Larry Kramer

Playwright

 Larry Kramer is an American playwright and activist. He is best known for his autobiographical play The Normal Heart, which chronicles the early days of the AIDS crisis. It holds the record for the longest running play at Joseph Papp's Public Theater.

 After graduating from Yale in 1957, Kramer began his career in the film industry as a script editor. He later co-produced and co-wrote "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush", which became very popular in Britain. He also wrote the screenplays for the films "Women in Love" and "Lost Horizon".

In addition to working in film, Kramer wrote for theatre. His first play Sissies' Scrapbook, was produced at Playwrights Horizons in 1973. His next play to be produced was The Normal Heart, which premiered at the Public Theater in 1985. It was one of the first major theatre pieces written about the AIDS epidemic. Most of his later works, including Just Say No - A Play About A Farce, The Destiny of Me, and Reports from the Holocaust: The Story of an AIDS Activist, focus on this issue. He has been recognized with several awards and nominations for his writing including an Oscar nomination ("Women In Love") and two OBIE awards (The Destiny of Me). He was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (The Destiny of Me).

Kramer is also an AIDS activist. He co-founded two major AIDS advocacy organizations, the Gay Men's Health Crisis and ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). In recognition of his public service, Kramer has been awarded the Public Service Award from Common Cause.

 Kramer lives in Greenwich Village with his husband David Webster.

 

Appears in
Sissies' Scrapbook