List of playwrights from the United States

Notable playwrights from the United States include:

18th century
• Hugh Henry Brackenridge

• William Dunlap

• Robert Hunter

• Royall Tyler

• Mercy Otis Warren

19th century
• George Aiken

• Nathaniel Bannister

• James Nelson Barker

• David Belasco

• Eva Best

• Robert Montgomery Bird

• George H. Boker

• Dion Boucicault

• John Brougham

• William Wells Brown

• Bob Cole

• Robert T. Conrad

• Augustin Daly

• Clyde Fitch

• Edward Harrigan

• Grace Hayward

• James A. Herne

• Bronson Howard

• William Dean Howells

• Charles H. Hoyt

• Henry James

• Cornelius Ambrosius Logan

• Steele MacKaye

• Frederick G. Maeder

• Fred Marsden

• Cornelius Mathews

• Langdon Elwyn Mitchell

• Anna Cora Mowatt

• John Neal

• John Howard Payne

• Cora Scott Pond Pope

• Robert E. Sherwood

• Harry B. Smith

• Samuel Woodworth

• William Young

20th century
• Zoe Akins

• Edward Albee

• Eva Allen Alberti

• Woody Allen

• Franco Ambriz

• Jane Anderson

• Maxwell Anderson

• Robert Woodruff Anderson

• Maya Angelou

• Jacob M. Appel

• Ray Aranha

• Larry Atlas

• David Auburn

• Jon Robin Baitz

• Amiri Baraka

• Philip Barry

• Todd Bash

• Jonathan Bayliss

• Douglas Carter Beane

• Jim Beaver

• David Belasco

• Stephen Belber

• Ruth Bellamy

• S. N. Behrman

• David Berry

• Leo Birinski

• Lee Blessing

• Marc Blitzstein

• Eric Bogosian

• Neith Boyce

• Kent Broadhurst

• Eve Brodlique

• Jason Robert Brown

• Ed Bullins

• Percy Jewett Burrell

• Mary P. Burrill

• Abe Burrows

• Sheila Callaghan

• Steve Carter

• Linda Chambers

• Paddy Chayefsky

• Alice Childress

• Frank Chin

• Donald L. Coburn

• George M. Cohan

• Betty Comden

• Constance Congdon

• Marc Connelly

• Kia Corthron

• Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas

• Michael Cristofer

• Rachel Crothers

• Nilo Cruz

• Lisa D'Amour

• Ossie Davis

• Floyd Dell

• John Dempsey

• Steven Dietz

• Owen Dodson

• Tom Donaghy

• Richard Dresser

• John Van Druten

• Paul Laurence Dunbar

• Christopher Durang

• Fred Ebb

• Erik Ehn

• T. S. Eliot

• Will Eno

• Don Evans

• Charles Evered

• Tom Eyen

• Jules Feiffer

• Edna Ferber

• Harvey Fierstein

• Clyde Fitch

• Horton Foote

• María Irene Fornés

• Paul Foster

• Amy Freed

• Ketti Frings

• Charles Fuller

• George Furth

• Herb Gardner

• Jack Gelber

• Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros

• Alice Gerstenberg

• William Gibson

• D. B. Gilles

• Susan Glaspell

• Andrew Glaze

• Ruth Goetz

• James Goldman

• Frances Goodrich

• Ain Gordon

• Ed Graczyk

• Adolph Green

• Paul Eliot Green

• Richard Greenberg

• Frances Nimmo Greene

• Elana Greenfield

• David Greenspan

• David Grimm

• Rinne Groff

• John Guare

• A. R. Gurney

• Albert Hackett

• Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

• Oscar Hammerstein II

• Stoo Hample

• Lorraine Hansberry

• Sheldon Harnick

• Moss Hart

• Jeffrey Hatcher

• Marcia Haufrecht

• Joseph Hayes

• Ben Hecht

• Lillian Hellman

• Beth Henley

• George Herman

• Hilly Hicks Jr.

• David Hirson

• William M. Hoffman

• Linda Hogan

• Michael Hollinger

• Israel Horovitz

• Rupert Holmes

• Sidney Howard

• Tina Howe

• Babette Hughes

• Langston Hughes

• David Henry Hwang

• Naomi Iizuka

• William Inge

• Albert Innaurato

• David Ives

• Luigi Jannuzzi

• Arthur M. Jolly

• Preston Jones

• Marc Bamuthi Joseph

• Garson Kanin

• George S. Kaufman

• Moisés Kaufman

• Adrienne Kennedy

• Charles Rann Kennedy

• Stanley Keyes

• Sidney Kingsley

• James Kirkwood Jr.

