Wendy Kesselman biography

Wendy Kesselman

At Writers Theatre: The Diary of Anne Frank

Kesselman received a Tony Award nomination for her adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank, which wasproduced on Broadway. Her plays include My Sister in this House; The Notebook; The Last Bridge; I Love You, I Love You Not; The Executioner’s Daughter; The Juniper Tree, A Tragic Household Tale; Maggie Magalita; Merry-Go-Round; Becca, A Musical; a musical adaptation of Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities; and a musical adaptation of Chekhov’s The Black Monk. A member of the Dramatists Guild, she is the recipient of the New England Theatre Conference Major Award for outstanding creative achievement in the American theatre, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the first annual Playbill Award, the Roger L. Stevens Award, the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, the Lecomte du Noüy Annual Award, and a Guggenheim, McKnight, and two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. She is also a seven-time winner of the ASCAP Popular Award in Musical Theatre. Ms. Kesselman’s screenplays include Sister My Sister (adapted from My Sister in the House), directed by Nancy Meckler; I Love You, I Love You Not (adapted from her play of the same name), directed by Billy Hopkins; and Mad or in Love for Fox 2000. Her screen adaptation of John Knowles' A Separate Peace, directed by Peter Yates, aired on Showtime, won a Writers Guild of America award, and was nominated for an Emmy.