Richard Maxwell lives and works in New York. He is a playwright, director, and the artistic director of New York City Players. He studied acting at Illinois State University and co-founded the Cook County Theater Department in Chicago. He was a Doris Duke Performing Artist and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, two OBIE Awards, and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant. He participated in the 2012 Whitney Biennial and was the subject of an exhibition at Greene Naftali, New York in 2018. Recent productions for the stage include The Vessel at Skyport Marina (2021); Queens Row at The Kitchen, New York (2020); Dévoiler at Théâtre de la Commune, Aubervilliers (2019); and Good Samaritans at Abrons Arts Center, New York (2017). The first monograph of his plays, entitled The Theater Years, was co-published by Greene Naftali and Westreich Wagner in 2017.