{{short description|American playwright|bot=PearBOT 5}}{{For|the academic|George Brandt}} '''George Brant''' is an American playwright. Born in Park Ridge, Illinois, he is the author of several award-winning plays, most notably ''Grounded''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.americantheatre.org/2013/09/01/darkness-meets-light-in-george-brants-plays/|title=Darkness Meets Light in George Brant's Plays|last=Napoleon|first=Davi|date=2013-09-01|website=American Theatre |access-date=2016-09-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2015/04/made_in_cleveland_playwright_g.html|title=Made in Cleveland: Playwright George Brant joins Anne Hathaway and lauded director Julie Taymor for a high-flying off-Broadway 'Grounded'|date=26 April 2015|access-date=2016-09-18}}</ref>
== Career == Brant completed his undergraduate studies at Northwestern University and received his Masters in Fine Arts in Writing from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pwcenter.org/profile/george-brant|title=George Brant|website=Playwrights' Center|access-date=2016-09-16}}</ref>
His most successful play to date is ''Grounded'', which played at London's Gate Theatre and went on to be directed by Julie Taymor in an off-Broadway production at The Public Theater, which starred Anne Hathaway.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/theater/george-brants-play-grounded-brings-him-to-new-york.html|title=George Brant's Play 'Grounded' Brings Him to New York|last=Lee|first=Felicia R.|date=2014-01-23|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-09-16}}</ref> ''Grounded'' won the National New Play Network's 2012 Smith Prize and a Fringe First award at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Soloski |first1=Alexis |title=Grounded review – Anne Hathaway goes full throttle in one-woman show |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/apr/27/grounded-review-anne-hathaway-julie-traymor-public-theater-broadway |access-date=17 February 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=27 April 2015}}</ref>
In October of 2023, an operatic adaptation of ''Grounded'' opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grounded {{!}} Kennedy Center |url=https://www.kennedy-center.org/wno/home/2023-2024/grounded/ |access-date=2023-03-31 |website=The Kennedy Center |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Salazar |first=Francisco |date=2023-03-12 |title=Emily d'Angelo, Isabel Leonard & Justin Austin Lead Washington National Opera's 2023-24 Season |url=https://operawire.com/emily-dangelo-isabel-leonard-justin-austin-lead-washington-national-operas-2023-24-season/ |access-date=2023-03-31 |website=OperaWire |language=en-US}}</ref> The Kennedy Center's publicity summarizes the opera as "Jess is a hot shot F-16 fighter pilot, an elite warrior trained for the sky. When an unexpected pregnancy grounds her, she’s reassigned to the “chair force” to control drones in Afghanistan from the comfort of a trailer in Las Vegas. Mezzo-soprano Emily D'Angelo stars as a pilot and mother shaken into a downward spiral as her separation between career and home crumbles. What price is inflicted upon the operator of a lone drone in a blue sky?" The libretto is based on Brant's stage play with music by Jeanine Tesori.
''Into the Breeches'', Brant's 2018 play, is based on the true story of a playhouse in Cleveland that continued performing during World War Two by having female actors play all the male roles. In reviewing North Coast Rep's 2022 production, the ''San Diego Union-Tribune'' wrote "''Into the Breeches'' may be about the can-do spirit of some aspiring thespians 80 years ago, but it’s really a love letter to the boundary-breaking magic of theater and the universality of Shakespeare’s writing."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-24 |title=Review: North Coast Rep's 'Into the Breeches' a love letter to theater and Shakespeare |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/theater/story/2022-10-24/review-north-coast-reps-into-the-breeches-a-love-letter-to-theater-and-shakespeare |access-date=2023-03-31 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Plays == * ''Rust: A Story of Steel and Grit'' (2025) * ''The Land of Oz'' (2022) * ''Tender Age'' (2021) * ''The Prince of Providence'' (2019) * ''Into the Breeches!'' (2018) * ''Dark Room'' (2018) * ''Salvage'' (2017) * ''Marie and Rosetta'' (2016) * ''Good on Paper'' (2015) * ''Grounded'' (2012). Translated into Spanish as ''En tierra''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.teatrodelbarrio.com/en-tierra-grounded/|title=En Tierra (Grounded)|date=20 July 2018}}</ref> * ''The Mourners' Bench'' (2012) * ''Three Voyages of the Lobotomobile (''2012) * ''Grizzly Mama'' (2011) * ''Any Other Name'' (2009) * ''Elephant's Graveyard'' (2007)
== References == <references />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brant, George}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:People from Park Ridge, Illinois Category:Writers from Chicago Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:Northwestern University alumni Category:Michener Center for Writers alumni Category:21st-century American male writers Category:American male dramatists and playwrights Category:American opera librettists