Sigtryggur Magnason

Meet the playwrights who are contributing to the Around-the-Globe Chain Play.

Sigtryggur Magnason (Iceland) was born on January 20th, 1974. He graduated with a B.A. degree in Icelandic literature and language from the University of Iceland in 1997. From 1998 onwards, worked for various media outlets, such as the Icelandic Broadcasting Service, as an editor of a daily radio programme, and as a media correspondent for the cultural supplement of Morgunblaðið. In the spring of 1997 Sigtryggur published the poetry book Ást á grimmum vetri / Love in a Cruel Winter. Five years later Mál og menning published his poetry book/play Herjólfur er hættur að elska /Herjólfur Has Stopped Loving, which was staged in the spring of 2003 by the National Theatre of Iceland and recorded for radio broadcasting.  In the spring of 2007, Sigtryggur's work Yfirvofandi / Imminent, directed by Bergur Þór Ingólfsson and performed by Edda Arnljótsdóttir, Ingvar E. Sigurðsson and Jörundur Ragnarsson, premiered in Sigtryggur's own home, as a part of the Reykjavík Arts Festival. The work earned Sigtryggur a nomination for Gríman , the annual Icelandic drama awards, as playwright of the year. The work was also performed by the Icelandic Broadcasting Service Theatre in 2009, and won a Gríman award in the same year for best radio play. It was published in a bilingual edition, in Icelandic and English, as translated by Lani Yamamoto. In 2010 the play won 2ndprize in a Nordic radio play competition. In 2011 Imminent was published, along with two other Icelandic works, by Hänschel Schauspiel in Berlin.

In 2007, Sigtryggur's translation of the play How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel was staged by Akureyri Theatre Company. Herjólfur Has Stopped Loving was staged at The Internationalists Theatre Festival in New York in the fall of 2008 (directed by Jeremy Lydic). In June 2012 Herjólfur was staged in The University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, directed by Lauren Allison. In 2009, Sigtryggur was asked to write a play for the graduating class of the drama department of The Icelandic Academy of the Arts. The resulting work, Bráðum hata ég þig / Soon I'll Hate You premiered in January 2010, directed by Una Þorleifsdóttir. In May 2012 Sigtryggur’s play TRANS was performed in a Champagne Club in Reykjavík as a part of Reykjavík Arts Festival. The play was recorded for the Icelandic Broadcasting Service and premiered on air 17th of February 2013. His newest play, Nú er himneska sumarið komið / The Heavenly Summer Has Arrived, will premiere in Iceland in April.  Sigtryggur is currently working on a TV-series with Árni Ólafur Ásgeirsson and a film script with Árni Thor Jónsson.

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Join us on World Theatre Day, Wednesday, March 27th at 7PM at The Lark Play Development Center (311 West 43rd Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10036)

Tickets are free, but reservations are strongly encouraged. www.eventbrite.com 

A reception follows the reading.