Photo by Jonathan L. Green

Walt McGough is a Boston-based playwright (by way of Pittsburgh and Chicago). In Boston, he has held fellowships with both the Huntington and New Repertory Theatre Companies, and was a finalist for the 2016 Dramatists Guild Lanford Wilson Award. His plays include PATTERN OF LIFE, which was named Best New Play by the Independent Reviewers of New England, and THE FARM, PRISCILLA DREAMS THE ANSWER, and PAPER CITY PHOENIX, all of which received Best New Play IRNE nominations. Other plays include CHALK, DANTE DIES!! (AND THEN THINGS GET WEIRD), THE HABERDASHER!, and NON-PLAYER CHARACTER. He has worked around the country with companies such as The Lark, the Huntington, New Rep, the Kennedy Center, NNPN, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Fresh Ink, Sideshow, Orfeo Group, Nu Sass Productions, Chicago Dramatists, and Argos. In 2015, his play ADVICE FOR ASTRONAUTS was selected as the winner of the Milken Playwriting Prize. He has served on the staff at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston and Chicago Dramatists, and is a founding ensemble member of Chicago’s Sideshow Theatre Company. He holds a BA from the University of Virginia, and an MFA in playwriting from Boston University.

Awards, Honors & Commissions

• 2015-2016 Next Voices Fellow at New Rep Theatre
• Winner, 2015 Milken Playwriting Prize
• Pattern of Life named Best New Play 2014 by the Independent Reviewers of New England
• Chalk selected for 2014 Playwrights Week at the Lark
• Chalk a finalist for the 2014 Source Festival
• 2013-2014 Next Voices Fellow at New Rep Theatre
  
• Paper City Phoenix a finalist for the 2013 Source Festival
• 2012-2014 Playwriting Fellow with the Huntington Theatre Company
• Named one of twelve “Artists on the Rise in 2012” by the Boston Globe
• Winner, 2011 Best Comedy at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, DC, for Priscilla Dreams the Answer
• 2011 Short-Play Commission from Playwrights Commons, Boston, MA
• Selected Participant, 2011 Kennedy Center MFA Workshop
• Finalist, WordBridge 2011 Development Workshop
• “Two Socks Discuss Loss” published by Smith & Kraus
• 2010 Ken Ludwig Scholarship for Body of Work (KCACTF)
• National Finalist, 2010 John Cauble Award (KCACTF)
• National Finalist, 2010 Ten-Minute Play Award (KCACTF)
• Finalist, 2009 Heideman Award
• Finalist, 2008 Heideman Award
• 3rd Place, 2006 David Mark Cohen Award (KCACTF)

Artistic Memberships & Affiliations

• Playwriting Fellow, Huntington Theatre Company
• Next Voices Fellow, New Repertory Theatre Company
• Founding Ensemble Member, Sideshow Theatre Company
• Staff Member, SpeakEasy Stage Company
• Alumnus – National New Play Network
• Alumnus – Boston Playwrights Theatre
• Former Staff Member, Chicago Dramatists
• Active Member – Dramatists Guild of America