Lindsey Ferrentino is an American contemporary playwright and screenwriter.

Early life Lindsey Ferrentino is the daughter of comedian and magician John Ferrentino."Authors: Lindsey Ferrentino", A Concord Theatricals Company Samuel French, 2019

Career Ugly Lies the Bone

Ugly Lies the Bone was a New York Times Critic's Pick and played a sold-out, extended run at Roundabout Theatre in the year 2015. In The New York Times review of the play Charles Isherwood wrote that Ferrentino was "a brave playwright of dauntless conviction whose unflinching portraits are hard to come by outside of journalism."Charles Isherwood, "Review: 'Ugly Lies the Bone,' With Mamie Gummer as a Combat Veteran", The New York Times, October 13, 2015Olivia Clement, "Lindsey Ferrentino Tells Another Underrepresented Story in Amy and the Orphans", Playbill, March 3, 2018 Deadline Hollywood described Ugly Lies the Bone as, "clearly the work of a young talent with plenty ahead of her." The Observer described it as, "raw and inescapably moving. A play of small moments that hide big emotions." Ferrentino received the 2016 Kesselring Prize for Ugly Lies the Bone.Andrew R. Chow, "The Playwright Lindsey Ferrentino Wins the Kesselring Prize", The New York Times, September 4, 2016 It was later produced at The National Theatre in London in the 900-seat Lyttleton Theatre in 2017.Brian Logan, "Ugly Lies the Bone review – war veteran faces her demons in virtual reality rehab", The Guardian, March 2, 2017

Amy and the Orphans

In 2018, Amy and the Orphans premiered at Roundabout Theatre Company and was called "barrier breaking" in the New York Times. Featuring American Horror Story'''s Jamie Brewer, Amy and the Orphans is the first Off-Broadway (or Broadway) show to have an actor with Down syndrome in a leading role.Sopan Deb, "A Barrier Breaks: An Actress With Down Syndrome Plays the Lead", The New York Times, February 14, 2018 In the New York Times review of Amy and the Orphans, Brantley wrote that Ferrentino "possesses a muscular empathy which seeks to enter the minds of people for whom life is often a struggle of heroic proportions."Ben Brantley, "Three Degrees of Loneliness in 'Amy and the Orphans'", The New York Times, March 1, 2018 Ferrentino, Brewer, and Eddie Barbanell received the Catalyst Awards Entertainment Industry Excellence Award for Amy and the Orphans.Olivia Clement, "Amy and the Orphans Recipient of The Arc's Catalyst Award", Playbill, November 7, 2018

This Flat Earth

In 2018, This Flat Earth ran at Playwrights Horizons. The New York Times wrote that This Flat Earth is "Ferrentino's most daring play to date, with profound and essential subjects. She is bravely attempting to contextualize 21st-century horrors within the sort of existential framework in which Thornton Wilder and Edward Albee specialized."Ben Brantley, "This Flat Earth' Traces Childhood Fears No Parent Can Allay", The New York Times, April 9, 2018

The Year To Come In December 2018, the play The Year to Come premiered. The show is a reverse-chronological drama about an American family reuniting each New Year’s Eve, revealing how political and personal rifts evolve over time. Set around a backyard pool, the play explores how a family—and a nation—fractures and heals across decades. The show opened at La Jolla Playhouse and was positively received with a Critic's Pick by the San Diego Union-Tribune.James Herbert, "Review: La Jolla Playhouse's compelling 'The Year to Come' a grand family story set on rewind", The San Diego Tribune, December 10, 2018

Not Fade Away Ferrentino's first film, Not Fade Away, was in development at Annapurna Pictures, as of March 2019, produced by David O. Russell and John Krasinski, starring Emily Blunt.

Amy In 2021, it was announced that Ferrentino would write and direct Amy, a film adaptation of her stage play Amy and the Orphans, for Netflix, with Aggregate Films attached to produce.

