1. Cyrano De Bergerac (1619)

Playwright

Cyrano De Bergerac is a famous Playwright, who was born on March 6, 1619 in France. Remembered primarily for his large nose, this seventeenth-century French playwright and frequent participant in...

2. William Congreve (1670)

Playwright

English Restoration dramatist and poet who is best known for his 1700 work The Way of the World and other comedic plays.

3. Beth Henley (1952)

Playwright

American playwright and actress who is best known for her play Crimes of the Heart.

4. Mirza Akhundov (1812)

Playwright

An Azerbaijani author, playwright, and philosopher, he was also a noteworthy literary critic. His works include Art of Criticism, Principles of Writing, and the 1859 novel The Deceived Stars.

5. Alexandre Dumas Jr. (1824)

Playwright

Alexandre Dumas Jr. is a famous Playwright, who was born on July 27, 1824 in France. French author and playwright who is best known for his novel-turned-melodrama, Camille. Known as...

6. Augusta Ladygregory (1852)

Playwright

Remembered for her association with the Irish Literary Revival, this late 19th and early 20th-century playwright, director, and theater producer is perhaps most famous as a founder of both the...

7. Constance Holland (1859)

Playwright

Playwright and wife of author Oscar Wilde, she stayed with him through his trial for indecency. She wrote There Was Once.

8. Alfred Douglas (1870)

Playwright

Best remembered for his romantic association with the renowned Irish playwright and fiction writer Oscar Wilde, he also had a career as a writer in his on right, publishing such...

9. Saki (1870)

Playwright

Remembered for such satirical and humorous short stories as "The Interlopers," "The Schartz-Metterklume Method," and "Tobermory," he also co-wrote a play titled The Watched Pot. Born Hector Hugh Munro, he...

10. Owen Davis (1874)

Playwright

Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright who penned hundreds of plays and scripts for radio, stage, and film.

11. Alice B. Toklas (1877)

Playwright

Alice B. Toklas is a famous Playwright, who was born on April 30, 1877 in United States. Member of the avant-garde movement best known for her intimate relationship with Gertrude...

12. Hatcher Hughes (1881)

Playwright

Won the Pulitzer Prize for his play Hell-Bent Fer Heaven in 1924.

13. George S. Kaufman (1889)

Playwright

George S. Kaufman is a famous Playwright, who was born on November 16, 1889 in United States. Playwright and theater director who won a Tony award for his direction of...

14. Albert Hackett (1900)

Playwright

Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright and screenwriter, most remembered for his 1959 work, The Diary of Anne Frank. He also wrote In the Good Old Summertime and The Long, Long Trailer.

15. Clare Boothe Luce (1903)

Playwright

Clare Boothe Luce is a famous Playwright, who was born on March 10, 1903 in United States. Both a playwright and a stateswoman, she was one of America’s biggest celebrities...

16. Frank D. Gilroy (1925)

Playwright

Frank D. Gilroy is a famous Playwright, who was born on October 13, 1925 in United States. American playwright, screenwriter, film producer and director who won a Tony Award and...

17. Edward Albee (1928)

Playwright

Playwright who wrote Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which won the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play.

18. John B. Keane (1928)

Playwright

John B. Keane is a famous Playwright, who was born on July 21, 1928 in Ireland. Irish novelist and playwright most well known for his 1956 novel The Field. According...

19. Brian Friel (1929)

Playwright

Considered one of the most accomplished playwrights of his generation, he is particularly notable for his 1990 drama Dancing at Lughnasa, which won a New York Drama Critics Circle Award,...

20. John Osbourne (1929)

Playwright

English playwright, screenwriter, and actor who wrote the 1956 plays Look Back in Anger and The Entertainer.

21. María Irene Fornés (1930)

Playwright

María Irene Fornés is a famous Playwright, who was born on May 14, 1930 in Cuba. Avant-garde playwright who wrote plays dealing with themes of feminism and poverty. She won...

22. Fatima Surayya Bajia (1930)

Playwright

Fatima Surayya Bajia is a famous Playwright, who was born on September 1, 1930 in India. Prominent playwright who wrote Tasweer and was the recipient of the Hilal-i-Imtiaz honor among...

23. Rolf Hochhuth (1931)

Playwright

Playwright who wrote the renowned 1963 play The Deputy, and made controversial public comments on topics like the Holocaust and Pope Pius XII.

24. Jesus T. Peralta (1932)

Playwright

Jesus T. Peralta is a famous Playwright, who was born on December 26, 1932 in Philippines. Award-winning Filipino playwright and anthropologist who won ten Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards. One...

