LORT Affinity Group Meeting

Building a National Career with Lauren Gunderson & Sandy Rustin

In this two-hour community-building conversation, led by playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Sandy Rustin, Dramatists Guild writers will have an opportunity to ask questions, share experiences, build strategies, and dream big together about developing and producing plays regionally.

Lauren Gunderson has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015, topping the list thrice including 2022/23. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the William Inge Distinguished Achievement in Theatre Award, the Lanford Wilson Award, and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is a playwright, screenwriter, musical book writer, and children's author who lives in San Francisco and London. She graduated from NYU Tisch as a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. LaurenGunderson.com

Sandy Rustin is a Broadway playwright and actress. One of the most produced playwrights in America, Sandy penned the adaptation of the cult-hit film Clue, which has enjoyed over 4,000 productions worldwide. Sandy’s original comedy The Cottage, directed by Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), ran at The Hayes Theatre for a limited-engagement on Broadway, starring Eric McCormick and Laura Bell Bundy.  Sandy’s musical adaptation of MGM’s film, Mystic Pizza, directed by Casey Hushion, premiered at The Paper Mill Playhouse in 2025. Sandy’s newest play, The Suffragette's Murder, premiered at The Denver Center for Performing Arts in 2025.