Rebecca Gilman

Rebecca Gilman, born in 1964 and raised in Trussville, Alabama, studied writing at Middlebury College and Birmingham-Southern College. She then attended the Iowa Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa, graduating with a master of fine arts in playwriting in 1991. Moving to Chicago, Gilman’s breakout work was The Glory of Living which won the 1997 Joseph Jefferson Award Citation for New Work, the American Theatre Critics Association Osborn Award for Best New American Play and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Her subsequent plays, which deal with contemporary issues in American society, have earned more awards.

Gilman has mentored new playwrights while teaching at Northwestern University and Texas Tech University. She currently is an artistic associate at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.

Why this stop? The Blue Line Forest Park stop is near the Circle Theater where Gilman’s The Glory of Living had its premiere.

Watch a short video about Gilman’s play Luna Gale.