Jon Robin Baitz (born November 4, 1961) is an American playwright,
screenwriter and television producer. He is a two time Pulitzer Prize
finalist, as well as a Guggenheim, American Academy of Arts and
Letters, and National Endowment for the Arts Fellow.Baitz was born to
a Jewish family in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz,
an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and
South Africa before the family returned to California, where he
attended Beverly Hills High School. On speaking about the influence of
his time growing up abroad on his life and work, Baitz states:After
graduation from high school, Baitz did not attend college, instead he
worked as a bookstore clerk and assistant to two producers, and the
experiences became the basis for his first play, a one-acter entitled
Mizlansky/Zilinsky. He drew on his own background for his first
two-act play, The Film Society, about the staff of a prep school in
South Africa. Its 1987 success in Los Angeles led to an Off-Broadway
production with Nathan Lane in 1988, which earned him a Drama Desk
Award nomination for Outstanding New Play.This was followed by The
Substance of Fire in 1991 with Ron Rifkin and Sarah Jessica Parker and
The End of the Day Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 1992,
starring Roger Rees.
screenwriter and television producer. He is a two time Pulitzer Prize
finalist, as well as a Guggenheim, American Academy of Arts and
Letters, and National Endowment for the Arts Fellow.Baitz was born to
a Jewish family in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz,
an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and
South Africa before the family returned to California, where he
attended Beverly Hills High School. On speaking about the influence of
his time growing up abroad on his life and work, Baitz states:After
graduation from high school, Baitz did not attend college, instead he
worked as a bookstore clerk and assistant to two producers, and the
experiences became the basis for his first play, a one-acter entitled
Mizlansky/Zilinsky. He drew on his own background for his first
two-act play, The Film Society, about the staff of a prep school in
South Africa. Its 1987 success in Los Angeles led to an Off-Broadway
production with Nathan Lane in 1988, which earned him a Drama Desk
Award nomination for Outstanding New Play.This was followed by The
Substance of Fire in 1991 with Ron Rifkin and Sarah Jessica Parker and
The End of the Day Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 1992,
starring Roger Rees.
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