Sherry Friedman

SHERRY FRIEDMAN is a Brooklyn native, playwright, journalist, award-winning educator, Fulbright scholar and activist. She studied drama/playwriting at NYU Tisch, AADA, Primary Stages ESPA, and Dramatists Guild with Tina Howe, and Roland Tec. She has been published in The New York Times, Newsday, New York Magazine, Time Out New York, Writer’s Digest, Cosmopolitan, and numerous regional newspapers. The founder of the nationally recognized Mark Twain Wonder Writers Workshop, Sherry nurtured the writing talents of NYC public school students. She traveled on scholarships and created original curricula to bring back the world to her inner-city students. Sherry’s plays have been developed/produced at Cherry Lane Theatre, Primary Stages ESPA, Polaris North, Estrogenius Festival, New Perspectives Theatre Company, Strawberry One- Act Festival, 48 Hour Creative Quarantine Festival, and virtual OutCast Productions Pandemonium—Life in the Pandemic festival. Her proud memberships include Honor Roll!, Polaris North, Dramatists Guild, New Play Exchange, and League of Professional Theatre Women.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
http://newplayexchange.org/users/41430/sherry-friedman

MORE ABOUT ME
If I could bring one change to theater, it would be the greater representation by women writers and fair treatment. I believe we women need to be taken more seriously. Our work must be given the same consideration and respect that male playwrights enjoy, and we must be paid equally. Unlike actors,  playwrights are considered independent contractors, and therefore,  we're not in a union. I think many of the inequities would be addressed if playwrights could unionize.

The play that changed my life was the comedy Enter Laughing. It was the first Broadway play I had ever seen. I was a little girl and my mother had two-fers for balcony seats. I was fascinated by  the fun the actors were having onstage. When I read the Playbill and realized it was a writer who had created that fun, I knew that's what I wanted to do.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
I'm workshopping monologues which lend themselves to the Zoom format.

KEYWORDS
Woman, comedy, drama, political satire, pandemic, senior