Children of a Lesser God (Author Biography)

Author Biography

Mark Howard Medoff was born in Mount Carmel, Illinois, on March 18, 1940. His father, Lawrence, was a physician, and his mother, Thelma, a psychologist. He earned a B.A. in 1962 from the University of Miami, and an M.A. in English from Stanford in 1966. Medoff has held a number of academic appointments at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, including the position of dramatist-in-residence and chair of the theater arts department. He and his wife, Stephanie, have three daughters.

Medoff has received several awards and honors for his work. In 1974, he won a Guggenheim fellowship in playwriting. He received the Outer Critics Circle Award in 1974 for When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder? and again in 1980 for Children of a Lesser God. Also in 1980 Medoff won the Tony Award for Children of a Lesser God; in 1987 he earned an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay based on the stage play. Gallaudet College, the only liberal arts college for the deaf in the world, recognized Medoff’s achievement for Children of a Lesser God with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in 1981.