Max Posner (b. 1988, Denver, CO) is a celebrated playwright whose upsetting comedies of family life have pushed buttons off Broadway & across the United States. His play The Treasurer premiered at Playwrights Horizons in a critically-acclaimed, sold-out production directed by David Cromer starring Peter Friedman & Deanna Dunagan (NYT & TimeOut Critic's Pick; "highbrow brilliant" in Vulture; Lortel Nominee for Best Play; printed in American Theater Magazine). Earlier plays include Judy (Page 73 directed by Ken Rus Schmoll, TimeOut Critic’s Pick); Sisters on the Ground (NYU directed by Ken Rus Schmoll); & Snore (Juilliard directed by Knud Adams)—both ensemble plays regularly performed in acting programs.
His plays are published & licensed by Dramatists Play Service. Film/TV: Max contributed to John Early’s episode of The Characters (Netflix) & with Mr. Early, he is developing an episodic melodramedy set upstate. Max was the 24/25 Sun Valley Playwright in Residence. He’s a Sundance Institute Fellow; winner of the Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, the Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship, MacDowell Fellowships (x3), Le Compte du Nuoy Awards from Lincoln Center (x2), a Heideman Award from Actor’s Theater of Louisville, an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award as well as commissions from Playwrights Horizons, MTC, Williamstown, Lincoln Center, Clubbed Thumb & the New York State Council for the Arts.
After graduating from the Denver School of the Arts, Max completed undergrad at Brown (Weston Award for Playwriting), where he studied with Paula Vogel, Lisa D’Amour & Erik Ehn. After moving to New York City he was a dog walker until he became a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at Juilliard in 2013 & studied with Marsha Norman & the late Christopher Durang. Max suffers from multiple sclerosis, a diagnosis that informs his newest play The Pool directed by Sarah Benson (premiere tba: 27/28). His new play, Hanukkah Spectacular (Berkeley Rep Ground Floor; LCT & SVPR commission) will premiere this holiday season at Woolly Mammoth in Washington DC, directed by David Cromer & starring Peter Friedman. He lives in New York City with his partner Sarah DeLappe, their cat, their dog & their son.