In relation to upcoming film projects, in a 2024 Hollywood Reporter article, Ferrentino was named Netflix's 'Go-To' Writer. The article also announced a "Playboy" film in the works and an adaptation of Rebecca Yarros' best-selling novel "In the Likely Event," both penned by Ferrentino for Netflix.

The ArtistThe Artist, which Ferrentino co-adapted for the stage with Drew McOnie from the 2011 Oscar-winning film, opened at the Royal Plymouth in the UK in 2024. The show (which features almost no spoken words) reimagines the silent movie, blending vibrant choreography and period music to celebrate Hollywood's transition from silent films to talkies. The Guardian reviewed the piece as an "effervescent and delightfully inventive stage show". The Telegraph named it "an artistic triumph that has ‘West End-bound hit’ written all over it."

The Queen of Versailles

Ferrentino's first stage musical, The Queen of Versailles, opened on Broadway in October 2025. The show, which starred Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham, was an adaptation of the 2012 documentary following David and Jackie Segal as they attempt to build the biggest home in America (modeled of the palace of Versailles) before the financial crisis brings construction to a halt. The music and lyrics were written by Oscar and Tony award-winner Stephen Schwartz. The show closed on Broadway in December 2025, six weeks past its opening.

The Fear of 13

Most recently, Ferrentino debuted her play The Fear of 13 (also a documentary adaptation) to London audiences at the Donmar Warehouse. The production starred Adrien Brody as Nick Yarris, a death row exoneree who attempts to overturn his conviction. The production was sold out throughout the duration of its London run. The play was named "one of the best new shows in years" by Alex Wood of WhatsOnStage. Both Ferrentino and Brody, respectively, were nominated for an Olivier Award. The show transferred to Broadway in 2026, opening at the James Earl Jones Theatre on April 15. This production saw Brody reprise his role as Yarris opposite Tessa Thompson, who portrayed his love interest; the play marked both performers' Broadway debuts. Though the show was initially scheduled to run until July 12 of that year, it eventually closed on June 28, two weeks earlier than expected.

Style Ferrentino is known for writing character led stories that live within larger national narratives. The New York Times wrote that Ferrentino "possesses a muscular empathy which seeks to enter the minds of people for whom life is often a struggle of heroic proportions" and called her "a dramatist willing to wrestle with overpowering contemporary subjects." Ferrentino's 2015 off-Broadway hit Ugly Lies The Bone cemented her as a singular voice amongst contemporary playwrights, the New York Times lauding her as "A brave playwright of dauntless conviction whose unflinching portraits are hard to come by outside of journalism." Following the August 2024 world premiere of her new musical The Queen of Versailles, Variety'' praised her as having "a moral conscience second to none among her generation of playwrights."

Awards and honors Ferrentino's awards and honors include Olivier nomination 2025, the 2016 Kesselring Prize, Laurents/Hatcher Citation of Excellence,Adam Hetrick, "Playwright Rajiv Joseph's Guards at the Taj Wins Laurents/Hatcher Award; Playwright Lindsey Ferrentino Also Honored", Playbill, January 29, 2015 ASCAP Cole Porter Playwriting Prize,"NYUAA Award Honorees", NYU, 2018 Paul Newman Drama Award,"WOODWARD/NEWMAN DRAMA AWARD", BPP, 2015 2015 Kilroys List,"THE LIST 2015: The Top 7%", The Kilroys', 2015 finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize,"The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize", The Blackburn Prize, 2015 the Catalyst Awards Entertainment Industry Excellence Award, NYU Distinguished Young Alumna Award, nominated for the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award,Gordon Cox, "Outer Critics Circle Nominations: 'American Psycho,' 'She Loves Me' Take the Lead (FULL LIST)", Variety, April 19, 2016 and is the only two-time finalist for the Kendeda Playwriting Prize."Winners and Finalists", Alliance Theatre, 2019

Personal life Ferrentino was engaged to British actor Ralf Little from 2018 to 2024.

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