ABSTRACT
This essay situates American playwright Lauren Gunderson (b.1982) in the present theatrical scenario. Three times the most produced playwrights in the US (in seasons 2017–2018, 2019–2020, and 2022–2023), Gunderson provides guidelines to understand her work: from her writing of lighter pieces and the more politically committed ones to her revision of classic texts and her original historical dramas. Gunderson presents herself as a feminist playwright who relocates women in their place in history while writing plays for both men and women. This essay also discusses Gunderson's role as a drama and theatre theorist by paying close attention to her 2015 speech, “Survival of the Storied: Why Science Needs Art and Art Needs Science.” Here, Gunderson argues the need for and value of featuring the stories of women scientists on the stage and reminds us of the inherent power of good plays to move audiences into action in order to make a better world—a common goal shared by Science and Art.
