Tina Howe Biography

American playwright, born in New York, educated at Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University, and the University of Chicago. Her early one-act plays, The Nest (1969) and In Birth and After Birth (1973), were followed by Museum (1976), in which several characters wander round a museum discussing the exhibits and the role of women in the arts, a theme also explored in The Art of Dining (1979), which concerns the struggles of a young couple to operate a restaurant in New Jersey. Painting Churches (1983) is a largely autobiographical work about a female painter's relationship with her ageing parents. Coastal Disturbances (1986) is a comedy about relationships that occur on a private beach in Massachusetts' North Shore in late August; another comedy, Approaching Zanzibar (1989), centres on the Blossom family and their journey across the USA. Other plays include Appearances (1982) and Swimming (1993). Published collections of her plays include Three Plays by Tina Howe (1984) and Approaching Zanzibar: Four Plays by Tina Howe (1989).