Selina Fillinger

Selina Fillinger (born 1994) is an American playwright, TV writer, and screenwriter.

Early life and education

Fillinger was born in Berkeley, California. She is Jewish. When she was three her family moved to Eugene, Oregon, where she grew up. She went to South Eugene High School before attending Northwestern University, where she studied acting and playwriting. While at Northwestern she received the first Judith Barlow Prize, an annual student award given to work inspired by a historic female playwright. She was one of three playwrights selected for Northwestern's Agnes Nixon Playwriting Festival, two years in a row.

Career

During her senior year at Northwestern, Fillinger was commissioned by two local theaters, Northlight Theatre and Sideshow Theatre. Her play Faceless was produced at Northlight in January 2017 and was Fillinger's first professional production, opening only six months after she graduated. Her Sideshow commission, Something Clean, premiered at the Roundabout Underground in New York in 2019 and opened in Chicago a few months later.

Her play POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in 2022, making Fillinger, at 28, one of the youngest playwrights to be produced on Broadway. POTUS was originally in talks to be staged in the 2020 Broadway season, but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Susan Stroman directed the production, which starred Julie White, Vanessa Williams, Rachel Dratch, Lilli Cooper, Lea Delaria, Suzy Nakamura, and Julianne Hough. POTUS was the third most produced play of 2023, including productions at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and Arena Stage.

In 2022 Fillinger joined Apple TV+’s The Morning Show as a staff writer on the third season.

Awards and honors

While still a student, Fillinger won the Agnes Nixon Festival and the Judith Barlow Prize. In 2019, her play Something Clean received the Laurents/Hatcher Award and her play Cinched/Strapped won the Williamstown Theatre Festival L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award. POTUS made the 2019 Kilroys' List and the Broadway production was nominated for three Tony Awards. Fillinger has been a Hawthornden Fellow and a resident of McCarter's Sallie B. Goodman Artist's Retreat.

Works

Theater

Television

References

  1. ↑ Selina Fillinger. nordiska.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  2. ↑ Ramirez, Alicia (6 May 2022). "Interview: Selina Fillinger and Susan Stroman Are Broadway's Not-So-Secret Comedy Weapon". Theater Mania. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  3. ↑ Hurwitt, Sam (21 September 2023). "Impulsive president in 'POTUS' is purely fictional — honest". The Mercury News. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  4. ↑ Newmark, Judith (18 January 2018). "Two Muslim women - and the third woman behind their story". St. Louis Post Dispatch. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  5. ↑ Keefer, Bob (14 April 2022). "Headed for the Great White Way". Eugene Weekly. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  6. ↑ Roundabout Theater (8 May 2019). "Something Clean: Interview with Selina Fillinger". Roundabout Theater. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  7. ↑ "First Judith Barlow Prize Goes to Selina Fillinger for 'Machinal'-Inspired One-Act". American Theatre. 14 April 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  8. ↑ Hopper, Darby (24 February 2016). "Northwestern student's original play on terrorism to premiere at Northlight Theatre". The Daily Northwestern. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  9. ↑ Moore, Jillian (5 November 2023). "Playwright Selina Fillinger discusses creative journey as a writer for theatre, screen". The Daily Northwestern. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  10. ↑ Musbach, Julie (16 May 2019). "Sideshow And Rivendell Theatre Present SOMETHING CLEAN". Broadway World. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  11. ↑ Greene, Morgan (25 January 2017). "Selina Fillinger goes from student to Northlight playwright inside a year". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  12. ↑ "The Creators of 'Something Clean' on Crafting a Play for the Chicago Audience". Rebellious Magazine. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  13. ↑ Ramirez, Alicia (6 May 2022). "Interview: Selina Fillinger and Susan Stroman Are Broadway's Not-So-Secret Comedy Weapon". Theater Mania. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  14. ↑ Gioia, Michael (25 July 2022). "At 28, Selina Fillinger Is Writing for Both Broadway and TV's 'The Morning Show' : 'It's Been Wild'". People Magazine. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  15. ↑ Lee Lenker, Maureen (2 May 2022). "POTUS on Broadway is a foulmouthed political funhouse farce". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  16. ↑ "Offscript: Heidi Schreck and Selina Fillinger, Women on Top". American Theatre. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  17. ↑ Gioia, Michael (25 July 2022). "At 28, Selina Fillinger Is Writing for Both Broadway and TV's 'The Morning Show' : 'It's Been Wild'". People Magazine. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  18. ↑ Wild, Stephi (7 February 2019). "SOMETHING CLEAN Receives 2019 Laurents / Hatcher Foundation Award". Broadway World. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  19. ↑ "Williamstown Theatre Festival: Programs & Initiatives". Williamstown Theatre Festival. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  20. ↑ "POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are 7 Women Trying to Keep Him Alive". The Kilroys' List. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  21. ↑ Stewart, Alison (10 June 2022). "Tony Awards Preview: 'POTUS'". WNYC. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  22. ↑ "'POTUS' launches 38th season for Mad Horse Theatre Company". The Sun Journal. 22 September 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  23. ↑ Hess, Amanda (22 April 2022). "The playwright making a farce of the patriarchy". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  24. ↑ Clement, Olivia (29 August 2018). "Roundabout to Present World Premiere of Selina Fillinger's Something Clean". Playbill. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  25. ↑ Webb, Stephi (28 May 2019). "THE ARMOR PLAYS: CINCHED AND STRAPPED Comes to Theatre Three". Broadway World. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  26. ↑ Jones, Chris (6 February 2017). "'Faceless': Much to like in this young writer's courtroom drama". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 17 November 2023.