dramatist, playwright

someone who writes plays

• Aeschylus — Greek tragedian; the father of Greek tragic drama (525-456 BC)
• Albee, Edward Albee, Edward Franklin Albeen — American dramatist (1928-)
• Anderson, Maxwell Anderson — American dramatist (1888-1959)
• Anouilh, Jean Anouilh — French dramatist noted for his reinterpretations of Greek myths (1910-1987)
• Aristophanes — an ancient Greek dramatist remembered for his comedies (448-380 BC)
• Barrie, James Barrie, J. M. Barrie, James Matthew Barrie, Sir James Matthew Barrie — Scottish dramatist and novelist; created Peter Pan (1860-1937)
• Beaumont, Francis Beaumont — English dramatist who collaborated with John Fletcher (1584-1616)
• Beckett, Samuel Beckett — a playwright and novelist (born in Ireland) who lived in France; wrote plays for the Theater of the Absurd (1906-1989)
• Brecht, Bertolt Brecht — German dramatist and poet who developed a style of epic theater (1898-1956)
• Calderon, Calderon de la Barca, Pedro Calderon de la Barca — Spanish poet and dramatist considered one of the great Spanish writers (1600-1681)
• Cervantes, Miguel de Cervantes, Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra — Spanish writer best remembered for `Don Quixote' which satirizes chivalry and influenced the development of the novel form (1547-1616)
• Chekhov, Chekov, Anton Chekhov, Anton Chekov, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich Chekov — Russian dramatist whose plays are concerned with the difficulty of communication between people (1860-1904)
• Corneille, Pierre Corneille — French tragic dramatist whose plays treat grand moral themes in elegant verse (1606-1684)
• Coward, Noel Coward, Sir Noel Pierce Coward — English dramatist and actor and composer noted for his witty and sophisticated comedies (1899-1973)
• Crouse, Russel Crouse — United States playwright (1893-1966)
• Dekker, Decker, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Decker — English dramatist and pamphleteer (1572-1632)
• Dryden, John Dryden — the outstanding poet and dramatist of the Restoration (1631-1700)
• Eliot, T. S. Eliot, Thomas Stearns Eliot — British poet (born in the United States) who won the Nobel prize for literature; his plays are outstanding examples of modern verse drama (1888-1965)
• Euripides — one of the greatest tragic dramatists of ancient Greece (480-406 BC)
• Fletcher, John Fletcher — prolific English dramatist who collaborated with Francis Beaumont and many other dramatists (1579-1625)
• Fry, Christopher Fry — English dramatist noted for his comic verse dramas (born 1907)
• Garcia Lorca, Frederico Garcia Lorca, Lorca — Spanish poet and dramatist who was shot dead by Franco's soldiers soon after the start of the Spanish Civil War (1898-1936)
• Genet, Jean Genet — French writer of novels and dramas for the theater of the absurd (1910-1986)
• Giraudoux, Jean Giraudoux, Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux — French novelist and dramatist whose plays were reinterpretations of Greek myths (1882-1944)
• Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — German poet and novelist and dramatist who lived in Weimar (1749-1832)
• Goldoni, Carlo Goldoni — prolific Italian dramatist (1707-1793)
• Granville-Barker, Harley Granville-Barker — English actor and dramatist and critic and director noted for his productions of Shakespearean plays (1877-1946)
• Hart, Moss Hart — United States playwright who collaborated with George S. Kaufman (1904-1961)
• Havel, Vaclav Havel — Czech dramatist and statesman whose plays opposed totalitarianism and who served as president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and president of the Czech Republic since 1993 (born in 1936)
• Hebbel, Friedrich Hebbel, Christian Friedrich Hebbel — German dramatist (1813-1863)
• Hellman, Lillian Hellman — United States playwright; her plays were often indictments of injustice (1905-1984)
• Hugo, Victor Hugo, Victor-Marie Hugo — French poet and novelist and dramatist; leader of the romantic movement in France (1802-1885)
• Ibsen, Henrik Ibsen — realistic Norwegian author who wrote plays on social and political themes (1828-1906)
• Inge, William Inge — United States playwright (1913-1973)
• Ionesco, Eugene Ionesco — French dramatist (born in Romania) who was a leading exponent of the theater of the absurd (1912-1994)
• Jonson, Ben Jonson, Benjamin Jonson — English dramatist and poet who was the first real poet laureate of England (1572-1637)
• Kaufman, George S. Kaufman, George Simon Kaufman — United States playwright who collaborated with many other writers including Moss Hart (1889-1961)
• Kleist, Heinrich von Kleist, Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist — German dramatist whose works concern people torn between reason and emotion (1777-1811)
