Joan Ackermann, a contemporary American playwright, is one of the freshest voices in modern theater, so much so that one of her most recent plays has already been filmed and released as a major motion picture. Off the Map has won acclaim not only on stage, but also as a film directed by Campbell Scott. The movie starred Joan Allen and Sam Elliott, was screened in competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, and then received a limited release around the country in 2004.

Ackermann is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of Mixed Company theatre in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The company has been in existence for 23 years. Ackermann is a prolific playwright and, in addition to Off the Map, her many works include Zara Spook and Other Lures (1990), Bed and Breakfast, Rescuing Greenland, and Isabella: a Young Physician's Primer on the Perils of Love. Isabella: a Young...