Torch Song Trilogy (Author Biography)

Author Biography

Harvey Fierstein was born June 6, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York. He received a fine arts degree from the Pratt Institute in 1973, but even before finishing school he had embarked on a career in theatre. After working as a female impersonator, and while still a teenager, Fierstein earned his first role as an actor in 1971. In Andy Warhol’s Pork, Fierstein played an overweight, asthmatic lesbian maid. He began writing his own plays in 1976. International Stud was written as a form of therapy after the end of a two-year romance.

Fierstein later combined the semi-autobiographical Stud with two other one-act plays, Fugue in a Nursery and Widows and Children First, to form Torch Song Trilogy, which debuted Off-Broadway in 1981. Torch Song Trilogy, which Fierstein also starred in, is the play with which he is most closely identified; it is considered his defining work. The play won a number of awards, including an Obie, two Drama Desk awards, and two Antionette “Tony” Perry Awards for best actor and best play.

Fierstein also won awards for his stage adaptation of the popular French comedy film La Cage aux folles, including Tonys for best musical and best book of a musical. His other plays include, Safe Sex and Forget Him. In 1988, Fierstein wrote the screenplay adaptation for Torch Song Trilogy and reprised his role of Arnold in the film. Fierstein has also written a television drama based on his play Tidy Endings, as well as a second television drama, Kaddish and Old Men.

In addition to writing plays, Fierstein has also gained a considerable reputation as an actor. He has appeared in many theatrical productions, including Xircus: The Private Life of Jesus Christ, The Trojan Woman, his own Safe Sex trilogy, and The Haunted Host. Films in which Fierstein has appeared include Garbo Talks, Mrs. Doubtfire, Bullets over Broadway, and Independence Day. Fierstein has received a Rockefeller Foundation Grant in Play wrighting, a Ford Foundation Grant for new American Plays, and a special Obie Award for writing and acting.

When not writing or acting, he enjoys painting, gardening, and cooking. Fierstein is also a committed activist for AIDS research and gay rights.