Warren Leight

After a circuitous route that included stints as a teacher in China, a scriptwriter at a low-budget exploitation production company and a journalist, Warren Leight found critical acclaim and popular success with his autobiographical drama "Side Man," produced on the New York stage in 1998. The New York native crafted a memory play that explored the familial relationships among a jazz trumpeter, his alcoholic wife and their son caught in the middle. Originally produced in a small theater off-off-Broadway, the show transferred to off-Broadway and then finally to Broadway (with Christian Slater in the leading role) where it was one of the three finalists for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.