Rinne B. Groff’s plays and musicals have been produced at the Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Trinity Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Yale Rep, the Women’s Project, PS122, and Clubbed Thumb, among others, in the United States and internationally. She also writes for television and teaches in the Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Rinne is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Obie Award grant. Founding member of Elevator Repair Service Theater Company. New Dramatists, Dramatist Guild.
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The Ruby SunriseA Play
LULU: Mr. Marcus, I didn’t even want to waste your time. Pride and Prejudice is not a book that makes for a teleplay.
MARTIN: Philco’s killing us with the class acts.
LULU: There’s more to classy material than rich people in mansions talking in high-class accents. There are stories to tell about the little guy, an American guy, and the contributions they make; or even fail to make. You see a bum on the street, or a woman yelling at her kids after working in a factory all day, but to really understand what causes that behavior… Each of these people had goals; they had dreams; they had disappointments. TV can get inside that, can get close, and be honest about it. That’s what’s classy.
MARTIN: So no more period pieces?
LULU: If they’re topical.
MARTIN: Pride and prejudice: sounds topical.
LULU: It’s about marriage. Today’s audience has more on their mind than who marries who.
The Ruby Sunrise (grorubys)Premiered in2004- Print Books
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The Ruby SunriseA Play
TAD: You say that like you know what it means. We don’t even know what it means yet.
LULU: I do know what it means. “Tele” is Greek for far and “vision” is Latin for seeing, and it’s the perfect name, because it’s democratic.
TAD: Democratic?
LULU: Yes, both languages get a vote. And what TV does is democratic: a machine that treats everyone equal, so a girl in Indiana is as important as a fat cat in New Jersey. TV is free. It moves through the air that we breathe. You don’t have to buy a ticket. You don’t need a car. We’re all together even if we’re a thousand miles apart. We all belong. Finally. Don’t look at me like I’m crazy.
TAD: That’s not how I’m looking at you.
LULU: How then?
TAD: Like you’re beautiful.
The Ruby Sunrise (grorubys)Premiered in2004- Print Books
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The Ruby SunriseA Play
LULU: Don’t let them do this.
MARTIN: Do what?
LULU: Turn you into a coward.
TAD: It’s not cowardice.
PAUL: It’s patriotism.
LULU: It’s not illegal to go to a political conference. It’s not illegal to be a communist for crying out loud.
SUZIE: Oh, I think it is.
LULU: This is America.
SUZIE: But not for communists.
PAUL: Don’t kid yourself, miss, these people want to infiltrate our way of life.
LULU: Can you even define “infiltrate?”
PAUL: All I know is they’re trying to infiltrate the Actors Studio.
The Ruby Sunrise (grorubys)Premiered in2004- Print Books
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"A riveting drama for three actors and an ensemble of marionettes . . . [Groff's] semifictional dive into one real Jewish writer's litigious battle over Anne Frank's diary is a compelling foray along a thin line between idealism and fanaticism." —The San Francisco Chronicle [on Compulsion]
“Groff assembles the story with a nod to Tom Stoppard, past and present ricocheting off one another in illuminating ways . . . Even as her play shows the folly of Ruby’s and Lulu’s dreams, it celebrates them for persisting in those dreams; she exposes the limits of idealism while inspiring us to embrace idealism anew. It is a mature work from a young playwright.” —New York magazine [on The Ruby Sunrise]
“Originality—it’s rare but you can experience the pleasurably sharp intake of breath it brings by seeing Rinne Groff’s Inky . . . a neat little noir comedy full of deft twists, acerbic quips, and a lunge at your guts.” —Francine Russo, The Village Voice
Selected Works
