# Aaron Posner > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Aaron_Posner > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Aaron_Posner.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Posner > Source revision: 1352533851 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American playwright and theater director}} {{BLP sources|date=December 2025}} '''Aaron Posner''' is an [American](/source/Americans) playwright and [theatre](/source/theatre) director. He was co-founder of the [Arden Theatre Company](/source/Arden_Theatre_Company_(Philadelphia)) in Philadelphia and was the artistic director of [Two River Theater](/source/Two_River_Theater) from 2006 to 2010. He has directed over 100 productions at major regional theater companies across the country. He has won six [Helen Hayes Award](/source/Helen_Hayes_Award)s, two [Barrymore Award](/source/Barrymore_Awards_for_Excellence_in_Theater)s, the [Outer Critics Circle Award](/source/Outer_Critics_Circle_Award), the John Gassner Prize, a Joseph Jefferson Award, a Bay Area Theatre Award, and an Eliot Norton Award. ==Biography== Born in [Madison, Wisconsin](/source/Madison%2C_Wisconsin), and raised in [Eugene, Oregon](/source/Eugene%2C_Oregon),[http://americanplayers.org/about/people/aaron-posner Aaron Posner], [American Players Theatre](/source/American_Players_Theatre) Posner is the son of [Michael Posner](/source/Michael_Posner_(psychologist)) and Sharon Posner. He was married to six-time Helen Hayes Award winning actress Erin Weaver. They have one daughter together. In 1988, Posner was the founding artistic director of Philadelphia's Arden Theatre Company, where he served as artistic director for the company's first 10 seasons. Later, from 2006 to 2010, he was artistic director of Two River Theatre Company in Red Bank, New Jersey. Since 2010 he has lived near Washington DC where he has worked at virtually every theatre in the area as a director and playwright. He has adapted novels as plays, and later created new variations of classic plays, including some by [William Shakespeare](/source/William_Shakespeare) and [Anton Chekhov](/source/Anton_Chekhov). Among Posner's best-known early adaptions are ''The Chosen'' (1999), based on [Chaim Potok](/source/Chaim_Potok)'s 1967 [novel of the same name](/source/The_Chosen_(Potok_novel)), and ''My Name Is Asher Lev'' (2009), based on Potok's [1972 novel](/source/My_Name_Is_Asher_Lev) of the same name. With composer [James Sugg](/source/James_Sugg), Posner created ''A Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical'' (2006), adapted from a short story of the same name by [Mark Twain](/source/Mark_Twain) that was published in 2001. Posner wrote the book and lyrics. The work premiered in [Wilmington, Delaware](/source/Wilmington%2C_Delaware), in a co-production of the [Round House Theatre](/source/Round_House_Theatre) and the [Delaware Theatre Company](/source/Delaware_Theatre_Company).{{cite news |last=Harris |first=Paul |title='A Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama' |url=https://variety.com/2006/legit/reviews/a-murder-a-mystery-a-marriage-a-mark-twain-musical-melodrama-1200515627/ |publisher=Variety |date=June 11, 2006 |access-date=February 8, 2019}}[https://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2014/07/31/playwrights-playground-aaron-posner-stupid-fucking-bird/ Sydney-Chanele Dawkins, "The Playwright's Playground: Playwright Aaron Posner Talks About Inspiration, Adaptations and That 'Stupid Fucking Bird'"], ''DC Metro Theater Arts'', 31 July 2014; accessed 8 February 2019 Posner's most produced play is a variation of Chekhov's 1896 play ''[The Seagull](/source/The_Seagull)'', under the title of ''[Stupid Fucking Bird](/source/Stupid_Fucking_Bird)'', premiered in 2013 by the [Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company](/source/Woolly_Mammoth_Theatre_Company) in Washington, D.C. It was very different from his previous adaptations, his own answer to Chekhov, rather than a more conventional adaptation. The play has since been produced more than 200 times by professional and amateur theatre companies and universities in the United States, as well as internationally, including professional productions in Australia, Canada, Romania, Estonia, Luxembourg, Sweden, South Africa, Mexico, and other countries. Posner has adapted Chekhov's ''[Uncle Vanya](/source/Uncle_Vanya)'' and ''[Three Sisters](/source/Three_Sisters_(play))'' as well. His ''Life Sucks'' (2015) premiered at [Theater J](/source/Theater_J) in Washington, D.C.[https://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2015/01/20/life-sucks-present-ridiculous-theater-j/ John Stoltenberg, "Review: ''Life Sucks'' at Theater J"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116021121/https://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2015/01/20/life-sucks-present-ridiculous-theater-j/ |date=2022-01-16 }}, ''DC Metro Theater Arts'', 20 January 2015 ''No Sisters'' (2017), which premiered at the [Studio Theatre](/source/Studio_Theatre_(Washington%2C_D.C.)) in Washington, D.C., ran as a companion play to their production of ''Three Sisters''.[https://www.theatermania.com/washington-dc-theater/reviews/no-sisters-studio-theatre_80508.html Barbara McKay, "Review": ''No Sisters''], ''TheaterMania'', 27 March 2017 For the [Chicago Shakespeare Theater](/source/Chicago_Shakespeare_Theater), Posner co-directed ''[The Tempest](/source/The_Tempest)'' with magician [Teller](/source/Teller_(magician)). The production made use of the songs of [Tom Waits](/source/Tom_Waits) and [Kathleen Brennan](/source/Kathleen_Brennan).{{cite web| title=Chicago Shakespeare Theater: The Tempest| url=https://www.chicagoshakes.com/plays_and_events/tempest}}{{cite news| title='Tempest' mixes Shakespeare with Tom Waits and magic| last=Fraley| first=Jason| date=November 29, 2022| url= https://wtop.com/entertainment/2022/11/bethesda-tempest-mixes-shakespeare-words-tom-waits-music-penn-teller-magic/}} Posner re-imagined Shakespeare's ''[The Merchant of Venice](/source/The_Merchant_of_Venice)'', in a variation called ''District Merchants: An Uneasy Comedy'' (2016) commissioned by Folger Theatre. It is set in Washington, D.C., during the [Reconstruction era](/source/Reconstruction_era), after the end of the Civil War. Exploring relations between Jewish and African-American businessmen and other residents in the city, including people of color free before the war and newly emancipated [freedmen](/source/freedmen), it premiered at the Folger Shakespeare Library on May 31, 2016.[https://www.folger.edu/events/district-merchants ''District Merchants''], Folger Shakespeare Library, n.d., 2016 Posner is a tenured full professor in the Theatre/Musical Theatre program at [American University](/source/American_University) in [Washington, D.C](/source/Washington%2C_D.C.).{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Faculty Profile: Aaron Posner {{!}} American University, Washington, D.C.|url=https://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/posner.cfm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206204944/http://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/posner.cfm |archive-date=2018-02-06 |access-date=2019-11-30|website=American University|language=en}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *{{IMDb name|nm3614549|Aaron Posner}} *{{iobdb name|42093|Aaron Posner}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Posner, Aaron}} Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Writers from Eugene, Oregon Category:Writers from Madison, Wisconsin Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:American theatre directors Category:21st-century American male writers Category:American male dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century American male writers Category:American University faculty --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Aaron Posner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Posner) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Posner?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.