Rob Ackerman (playwright)

Rob Ackerman (born December 1, 1958) is a contemporary American playwright. His plays include "Tabletop," which won the 2001 Drama Desk Award for Best Ensemble Performance,"Volleygirls," which won NYMF Best in Fest, "Call Me Waldo," "Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson" (directed by Theresa Rebeck in 2019 and produced by Working Theater in New York), and "Loyalty".
Early life and education.
Ackerman was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Middlebury College, where he majored in Theater and Spanish. He earned his M.F.A. in Stage Directing at Northwestern University.
Career.
Ackerman's first success was "Tabletop", staged at the American Place Theatre in 2000. John Simon, writing for New York Magazine, called it "acidly funny" and "spot-on about the making of a T.V. commercial." Ackerman has since written "Disconnect" (2005, Working Theater, Classic Stage Company), "Icarus of Ohio" (2008, NYU Tisch School of the Arts), "Volleygirls" (2009, American Conservatory Theater), and "Call Me Waldo" (2012, Working Theater, Off Broadway and Kitchen Theater, Ithaca). His debut play, "Origin of the Species", became a movie starring Amanda Peet, Michael Kelly, and Jean Louisa Kelly, and directed by Andrés Heinz, who wrote the original screenplay that became Black Swan. Ackerman won an award for Screenwriting at the Huntington International Independent Film Festival.
Monica Raymund has been developing a musical version of "Volleygirls," under the direction of Neil Patrick Stewart with songs by Sam Forman and Eli Bolin. In 2013, it was staged as part of the New York Musical Theater Festival and won Best of Fest, Outstanding Ensemble, and Most Promising New Musical. It later received the New World Stages Development Award and was workshopped at the University of Florida and will be performed this spring at Grace Church School. Ackerman and Forman collaborated on a musical commissioned and produced by Grace Church School titled "In the Air" in 2016. Their newest screenplay is for the novel, "Speed of Life" (2017) optioned by David Nickoll.
Ackerman's work has been published by Dramatists Play Service, Smith and Kraus, Vintage Books, and Playscripts, Inc. It has been nurtured and performed at Yaddo, Flux Theatre Ensemble, Access Theatre, At Hand Theatre, and Dorset Theatre Festival. For 25 years, he has also been the property master for the Saturday Night Live Film Unit, working on such shorts as "Complicit," "Conway," "Karate Meet," and "Grouch."
Personal life.
He currently lives in Manhattan with his wife, author Carol Weston. They have two daughters, Lizzi and Emme Ackerman.