David Rabe


David William Rabe is an American playwright and screenwriter. He won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1972 and also received Tony award nominations for Best Play in 1974, 1977 and 1985.

Career

Rabe was drafted into the Army in 1965 and served in Vietnam in a medical unit during the Vietnam War. After leaving the Army in 1967, Rabe returned to Villanova, studying writing and earning an M.A. in 1968. During this time, he began work on the play Sticks and Bones, in which the family represents the ugly underbelly of the Nelson family when they are faced with their hopeless son David returning home from Vietnam as a blinded vet.
Rabe is known for his loose trilogy of plays drawing on his experiences as an Army draftee in Vietnam, Sticks and Bones, the Tony Award-winning The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, and Streamers. He has also written Hurlyburly, and the screenplays for the Vietnam War drama Casualties of War and the film adaptation of John Grisham's The Firm.
A collection of Rabe's manuscripts is housed in the Mugar Memorial Library, at Boston University.

Personal life

Rabe was born in Dubuque, Iowa, the son of Ruth, a department store worker, and William Rabe, a teacher and meat packer. Rabe was married to actress Jill Clayburgh from 1978 until her death on November 5, 2010. He has two children with Clayburgh, actress Lily Rabe and Michael Rabe. He has one son, Jason Rabe, from his first marriage.

Awards and honors

Plays