• Kyd, Kid, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Kid — English dramatist (1558-1594)
• Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing — German playwright and leader of the Enlightenment (1729-1781)
• Lindsay, Howard Lindsay — United States playwright who collaborated with Russel Crouse on several musicals (1889-1931)
• Luce, Clare Booth Luce — United States playwright and public official (1902-1987)
• Maeterlinck, Count Maurice Maeterlinck — Belgian playwright (1862-1949)
• Mamet, David Mamet — United States playwright (born in 1947)
• Marlowe, Christopher Marlowe — English poet and playwright who introduced blank verse as a form of dramatic expression; was stabbed to death in a tavern brawl (1564-1593)
• Marstan, John Marstan — English playwright (1575-1634)
• Menander — comic dramatist of ancient Greece (342-292 BC)
• Middleton, Thomas Middleton — English playwright and pamphleteer (1570-1627)
• Miller, Arthur Miller — United States playwright (born 1915)
• Moliere, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin — French author of sophisticated comedies (1622-1673)
• Molnar, Ferenc Molnar — Hungarian playwright (1878-1952)
• O'Casey, Sean O'Casey — Irish playwright (1880-1964)
• Odets, Clifford Odets — United States playwright (1906-1963)
• O'Neill, Eugene O'Neill, Eugene Gladstone O'Neill — United States playwright (1888-1953)
• Osborne, John Osborne, John James Osborne — English playwright (1929-1994)
• Pinter, Harold Pinter — English dramatist whose plays are characterized by silences and the use of inaction (born in 1930)
• Pirandello, Luigi Pirandello — Italian novelist and playwright (1867-1936)
• Plautus, Titus Maccius Plautus — comic dramatist of ancient Rome (253?-184 BC)
• Racine, Jean Racine, Jean Baptiste Racine — French tragedian who based his works on Greek and Roman themes (1639-1699)
• Rattigan, Terence Rattigan, Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan — British playwright (1911-1977)
• Rice, Elmer Rice, Elmer Leopold Rice, Elmer Reizenstein — United States playwright (1892-1967)
• Robinson, Lennox Robinson, Esme Stuart Lennox Robinson — Irish playwright and theater manager in Dublin (1886-1958)
• Rostand, Edmond Rostand — French dramatist and poet (1868-1918)
• Sartre, Jean-Paul Sartre — French writer and existentialist philosopher (1905-1980)
• Scribe, Augustin Eugene Scribe — French playwright (1791-1861)
• Seneca, Lucius Annaeus Seneca — Roman statesman and philosopher who was an advisor to Nero; his nine extant tragedies are modeled on Greek tragedies (circa 4 BC - 65 AD)
• Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, Shakspere, William Shakspere, the bard — English poet and dramatist considered one of the greatest English writers (1564-1616)
• Shaw, G. B. Shaw, George Bernard Shaw — British playwright (born in Ireland); founder of the Fabian Society (1856-1950)
• Shepard, Sam Shepard — United States author of surrealistic allegorical plays (born in 1943)
• Sheridan, Richard Brinsley Sheridan — Irish playwright remembered for his satirical comedies of manners (1751-1816)
• Sherwood, Robert Emmet Sherwood — United States playwright (1896-1955)
• Simon, Neil Simon, Marvin Neil Simon — United States playwright noted for light comedies (born in 1927)
• Sophocles — one of the great tragedians of ancient Greece (496-406 BC)
• Stoppard, Tom Stoppard, Sir Tom Stoppard, Thomas Straussler — British dramatist (born in Czechoslovakia in 1937)
• Strindberg, August Strindberg, Johan August Strindberg — Swedish dramatist and novelist (1849-1912)
• Synge, J. M. Synge, John Millington Synge, Edmund John Millington Synge — Irish poet and playwright whose plays are based on rural Irish life (1871-1909)
• Terence, Publius Terentius Afer — dramatist of ancient Rome (born in Greece) whose comedies were based on works by Menander (190?-159 BC)
• Tirso de Molina, Gabriel Tellez — Spanish dramatist who wrote the first dramatic treatment of the legend of Don Juan (1571-1648)
• Ustinov, Sir Peter Ustinov, Peter Alexander Ustinov — British actor and playwright (born in 1921)
• Vega, Lope de Vega, Lope Felix de Vega Carpio — prolific Spanish playwright (1562-1635)
• Webster, John Webster — English playwright (1580-1625)
• Wilder, Thornton Wilder, Thornton Niven Wilder — United States writer and dramatist (1897-1975)
• Williams, Tennessee Williams, Thomas Lanier Williams — United States playwright (1911-1983)
• Wycherley, William Wycherley — English playwright noted for his humorous and satirical plays (1640-1716)
• Yeats, William Butler Yeats, W. B. Yeats — Irish poet and dramatist (1865-1939)

• writer, author — writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)