
PLAYWRIGHT
BIOGRAPHY
Lisa Soland graduated from Florida State
University with a BFA in acting and received her Equity card
working as an apprentice at the Burt Reynold's Jupiter Theatre.
While there, she had the opportunity to work with playwright
William Luce, starring as Zelda Fitzgerald in his world premiere
play, Luce Women. With Charles Nelson Reilly directing, the
experience deepened her love and appreciation for the theatre’s
creative process in which both the playwright and the director
are present during rehearsal, working together for the betterment
of the play and its production. Little did she know that she,
one day, would be the playwright.
After moving to Los Angeles, Ms. Soland wrote
her first play The Name Game, which received a yearlong writer's
grant and was subsequently published by Samuel French, Inc.
She starred in the world premiere opposite Richard Hatch from
Battlestar Galactica, and the romantic comedy ran for two
months at The Tamarind Theatre in Hollywood. Thinking it a
lark, she moved on to her next play and with eight nominations,
she received the Artistic Director Achievement award for best
original comedy for her play, Happy Birthday, Baby! Then her
drama The ReBirth won her the Hawthornden Fellowship, which
took her to Edinburgh, Scotland, where she spent a month long
international writer's retreat in William Drummond's medieval
castle.
As her role of playwright increased in its
demands, she accepted less and less acting roles. Yet one
of her most memorable experiences was starring in the world
premiere production of her romantic comedy, Cabo San Lucas,
where Ms. Soland played the part of Grace, whose attempted
suicide is thwarted by two house burglars. Back Stage West
wrote, "Those tired of playing second fiddle to the showier
male roles might take a page from the author of this one act,
who wrote a meaty starring role for herself... a great role
for women, by a woman." Cabo San Lucas received first
prize in the 2004 Scriptwriting/Houston National Playwriting
Contest and the American Theatre Co-op 2005 contest for one-act
plays.
Lisa Soland’s play Waiting is published
by Samuel French, Inc. and included in Smith & Kraus’
anthology Women Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2003, and some
of the monologues from Waiting and her play Cabo San Lucas
are in Best Women’s Stage Monologues of 2003. Monologues
from Ms. Soland’s The Rebirth, Red Roses as well as
Waiting can be found in Applause Books’ One On One:
The Best Women’s Monologues for the 21st Century and
One On One: The Best Men’s Monologues for the 21st Century.
What has become known as “the straw scene” (Act
I, Scene 2) in Waiting, is published in Duo!: The Best Scenes
for Two for the 21st Century, also by Applause Books. Her
newest publications include the plays Truth Be Told and The
Man in the Gray Suit & Other Short Plays, also published
by Samuel French, Inc.
Her ten-minute plays have received numerous
productions and publications as well. An Earthquake, first
directed by Charles Nelson Reilly, is included in Dramatic
Publishing’s anthology 35 In 10, Different is part of
Smith & Kraus’ The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2005
(2 Actors), The Same Thing is in The Best Ten-Minute Plays
of 2006 (2 Actors), Knots is in The Best Ten-Minute Plays
of 2006 (3 Actors) and The Other Shoe in The Best Ten-Minute
Plays of 2008 (3 Actors).
Recently, Ms. Soland had the opportunity
to return to her alma mater, Florida State University, to
head up the MFA Playwriting Program as a guest professor.
She is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, The Alliance
of Los Angeles Playwrights and the International Centre for
Women Playwrights, as well as SAG, AFTRA and AEA. Ms. Soland
founded one of Los Angeles’ premiere playwright workshops
– The All Original Playwright Workshop -- where she
continues to work as Artistic Director and teacher, helping
to inspire countless original play readings and productions
across the globe.