Elizabeth Searle is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright and screenwriter. She is the author of five books of fiction and a rock opera, and she is co-writer of "I'll Show You Mine," a feature film from Duplass Brothers Productions and that was released by Gravitas Ventures in 2023 in select theaters in NYC, LA and more and widely via VOD on AmazonPrime, AppleTV, Comcast OnDemand, Vudu and more. The film which Elizabeth co-wrote with David Shields and Tiffany Louquet, is directed by Megan Griffiths and stars Poorna Jagannathan and Casey Thomas Brown. It received positive reviews in the New York Times and more, as well as national media coverage in VARIETY and more. Elizabeth has several other film projects in development. Her theater work TONYA & NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA (see below) has been performed around the country. Both I'LL SHOW YOU MINE and TONYA & NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA have received national media attention.
Searle's novel "A Four-Sided Bed" is currently being developed as a feature film. A short film based on the novel, 'Four-Sided,' screened 2019-2023 in festivals in Cannes, Boston, Chicago, Madrid, Paris, Tokyo and more. Her most recent novel is 'We Got Him' (New Rivers Press) which was released in AudioBook in 2018.
She is the creator and playwright for 'Tonya & Nancy: the Rock Opera' (music by Michael Teoli) which most recently was produced in February 2020 in an award-winning TheatreZone production starring Broadway great Andrea McArdle (the original ANNIE). It was produced in NYC as a sold-out Full Production show at the New York Musical Festival (NYMF). Producer Paul Boghosian/Harborside Films has produced the show multiple times. The 2020 production won four Broadway World Regional Theater awards. A Tonya & Nancy concert at 54Below, featuring Broadway performers, was recorded as a CD from Broadway Records and produced as a concert film, available in 2021. The show has had full productions in NYC (at NYMF), in Chicago, LA, Portland Oregon, suburban Dallas and Boston at the ART's Club Oberon Theater.
Searle's novel 'Girl Held in Home' was selected for New Rivers Press American Fiction Series. 'A Four Sided Bed' was nominated for an ALA award and various Editor's Choice awards. Her short story collection My Body to You won the Iowa Short Fiction Prize (James Salter, judge) and Celebrities in Disgracewas a finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize. 'Celebrities in Disgrace' was produced as a short film that screened at various festivals. Searle's one act play, 'Stolen Girl Song' was produced at the Act One One Act Play festival in NY in 2019. Searle wrote the libretto for Tonya and Nancy:The Opera," produced in 2006, 2010, 2014 and in Minneapolis in 2018.
Searle's theater works and the Feature Film I'LL SHOW YOU MINE have drawn national media attention.Early life Searle was born in Penn Wynne, Pennsylvania. Her father Bill was a Democratic Party activist and worked at GE and other companies; Barbara, her mother, was a public school teacher and children's librarian. She has a younger sister, Kate, who works at MIT and Bill, her older brother, is a videographer. Her family moved during her childhood from PA to SC to KY to AZ.
Education
Searle received a B.A. from Oberlin College and her Master's degree from Brown University. She was a special education teacher and taught students with autism in schools located in New Haven, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island.
Career
In 1982, Searle's short story, "Missing LaDonna", appeared in Redbook. This was followed by stories placed in the South Carolina Review, the Indiana Review, The Greensboro Review, the Kenyon Review, Ploughshares and other journals. In 1993 her first book, My Body To You, was published. In 1992, it had been named winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award by the Iowa Writers Workshop. James Salter, a novelist and screenwriter, who wrote The Hunters, Downhill Racer, The Appointment and others, acted as judge.A Four Sided Bed, Searle's first novel, was published by Graywolf Press in 1998 and received positive reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Booklist. Her novel A Four-Sided Bed was nominated for an ALA book award and was sited as an Editor's Choice by Booklist, Amazon and more. The book is now being developed as a Feature Film.
"We Got Him" was a Finalist for the Midwest Book Award and was published by New Rivers Press in 2016 and was released in AudioBook in 2018 by BlunderWoman Productions. "Girl Held in Home" was also published by New Rivers Press, selected for the American Fiction Series.
