A new novel by Richard Dresser
“Oh God. It rings true.”
— Roy Blount Jr
“Richard Dresser’s It Happened Here is the witty, resonant story we need right now.”
— Betsy West
“This book is as astonishing as it is extraordinary”
— Lewis Black
“a heartbreaking, hilarious tale of a dysfunctional family as screwed up as yours.”
— Jay Tarses
See All Advance Praise for It Happened Here →
Richard Dresser
Richard Dresser is an award-winning playwright whose seventeen published plays have been produced on Broadway, off-Broadway, in leading regional theaters, and all over Europe. His first novel, IT HAPPENED HERE, the saga of an American family between the years 2019 and 2035, deals with life under a totalitarian regime when you still have Netflix and two-day free shipping. It will be released in September, with plenty of time to tilt the election. He teaches screenwriting in the Columbia University graduate Film School and is President of the Writers Guild Initiative, which does writing workshops all over the country, with a mission of giving a voice to populations not being heard.
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Halftime
From PUBLIC SPEAKING, a trilogy of short films
A stressed out basketball couch tries to inspire his losing team with a HALFTIME talk that includes just a little too much information.
Benched
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Kevin Kelly of the Boston Globe called Dresser “a ferocious playwright…who writes with a headlong intensity and a sense of pervasive mystery.”
The LA Times said, “Dresser’s dialogue crackles like gunfire in a shooting gallery.”
John Simon in New York Magazine said, “Below the Belt is a terribly serious play that keeps you steadily laughing; properly understood, it should also make you weep.”
Happiness Trilogy
The Happiness Trilogy consists of three plays about happiness in America, with each play set in a different social class. Read more about the series
Wonderful World
“Underneath its wickedly comic one-liners and cruel barbs, “Wonderful World” displays true depth… Dresser is an accomplished comic playwright and an astute student of human foibles, especially as they affect the dangerous world of romance…”
–The Orange County Register
Something in the Air
“Manically funny...offers a fresh look at the way past decisions can fester and grow into myopia...a raw look at the human condition...”
–The Hollywood Reporter