Brenda Withers

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Brenda Withers
OccupationPlaywright, stage actress
NationalityUnited States
Alma materDartmouth College
GenreComedy
Notable worksMatt & Ben

Brenda Withers is an American playwright and actress. Withers grew up in Long Island, New York, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 2000.[1] She is close friends with Mindy Kaling, whom she met when they were both attending Dartmouth. In 2001, Withers and Kaling co-wrote the play Matt & Ben, a play in which Withers and Kaling star as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, respectively. The play debuted in 2002 at that year's New York International Fringe Festival, where it became a surprise hit and won the "Best in Fringe" award.[1][2][3] It began an Off Broadway run in 2003, which led to it receiving multiple favorable reviews, including from the New Yorker.[4] In one of the show's Off Broadway productions, in a scene in which Kaling was supposed to fake a choreographed punch to Withers's face, Kaling accidentally punched Withers so hard that she broke her nose and had to go to the hospital. After an intermission, the play continued, and it received a rave review from Bruce Weber of the New York Times.[3][5] In 2006, Withers appeared in the "Booze Cruise" episode of The Office.[3]

She has also acted in stage productions of Crimes of the Heart, The Philadelphia Story, and Abundance.[6] In 2011, her play The Ding Dongs or What is the Penalty in Portugal? premiered at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre, where she was a company member and playwright at the time.[1][7] She later co-founded the Harbor Stage Company, a theater in Wellfleet, Massachusetts which she helps to run. In 2016, her play The Kritik premiered there.[8][9]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Central Square Theater Presents MATT AND BEN this Summer". BroadwayWorld.com. 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  2. ^ Miller, Steve (2011-07-02). "Taking aim at 'Matt and Ben'". Boston.com. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Sittenfeld, Curtis (2011-09-23). "A Long Day at 'The Office' With Mindy Kaling". The New York Times Magazine. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  4. ^ Wulff, Jennifer (April 2012). "Dialed In". Dartmouth Alumni. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  5. ^ Weber, Bruce (2003-08-09). "Stage Punch Gone Wrong Sends Actress To Hospital". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  6. ^ Gates, Anita (2013-04-20). "The Frontier Is a Hard Place for Heroines". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
  7. ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura (2011-09-04). "Civility, self-assertion, and family connections". Boston.com. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  8. ^ "PLUS". BRENDA WITHERS / PLAYWRIGHT. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  9. ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura (2016-07-26). "In Defense of Candid Reviews, Minus the Nastiness". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-21.

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