J. T. Rogers

2004–2009: Early works

J. T. Rogers' play Madagascar is set in a hotel room overlooking the Spanish Steps in Rome. It is about a mysterious disappearance that haunts the life of the play's three characters. It was commissioned by and had its world premiere at the Salt Lake Acting Company in November 2004. The play received the American Theatre Critics Association's 2004 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award and the 2005 Pinter Review Prize for Drama, which included its first publication by the University of Tampa Press and a related public dramatic reading. It was also a finalist for the ATCA's Steinberg New Play Award and performed at the Summer Play Festival in New York City in July 2005. The play had its Australian premiere at the Melbourne Theatre Company in February 2010, directed by Sam Strong. The play had its European debut at London's Theatre 503 in May 2010, directed by Tom Littler and featuring Sorcha Cusack, Barry Stanton and Miranda Foster.

His play The Overwhelming, in which an American family who arrive in Kigali, Rwanda, in early 1994, must confront life-and-death realities of the Rwandan genocide, had its world premiere at the Cottesloe Theatre, Royal National Theatre, London, in association with Out of Joint, in May 2006. It then toured throughout the UK and was performed on BBC radio. Its American premiere was at the Roundabout Theatre in September 2007. He received the Otis Guernsey New Voices Playwriting Award at the 2007 William Inge Theatre Festival in Independence, Kansas. The Overwhelming has since been done throughout the world, and it was selected as a Top 10 Play of the Year by Time Magazine, Time Out New York and the Chicago TribuneIt was also nominated for Best Play of the Year by London's South Bank Show and Boston's Elliot Norton Awards.

In 2009, Rogers was the sole American playwright along with 11 British authors to create The Great Game: Afghanistan for the Tricycle Theatre, London. The cycle of plays was a sensation, garnering an Olivier nomination for all involved. His White People, which had its world première at the Philadelphia Theatre Company and then received the L.A. Drama Critics Circle and John Barrymore Award nominations for "Best Play of the Year". The revised play was produced by Starry Night Entertainment Off-Broadway in 2009, and has been seen at the English Theatre of Berlin. The play was seen in repertory with Madagascar at the Road Theatre in Los Angeles in 2010. His Seeing the Elephant was nominated for the Joseph Kesselring Prize for "Best New American Play", and his play Murmuring in a Dead Tongue was produced by Epic Rep, in New York City, in its 2003–2004 season. In 2008, it was mounted as part of the inaugural DC Theater Alliance.

2010–2019: Bloods and Gifts and Oslo

Rogers wrote the full-length play Blood and Gifts, which debuted at the Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre, London, in September 2010, starring Lloyd Owen with direction by Howard Davies. The play premiered in the US Off-Broadway in October 2011 at the Lincoln Center Newhouse Theater, directed by Bartlett Sher. Charles Isherwood, in his review in The New York Times, wrote that the play was "superb", with a "first rate production...the characters...really seem to be living in this turbulent history..." The reviewer for The Guardian, Michael Billington, criticised the writer's "advantage of hindsight which lends much of the action a self-conscious irony" but otherwise praised him for a "complex, demanding play." The play was nominated for the 2012 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Lead Actor, Jefferson Mays and the 2012 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play and Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, Jefferson Mays.

Rogers' 2016 political drama Oslo became his most successful work to date, including a highly acclaimed Broadway run. Oslo premiered Off-Broadway at the Lincoln Center Newhouse Theatre to nearly universal acclaim. Oslo transferred to the Lincoln Center Beaumont Theatre, a Broadway house, where it opened on April 13, 2017. Of the larger Broadway production, Ben Brantley of the New York Times wrote that "J. T. Rogers's Oslo, an against-the-odds story of international peacemaking, is undeniably a big play, as expansive and ambitious as any in recent Broadway history. So it is particularly gratifying to announce that it has been allowed to stretch to its full height in the thrilling production that opened on Thursday night, directed with a master's hand by Bartlett Sher." Oslo's cast features Jennifer Ehle and Jefferson Mays, who also appeared in the Off-Broadway production.

The Broadway production was nominated for seven Tony Awards, winning for Best Play and Best Supporting Actor. It was the first play in NY Theater history to win all seven of the major playwriting awards. After Broadway, Oslo transferred to London for a September 2017 run at the Royal National Theatre, followed by a three-month transfer to the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End. [50] The London production was nominated for the 2017 Best Play by the Evening Standard Theater Awards and the 2018 Best New Play by the Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2018, Oslo opened in Tel Aviv, Israel, in South Korea by the National Theater Company of Korea, and later in Norway and Germany. The New National Theater in Japan ran the production in 2021. Rogers wrote the screenplay for a 2021 filmed version of his Tony Award-winning play Oslo. The film starred Ruth Wilson and Andrew Scott and was directed by Tony-winner Bartlett Sher, who helmed the Broadway play. Steven Spielberg and Marc Platt served as executive producers alongside Rogers, Sher, and Cambra Overend. It won the Critics Choice Award for best Television Film and was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards.

2020–present

Rogers wrote the acclaimed television drama Tokyo Vice, based on the non-fiction book by Jake Adelstein. The 18-episode two-season series was produced for HBO Max and stars Ansel Elgort, playing Adelstein, an American journalist who embeds himself into the Tokyo Vice police squad to reveal corruption. The first episode was directed by Michael Mann. The series also features Ken Watanabe, Rachel Keller, Show Kasamatzu and Ella Rumpf. It chronicles Jake's daily descent into the underbelly of Tokyo, where nothing and no one is what or who they seem. Empire called it "“The kind of sprawling crime drama that actually lives up to the label of ‘prestige’ TV.” It's labelled the "Best Show You're Not Watching" by Variety. The two-season story completed, there were discussions between HBO and Rogers about a further, new two-season story but it was ultimately decided to wrap the series as is.

In 2024 he reunited with director Bartlett Sher for his latest play Corruption about the 2011 News International phone hacking scandal based on the 2021 novel Dial M for Murdoch. The play started previous in February 2024 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center. The production stars Toby Stephens, Dylan Baker and Saffron Burrows.

Theatre

Television