25. Per Olov Enquist (1934)

Playwright

Per Olov Enquist is a famous Playwright, who was born on September 23, 1934 in Sweden. He wrote the 1999 novel The Visit of the Royal Physician, and won the...

26. Chad Beguelin (1969)

Playwright

American playwright who wrote the lyrics and book for the Broadway musical version of The Wedding Singer.

27. Tina Howe (1937)

Playwright

She wrote award-winning plays like Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances, and was an Obie Award winner for Distinguished Playwriting in 1983.

28. Girish Karnad (1938)

Playwright

Girish Karnad is a famous Playwright, who was born on May 19, 1938 in India. Award-winning playwright and Kannada filmmaker who became one of India’s leading public intellectuals. His notable...

29. Gary Mitchell (1965)

Playwright

The author of acclaimed plays in the political thriller genre, this Northern Irish dramatist is particularly well known for In A Little World of Our Own (1997); As the Beast...

30. Ama Ata Aidoo (1940)

Playwright

Ama Ata Aidoo is a famous Playwright, who was born on March 23, 1940 in Ghana. A twentieth-century Ghanaian author, she is known for her place in history as the...

31. Howard John Brenton (1942)

Playwright

English playwright and screenwriter who won two Evening Standard Awards and won a BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series for the series Spooks.

32. Liv Hewson (1995)

Playwright

Australian actress and playwright who first rose to fame penning the play Bona Mors, which explores children dealing with death. They also star in the Viki original series Dramaworld as...

33. Botho Strauß (1944)

Playwright

German playwright, novelist, and journalist known for his 1984 work, Der Junge Mann (The Young Man).

34. Marilyn Vos Savant (1946)

Playwright

Marilyn Vos Savant is a famous Playwright, who was born on August 11, 1946 in United States. The one-time Guinness Book of World Records holder for the highest recorded IQ,...

35. Bonnie Greer (1948)

Playwright

Notable for her plays Munda Negra, Dancing On Blackwater, and Jitterbug, she is also the author of the novels Entropy and Hanging by Her Teeth; the memoir Obama Music; the...

36. Sue Monk Kidd (1948)

Playwright

Sue Monk Kidd is a famous Playwright, who was born on August 12, 1948 in United States. American novelist who wrote The Secret Life of Bees (2002), which was produced...

37. Sky Gilbert (1952)

Playwright

Playwright, actor, author and drag performer who has won acclaim for his plays dealing with issues of gender and sexuality, including 1981's Cavafy and 2007's Will The Real J.T. LeRoy...

38. Marsha Norman (1947)

Playwright

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who wrote 'Night, Mother, as well as Tony-winning musicals like The Secret Garden.

39. Brad Fraser (1959)

Playwright

Canadian playwright known for the scathing and blunt, yet humorous, tone of his works. Among his more famous plays are Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love and...

40. Tony Kushner (1956)

Playwright

Nominated for Oscars for his screenplays for 2005's Munich and 2012's Lincoln. He also received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his 1993 play Angels in America.

41. David Henry Hwang (1957)

Playwright

American playwright and screenwriter who became known for his Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning play M. Butterfly.

42. Sheila Callaghan (1973)

Playwright

Prominent part of New York's experimental theater scene, she wrote the play Dead City, and won the Whiting Writers Award.

43. Justin Fleming (1953)

Playwright

Playwright recognized for his adaptation of Au Bonheur des Dames and his adaptation of DH Lawrence’s Kangaroo.

44. Johnathan Larson (1960)

Playwright

Creator of the Broadway sensation Rent, and other works exploring serious issues of HIV, discrimination, and sexual orientation. He died at the young age of 35 and gained even more...

45. Eduardo Machado (1953)

Playwright

Playwright originally from Cuba best known for plays like 2004's Celia’s Funeral. He is a multiple-time winner of the L.A. Weekly Theatre Award.

46. Sarah Kane (1971)

Playwright

Known for such poetic, experimental, and violent dramas as Blasted and 4.48 Psychosis, this late 20th-century British playwright also penned a racial-violence-themed short film titled Skin.

47. David Lindsay Abaire (1969)

Playwright

David Lindsay Abaire is a famous Playwright, who was born on November 30, 1969 in United States. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter who became known for his play Rabbit Hole....

48. Sudipto Chatterjee (1964)

Playwright

Most well known for his acclaimed play Man Of The Heart, this Indian writer is also notable for his 2004 theatrical piece Proteeti, as well as for his work as...

49. Eugene O'Neill (1888)

Playwright

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically *led plays were among the first to introduce into the U. S. the drama techniques of...

50. Stephen Laughton (1981)

Playwright

Stephen Laughton is a British Cypriot playwright. He was raised in Stourbridge Worcestershire. He attended the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama before completing a master's degree at the Central...