• Kevin Kling

• Harry Kondoleon

• Arthur Kopit

• Greg Kotis

• Lisa Kron

• Larry Kramer

• Sherry Kramer

• Tony Kushner

• Neil LaBute

• Tina Landau

• Mary Lewis Langworthy

• James Lapine

• Jonathan Larson

• Arthur Laurents

• Jerome Lawrence

• Robert E. Lee

• Warren Leight

• Alan Jay Lerner

• Ira Levin

• David Lindsay-Abaire

• Romulus Linney

• Kenneth Lonergan

• Craig Lucas

• Clare Boothe Luce

• William Luce

• Ken Ludwig

• Charles MacArthur

• Eduardo Machado

• Percy MacKaye

• Archibald MacLeish

• David Mamet

• Emily Mann

• Deb Margolin

• Donald Margulies

• Melanie Marnich

• Jane Martin

• Joe Masteroff

• William Mastrosimone

• Ellen McLaughlin

• James McLure

• Scott McMorrow

• Terrence McNally

• Scott McPherson

• Mark Medoff

• Charles L. Mee

• Leonard Melfi

• Charles Mergendahl

• Marlane Meyer

• George Middleton

• Arthur Miller

• Jason Miller

• Susan Miller

• John Cameron Mitchell

• Langdon Mitchell

• Philip Moeller

• Cherríe Moraga

• Tad Mosel

• Itamar Moses

• Brighde Mullins

• Phyllis Nagy

• N. Richard Nash

• Josefina Niggli

• Marsha Norman

• Bruce Norris

• Lynn Nottage

• Elliott Nugent

• Joyce Carol Oates

• Clifford Odets

• Eugene O'Neill

• Han Ong

• Dael Orlandersmith

• Paul Osborn

• Eric Overmyer

• Rochelle Owens

• William Packard

• Steven Christopher Parker

• Suzan-Lori Parks

• John Patrick

• John Pielmeier

• Miguel Piñero

• David Pinski

• Bernard Pomerance

• Gordon Porterfield

• Craig Pospisil

• Reinaldo Povod

• Toni Press-Coffman

• David Rabe

• Ayn Rand

• Theresa Rebeck

• Keith Reddin

• Ronald Ribman

• Elmer Rice

• Willis Richardson

• Lynn Riggs

• Lawrence Riley

• José Rivera

• Paul Rudnick

• Mildred Ruiz-Sapp

• Isabella Russell-Ides

• Peter Sagal

• Stephen Sachs

• Steven Sapp

• William Saroyan

• Saïd Sayrafiezadeh

• Robert Schenkkan

• Murray Schisgal

• John Schneider

• Sarah Schulman

• Sandra Seaton

• Ntozake Shange

• John Patrick Shanley

• Wallace Shawn

• John Shea

• Claudia Shear

• Edward Sheldon

• Jane Shepard

• Sam Shepard

• Martin Sherman

• Robert B. Sherman

• Robert E. Sherwood

• Christopher Shinn

• Dora Adele Shoemaker

• Del Shores

• Larry Shue

• Nicky Silver

• Neil Simon

• Eric Simonson

• Anna Deavere Smith

• Evan Smith

• Harry B. Smith

• Stephen Sondheim

• Aaron Sorkin

• Jeffrey Stanley

• Wilbur Daniel Steele

• Joseph Stein

• Jean Anderson Sterrett

• Donald Ogden Stewart

• Kelly Stuart

• Jeffrey Sweet

• Jo Swerling

• Megan Terry

• Ernest Thompson

• James Thurber

• Lucy Thurber

• Sophie Treadwell

• Grace Hyde Trine

• Alfred Uhry

• Luis Valdez

• Gore Vidal

• Paula Vogel

• John Walch

• Ian Walker

• Naomi Wallace

• Eugene Walter

• Douglas Turner Ward

• Anne Washburn

• Dale Wasserman

• Wendy Wasserstein

• John Weidman

• George Weller

• Mac Wellman

• Marion Craig Wentworth

• Mae West

• Percival Wilde

• Thornton Wilder

• John Willard

• Samm-Art Williams

• Tennessee Williams

• Beau Willimon

• August Wilson

• Lanford Wilson

• Meredith Willson

• Tracey Scott Wilson

• David Wiltse

• Lee Wochner

• George C. Wolfe

• Elizabeth Wong

• Doug Wright

• Chay Yew

• Mary Zimmerman

• Miriam Shomer Zunser

21st century
• David Adjmi

• Annie Baker

• Ayad Akhtar

• Stephen Belber

• Brooke Berman

• Adam Bock

• Thomas Bradshaw

• George Brant

• Gamal Abdel Chasten

• Vicki Caroline Cheatwood

• John Clancy

• Cusi Cram

• Rick Elice

• Will Eno

• Larissa Fasthorse

• Melissa James Gibson

• Rebecca Gilman

• Gina Gionfriddo

• Stephen Adly Guirgis

• Danai Gurira

• Katori Hall

• Joshua Harmon (playwright)

• Whit Hertford

• Amy Herzog

• Lucas Hnath

• CJ Hopkins

• Samuel D. Hunter

• Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

• Julia Jordan

• Rajiv Joseph

• Aditi Kapil

• Stephen Karam

• Zoe Kazan

• Young Jean Lee

• Tracy Letts

• Simon Levy

• Kirk Lynn

• Taylor Mac

• Mona Mansour

• Melanie Marnich

• Richard Maxwell

• Tarell Alvin McCraney

• Lin-Manuel Miranda

• Meg Miroshnik

• Anthony Mora

• Janet Noble

• Bruce Norris

• Dan O'Brien

• Dael Orlandersmith

• Trey Parker

• Laura Pedersen

• David Rambo

• Adam Rapp

• Bert V. Royal

• Sarah Ruhl

• William Ruiz

• Carl Hancock Rux

• Regina Taylor

• Alice Tuan

• Marisa Wegrzyn

• Leah Nanako Winkler

• Craig Wright

• Quiara Alegría Hudes