Alex Finlayson was an American playwright whose work found more success on the Englishstage than in the United States. After winning a Mobil Oil International Playwriting Prize, Winding the Ball was produced by The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, which also commissioned and produced Finlayson's Misfits (1996) and Tobaccoland (1999). All three plays starred American stage and film actress Lisa Eichhorn and were directed by Greg Hersov.
Finlayson's play, Misfits, was inspired by Arthur Miller's autobiography, Timebends, specifically his account of the 1961 film The Misfits as a "valentine" for his wife Marilyn Monroe. Finlayson's play Misfits portrays the film's historic box office and artistic failure as the fault of screenwriter Miller, director John Huston, and producer Frank Taylor, and not its star, Marilyn Monroe, who is most often blamed for the film disaster. Misfits received mixed reviews, with some critics attacking Finlayson for daring to put Miller onstage as a character. However, The Times proclaimed the play "riveting" and "inventive." (Arthur Miller's last play, Finishing the Picture (Goodman Theatre, Chicago 2004), presents his version of Marilyn Monroe and the making of The Misfits (film) eleven years after Finlayson’s Misfits debuted.)
Alex Finlayson was born and grew up in East Texas the daughter of an actor. She was an early protege of Julia Miles and the Women's Project. Her first play, Ladies' Side, was produced by the Source Theatre, Washington, D.C., and received a Helen Hayes nomination for Best New Play. Another early play World of Beauty won the Texas Playwrights Festival (1988)at Stages Repertory Theatre, Houston while Ted Swindley was Artistic Director.