Stephen Karam
Stephen Karam is an acclaimed American playwright known for his poignant explorations of family dynamics, identity, and societal issues. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Karam began writing plays as a teenager and quickly gained recognition for his work. His notable plays include "Sons of the Prophet," which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012, and "The Humans," which won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Play. Karam's early influences stemmed from his upbringing and experiences, which he often channels into his writing.
His works blend humor with deep emotional themes, reflecting on the complexities of human suffering and relationships. In addition to his stage plays, Karam has ventured into film, adapting several of his works for the screen, including "The Humans," which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2021. Karam is also a dedicated educator, teaching at various institutions, including the New School for Drama and Brown University. His contributions to theater, particularly regarding the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community, have established him as a significant voice in contemporary American drama.
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Subject Terms
Stephen Karam
Playwright
- Born: September 23, 1979
- Place of Birth: Scranton, Pennsylvania
Contribution: Stephen Karam is an American playwright. His 2011 play Sons of the Prophet was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, while his 2014 play The Humans won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Play.
Background
Stephen A. Karam was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, one of three children of Albert and Marie Karam. He was raised in the Scranton neighborhood of Green Ridge. Karam began writing plays at a teenager and, at the age of sixteen, began mailing one-act plays to publishers and theatrical contests he found listed in the Dramatist’s Sourcebook, a popular theater-industry publication.
Karam’s first accepted work, A Work of Art, was selected by the renowned Blank Theater Company of Hollywood, California, for their Young Playwrights Festival. The fledgling writer had a total of three plays selected for the festival in the late 1990s. Karam attended Scranton High School before enrolling at Brown University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English before commencing his career as a playwright.
Career
Karam’s first major production, Emma, debuted in 2001 at Brown University. The work is a modern musical adaptation of the eponymous Jane Austen novel. The play won Karam the Kennedy Centers American College Theater Festival Musical Theatre Award.
Karam’s next major work, cowritten with colleague P. J. Paparelli, was columbinus (2005). The play centers on a narrative inspired by the April 1999 shooting massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. It mixes both factual events from the massacre with the playwrights’ own fictional, generic adolescent characters, with names such as “Loner,” “Rebel,” and “Jock.” Columbinus received two Lucille Lortel Award nominations.
Karam’s dark comedy Speech and Debate was first performed at Brown/Trinity Playwrights Repertory Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island, in July 2006. It was then cocommissioned by the Roundabout Theater Company of New York City, and ran Off-Broadway at Roundabout Underground from October 2007 to February 2008. The play focuses on three students in Salem, Oregon, who uncover a sex scandal. The work was praised by both audiences and critics for its portrayal of adolescents coexisting with their newly discovered realm of adulthood.
Having established himself as one of the premier young playwrights in the United States, Karam put his talents as a librettist on display in the 2011 production Dark Sisters. The work was produced in collaboration between the Opera Company of Philadelphia and New York’s Gotham Chamber Opera, and it featured music by Nico Muhly. Dark Sisters centers on a woman’s struggle to escape a polygamous religious sect located in the American southwest.
In May of 2011, Karam’s first produced work, his musical adaptation of Emma, was given a developmental run with Manhattan’s Professional Performing Arts School. The new adaptation featured live orchestration and a cast of twelve new actors during a string of performances at the city’s Professional Performing Arts School.
Sons of the Prophets debuted in Boston in April 2011, performed by the Huntington Theatre Company. Commissioned by Roundabout, the play then ran Off-Broadway from October 2011 to January 2012. The play tells the story of two Lebanese brothers in Pennsylvania—distantly related to the poet Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet (1923)—who must fend for themselves after their father is killed accidentally. The play was hailed for Karam’s often humorous portrayal of human suffering and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012.
Karam's next play, The Humans, premiered at the American Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois, in November 2014, before having a run Off-Broadway in 2015. It opened on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre in February 2016. Following a close-knit family as tensions rise during a Thanksgiving dinner, the play won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Play. It also won a Drama Desk Award, a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, an Obie Award, and was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist. The same year, he premiered an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's 1903 play The Cherry Orchard.
In 2017, Karam adapted his 2006 play Speech and Debate for film. The following year, he wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Chekhov's 1896 play The Seagull. He followed this by another film adaptation of one of his own plays, this time bringing The Humans to the screen. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2021 and was released to theaters and on Showtime two months later. The film was generally well-received and gained good ratings from viewers and critics alike. Karam was nominated for best film by an emerging director at the Munich Film Festival.
Impact
Karam is one of a rare breed of artists who seized his gift at a young age. As a result, he established himself as one of the premier playwrights in the United States while still in his thirties. He remains an important voice in the theatrical investigation of issues concerning the young gay population of the United States and is one of several American playwrights who have found both critical and commercial success by establishing himself as a major contributor to London’s theatrical community.
Personal Life
Karam lives and works in New York City. He a member of the faculty at New York’s New School for Drama and at Brown University. He has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Scranton and at New York University as a guest lecturer in the dramatic arts.
Bibliography
Hetrick, Adam. “Stephen Karam Musical Emma Will Get NYC Developmental Run.” Playbill. Playbill, 22 Apr. 2011. Web. 14 Aug. 2013.
Isherwood, Charles. “Blighted Existences, Eased with Hope and Humor.” Rev. of Sons of the Prophet, by Karam Stephen. New York Times. New York Times, 20 Oct. 2011. Web. 14 Aug. 2013.
Karam, Stephen. “Adolescence in All Its Awkward Glory.” Interview by Rob Kendt. Los Angeles Times. Tribune, 5 Oct. 2008. Web. 14 Aug. 2013.
Karam, Stephen. “Catching Up with Stephen Karam.” Interview by Jerry Portwood. Out. Here Media, 28 Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Aug. 2013.
Karam, Stephen. “Darkly Comic Voice Adds a Libretto to His Résumé.” Interview by Rob Weinert-Kendt. New York Times. New York Times, 6 Oct. 2011. Web. 14 Aug. 2013.
Karam, Stephen. “Write Life: Scranton Native Stephen Karam Finds Success as New York Playwright.” Interview by Patrice Wilding. Times-Tribune [Scranton]. Scranton Times-Tribune, 4 Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Aug. 2013.
Snell, Kelsey. "Looking for a Unique Holiday Movie? The Humans is a Dark, Psychological Drama." NPR, 28 Nov. 2021, www.npr.org/2021/11/28/1059600320/looking-for-a-unique-holiday-movie-the-humans-is-a-dark-psychological-drama. Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.
Stephen Karam, www.stephenkaram.com/. Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.