Love (based on the novel by Bernice Rubens, music by Melissa Manchester, directed by Patricia Birch). What About Luv? had an extended run in London and played two years in Tokyo.
For TV, Jeff wrote for Norman Lear, was executive story editor of an ABC series starring Michael Learned called Hothouse, wrote two years of soap opera (Another World and One Life to Live) and wrote the shooting script for the Peabody Award-winning TV movie version of Hugh Whitemore’s Pack of Lies starring Ellen Burstyn and Alan Bates.
He also has written two books on dramatic technique (The Dramatist’s Toolkit and Solving Your Script) and books on Second City (Something Wonderful Right Away) and the O’Neill Theater Center (The O’Neill). His newest book is What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing, featuring 18 interviews with major contemporary American and British playwrights, published by Yale. He has taught or guest lectured at dozens of universities and professional schools including NYU, Rutgers, the New School, the University of Richmond and Wagner College. His articles have appeared in American Theatre, Newsday, The Dramatist and Dramatics, for which he wrote a column for three decades.
He is an alum of the Lehman Engel BMI Musical Theater Workshop, New Dramatists and the O’Neill, a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, a Tony voter, and a lifetime member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild. He is a graduate of NYU, where he studied film with Martin Scorcese, songwriting with Paul Simon and critical writing with Clive Barnes.