Graff, Laurie

PERSONAL:

Female.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. E-mail—laurie@lauriegraff.com.

CAREER:

Actor, playwright, and writer.

Actor in Grease, both Broadway and national tour; Laughter on the 23rd Floor, by Neil Simon, national tour; In the Boom Boom Room, by David Rabe, off-Broadway; The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Arkansas Repertory Theatre; Nunsense, Boston, MA, production; performed a one-woman show based on her novel, Shiksa Syndrome, at the WorkShop Theater Company. Appears as herself in Mr. Right, Dutch filmmaker Dree Andrea's documentary on dating in New York, NY; also has appeared in numerous commercials and advertisements, including the print advertisement campaign for General Electric titled "GE Marries IQ."

MEMBER:

WorkShop Theater Company.

WRITINGS:

You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs, Red Dress Ink (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2004.

Looking for Mr. Goodfrog, Red Dress Ink (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

The Shiksa Syndrome, Broadway Books (New York, NY), 2008.

Charlie & Flo (one-act play), produced by the Work-Shop Theater Company and PSNBC (New York, NY), 2008.

(Author of preface) Marjorie Hillis, Live Alone and Like It: The Classic Guide for the Single Woman, 5 Spot, 2008.

Author of the Laurie Graff Web log. Plays anthologized in The Best Men's Stage Monologues of 1999, edited by Jocelyn A. Beard, Smith and Kraus, 2001; and New Monologues for Women by Women, by Tori Haring-Smith and Liz Engelman, Heinemann Drama, 2004. Contributor to books, including Scenes from a Holiday (novella), Red Dress Ink, 2005; and It's a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths about Life in Your Twenties, edited by Emily Franklin, 5 Spot, 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Laurie Graff is an actor, playwright, and writer. Over the course of her acting career, she has performed in a number of plays and musicals, including Grease on Broadway and with its national tour, the national tour of Laughter on the 23rd Floor by Neil Simon, and in an off-Broadway production of In the Boom Boom Room by David Rabe. She has also performed with Arkansas Repertory Theatre in The Last Night of Ballyhoo, and in a production of Nunsense in Boston, Massachusetts. As a writer, she has produced several plays, two of which have been anthologized in The Best Men's Stage Monologues of 1999 and New Monologues for Women by Women. She has performed an excerpt from her work, The Shiksa Syndrome, at the WorkShop Theater Company. Graff is the author of several books, including You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs, Looking for Mr. Goodfrog, and the aforementioned The Shiksa Syndrome.

You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs, Graff's debut novel, was well received by readers, appeared on several bestseller lists and garnered positive reviews. The book, although fiction, does owe much to Graff's life. It recounts the story of Karrie Kline, a forty-five-year-old struggling actress who begins to wonder why she is still single and without children. Karrie never had much trouble finding men to date or be friendly with, but in reality, she seems to specialize in bad dates and even worse relationships. After so many years and so many men, she wonders if she actually missed the chance to find her Prince Charming. She asks herself if one of the men she dated and rejected was actually her true love. Over the course of the novel, readers are given the stories that go with the different men who have been part of Karrie's life, including a successful television actor who acted—quite literally—like an animal, and the cab driver who scares Karrie when he assumes her casual chatter is actually flirtation. Kristine Huntley, in a review for Booklist, remarked that "Graff's smart and funny novel shows just how hard finding the right [partner] can be."

In Looking for Mr. Goodfrog, Karrie Kline returns for more adventures. She follows her own advice regarding the necessity of "kissing some frogs" before finding her Prince Charming. Once again, the reader follows Karrie as she goes on a number of hopeless dates. Fortunately in this volume, though, Karrie seems to be somewhat lucky in love and her acting career. Shannon Bigham, in a review for the BookLoons Web site remarked: "Karrie is a great narrator and a good person, and readers will be interested to see where life takes her in Looking for Mr. Goodfrog."

In The Shiksa Syndrome, Jewish publicist Aimee Albert lost her true love, Sam, during the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Several years later, she has recently broken up with her latest boyfriend, gentile Peter McKnight, and has decided she wants to meet a nice Jewish man to settle down with and start a family. Aimee believes that most Jewish men, or at least the type she wants to attract, are primarily interested in non-Jewish women, known in Yiddish as "shiksas." She sets out to change her personality, loses weight, and dyes her hair a vibrant red color. After this "makeover," Aimee's gentile coworker Krista Dowd brings her to a Jewish singles event, where she meets Josh Hirsch, a Jewish businessman who only dates shiksas. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly commented that "Aimee soon discovers how lies can escalate into self-destruction and self-enlightenment."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2004, Kristine Huntley, review of You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs, p. 836; November 15, 2005, Kristine Huntley, review of Scenes from a Holiday, p. 31; April 1, 2006, Kristine Huntley, review of Looking for Mr. Goodfrog, p. 26.

Publishers Weekly, December 15, 2003, review of You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs, p. 40; June 16, 2008, review of The Shiksa Syndrome, p. 29.

Shape, June 1, 2004, Dinah Erasmus, review of You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs, p. 32.

ONLINE

BookLoons,http://www.bookloons.com/ (August 20, 2008), Shannon Bigham, review of Looking for Mr. Goodfrog.

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (April 14, 2006), author profile and interview.

eHarlequin Web site,http://www.eHarlequin.com/ (August 20, 2008), author profile.

Laurie Graff Home Page,http://www.lauriegraff.com (August 20, 2008).

Lukeford Web site,http://www.lukeford.net/ (August 20, 2008), "Chick Lit Gal Laurie Graff," author interview.

Romantic Times Online,http://romantictimes.com/ (August 20, 2008), Samantha Gust, review of You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs; Debra LiCausi, review of Looking for Mr. Goodfrog.