Christopher Durang Death, Obituary Unavailable – Tony Award-winning playwright Christopher Durang passed away. He was known for a particular kind of clever, absurdist comedy. His age was 75. His husband, John Augustine, stated that the cause was complications from a type of dementia called logopenic primary progressive aphasia.
The famous deconstruction of Catholic doctrine that Durang wrote in 1979 and repeatedly presented, “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You,” was her most well-known work. It occasionally sparked demonstrations due to its iconoclastic approach on religion. A 2001 Showtime film adaptation featuring Diane Keaton as the lead role debuted.
Robert Altman also adapted another Durang play for the cinema, “Beyond Therapy,” which examined Manhattanites who use their therapists to assist them deal with romantic neurosis in 1981. Even with Glenda Jackson and Jeff Goldblum in the ensemble, the 1987 movie was panned by critics for being unoriginal and unfunny. Durang expressed the same opinion, calling it “a very unhappy experience and outcome.
” He had more fun with “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” a 2013 Broadway success that parodies Chekov plays and has an ensemble lead by Sigourney Weaver and David Hyde Pierce. The production was praised by Marilyn Stasio of Variety as “brainy and witty and clever and cute,” an adjective that the Harvard and Yale-educated Durang’s work frequently garnered. “Vanya and Sonia, Masha, and Spike” would go on to take home the best play Tony Award.
As an older writer, Durang stated he appreciated going back and reviewing Chekov’s plays in a 2012 interview with the blog of Lincoln Center Theatre. “I relate more to the elder characters because I am their age. However, a great deal of the characters are somewhat dissatisfied with their lives, but I am generally not one of them.
He went on, “I got to pursue a life in the theater.” Vanya in Chekhov’s play feels empty. I possess a great deal. Nevertheless, I intended to take on a more Chekhovian role in the new play. Other Durang pieces include the 1983 parody of parenthood, “Baby With the Bathwater,” and the darkly humorous 2005 work, “Miss Witherspoon,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and examines reincarnation and suicide.
In his acting career, Durang starred in movies including “The Cowboy Way,” “The Secret of My Success,” and “Housesitter,” in which he played a priest. Durang will have private services. According to his agent Patrick Herold, details about the memorial’s intentions would be made public at a later time.
