Shirley Lauro most recently premiered A Piece of My Heart at Actors Theatre of Louisville, which won the Kitteredge Award and Barbara Deming Prize, and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. More than 100 subsequent productions of A Piece of My Heart followed, including Manhattan Theatre Club, Stamford Theatre Works, International City Theatre, Baliwick Repertory, a South African premiere which Lauro attended, sponsored by the U.S.I.A. and Natal Performing Arts Council. Other Actors Theatre premieres: The Coal Diamond (Heideman Award), Nothing Immediate and Sunday Go to Meetin'. Broadway: Tony-nominated Open Admissions, recipient of Dramatists Guild's Hull Warriner Award, The New York Times "10 Best Plays of the Year" list. Open Admissions was adapted by Lauro for a CBS Special starring Jane Alexander. Off-Broadway: The Contest. Latest play: The Last Trial of Clarence Darrow, EST Octoberfest 2000. Major fellowships: The Guggenheim, NEA, N.Y. Foundation for the Arts.
