Bess Wohl is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actress whose plays include Grand Horizons, Small Mouth Sounds, Liberation, and the book for the musical Pretty Filthy with composer/lyricist Michael Friedman and The Civilians. For Grand Horizons, Wohl was nominated for the 2020 Tony Award for Best Play. Her play Liberation was awarded the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2026 Tony Award for Best Play.Retrieved 2026-05-05.Retrieved 2026-05-05.
Early life Wohl grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where she developed a love of theater. She went to Harvard College for an BA in English, and then went to the Yale School of Drama for an MFA in acting. While at Yale, she created the play Cats Talk Back, which went on to the New York International Fringe Festival, where it won Best Overall Production. She describes her heritage as Jewish, Mormon, and Irish Catholic.
Career Wohl's plays have been produced in numerous venues in New York City and around the United States.
Her play, Barcelona premiered in 2012 at the Contemporary American Theater Festival, before transferring to Los Angeles at the Geffen Playhouse, starring Betty Gilpin and Carlos Leal. In 2024, it made its West End debut in a production starring Lily Collins and Álvaro Morte.
Pretty Filthy, which ran Off-Broadway from January 2015 to March 1, 2015, was nominated for the 2015 Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Musical, and the 2015 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Musical. Bess also won the 2015 Sam Norkin Special Drama Desk Award for “establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater, and having a breakthrough year.”"Pretty Filthy Off-Broadway" Internet Off-Broadway database, accessed January 13, 2020
Small Mouth Sounds premiered Off-Broadway at Ars Nova in 2015 to wide critical acclaim. The play also was produced in 2016 at the Off-Broadway Signature TheatreSmall Mouth Sounds, 2016" Internet Off-Broadway database, accessed January 13, 2020 and has been performed in a US national tour in 2017.Clement, Olivia. " Small Mouth Sounds to Launch National Tour" Playbill, April 11, 1997 Wohl won the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award, presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright for Small Mouth Sounds in 2017."Winners List, 2017" outercritics.org, accessed January 14, 2020
Wohl's Grand Horizons began previews on Broadway at the Hayes Theater, presented by Second Stage Theater on December 23, 2019 and opened on January 23, 2020."Read Reviews for Grand Horizons on Broadway" Playbill, January 23, 2020 This play marked her Broadway debut.Montpelier, Rachel. "Playwright Bess Wohl Making Her Broadway Debut with “Grand Horizons”" womenandhollywood.com, March 28, 2019 Grand Horizons premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in July 2019, directed by Leigh Silverman. The play is co-commissioned by Williamstown Theatre Festival and Second Stage Theater.Grand Horizons at Williamstown" wtfestival.org, accessed January 2020 Grand Horizons was nominated for the 2020 Tony Award for Best Play.
Her play Camp Siegfried opened at The Old Vic theatre in London in September 2021.
She then wrote the play, Liberation, which explores the second-wave feminism movement in the 1970s in Ohio. Wohl said she was inspired to write the play by her mother, Lisa Cronin Wohl, who worked at Ms. magazine during her youth. The play opened to acclaim, with the New York Times calling it "gutting and inventive," and it was nominated for the 2025 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play and won the 2025 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. The play transferred to Broadway in fall of 2025 at the James Earl Jones Theatre, as Wohl's second Broadway credit.
Credits Year Title Role Venue Ref.2004Chinese Friends AlegraOff-Broadway, Playwrights Horizons2014American HeroPlaywrightOff-Broadway, Second Stage Theatre2015Pretty FilthyBook Off-Broadway, Abrons Arts CenterSmall Mouth SoundsPlaywrightOff-Broadway, Ars Nova2016Off-Broadway, Signature Theatre Company2017U.S. National Tour2019ContinuityOff-Broadway, Manhattan Theatre ClubMake BelieveOff-Broadway, Second Stage TheatreGrand HorizonsRegional, Williamstown Theatre Festival2020Broadway, Hayes Theater2021Camp SiegfriedWest End, The Old Vic Theatre2024BarcelonaWest End, Duke of York's Theatre2025LiberationOff-Broadway, Laura Pels TheatreBroadway, James Earl Jones Theatre2027West End, TBA
Honors and awards Year Award Category Work Result Ref.2015Drama Desk AwardSam Norkin Off-Broadway AwardAmerican Hero, Pretty Filthy and Small Mouth Sounds2017Outer Critics Circle AwardsJohn Gassner Playwright AwardSmall Mouth Sounds2020Tony AwardBest PlayGrand Horizons Drama League AwardOutstanding Production of a PlayOuter Critics Circle AwardOutstanding New Off-Broadway PlayMake Believe2022Evening Standard Theatre AwardsPromising Playwright2025Drama Desk AwardOutstanding PlayLiberationOuter Critics Circle AwardsOutstanding New Off-Broadway PlayDrama League AwardOutstanding Production of a Play2026Tony AwardBest Play Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize for Drama
References
External links Internet Broadway Database