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Celebrated for her inventive storytelling, Lauren Gunderson is an acclaimed American playwright, screenwriter, and short story author. She focuses on extraordinary women who have shaped science, history, and art. Born on February 5, 1982, in Atlanta, Georgia, Gunderson earned her B.A. in Creative Writing from Emory University and her M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship.

She continues to write, teach, and champion the next generation of storytellers. Her work—often infused with wit, intellect, and deep humanity—reflects a lifelong fascination with the intersections of science and emotion, reason and wonder.

Gunderson has emerged as one of the most produced playwrights in the United States, earning recognition from American Theatre magazine as the nation’s most produced living playwright for several seasons. Her acclaimed plays include I and You, Émilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight, The Book of Will, Silent Sky, and The Revolutionists—works that illuminate the brilliance, humor, and resilience of women throughout history.

“I write to celebrate women who have been written out of history.”

In The Revolutionists, Gunderson reimagines the final days of four bold women during the French Revolution—playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, former queen Marie Antoinette, and Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle. With razor-sharp wit and an unflinching feminist voice, she blends history, humor, and heartbreak into a fearless exploration of art, activism, and the cost of change.

Content Warning: This production includes depictions and descriptions of political violence, murder, misogyny and racism.