Rich Orloff
Playwriting
New York, NY
Rich Orloff writes a lot of stuff, mostly plays and poems. The New York Times named his comedy FUNNY AS A CRUTCH a Critic’s Pick, and his comedy ROMANTIC FOOLS has had over 120 productions in the USA, Africa, Asia and Europe, including two productions in Madrid, where apparently they're no better at romance than we are. His other full-length plays have won such honors as the Festival of Emerging American Theatre Prize, the Playwrights First Award, the Goody Fellowship, and the Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence, and they’ve been presented at such theaters as Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Dayton Playhouse, Detroit Rep, Florida Studio Theatre, New Jersey Rep, West Coast Ensemble, Key West Theatre Festival, and abroad at such theaters as Vienna’s English Theatre and Jewish Theatre of Bulgaria.
Rich has performed his autobiographical monologue, IT’S A BEAUTIFUL WOUND, about his experience in underground psychedelic-assisted therapy, at both theaters and mental health conferences around the country and Europe.
Rich’s musical comedy ESTHER IN THE SPOTLIGHT has been produced in New York, Toronto, Tel Aviv and Miami. His new musical comedy LET’S MISBEHAVE (with songs by Cole Porter) recently had a reading at the Lamb’s Club in NYC. His educational children’s play SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS FIGHT TUBERCULOSIS TOGETHER was a big hit in Kosovo. Rich’s 80 short plays have had over 2000 productions on six continents – and a staged reading on Antarctica.
Rich’s spiritually infused poems have been published in numerous magazines nobody has heard of, and they’ve been presented at churches, synagogues, meditation groups and other gatherings. He sends out one each week to rabbis, ministers, and assorted friends, and they’re read by over 2000 people weekly.
More about Rich’s writing, including many of his poems and excerpts from his plays, can be found at richorloff.com.