Warren Manzi

Playwright

Warren Manzi, author of the longest running play in NYC history, Perfect Crime, died on February 11, 2016 in Lawrence Massachusetts after a brief illness. Born in Lawrence Massachusetts in 1955, Manzi was a playwright, actor and director. In 1980, while playing Mozart on Broadway in Amadeus, Warren Manzi wrote his first full-length play, Perfect Crime. The play was optioned for Broadway by Morton Gottlied making Warren - then, age twenty-five - the youngest American ever to have a play optioned for Broadway. Within a year, Mr. Manzi was hired by Universal Studios to write the screenplay for Clue, and was paid what was believed to be then (1981) the largest amount ever paid for a first screenplay.

Perfect Crime has played Off-Broadway since April 18, 1987. In addition, Manzi wrote and directed Cleo Liberman’s All Girl Review, The Award and Other Plays, and Stages, all of which have been produced in New York.

When it first opened in April of 1987, Perfect Crime ran over two and a half hours. Manzi would frequently sit in the theater and listen to audience response and rewrite almost every night for several years, correcting confusing passages, editing unnecessary information and making the show tighter. Actors would get rewrites sometimes daily – even occasionally at intermission. The play now runs one hour and fifty minutes and until the day he died, Manzi checked on the running time of scenes to make sure the actors were keeping up the pace.

The show has a reputation for being confusing but fans often congregate in the lobby exchanging ideas about clues and then checking to see if they are correct with the “Perfect Crime Answer Key” handed out after the show to interested audience members.

In addition, Mr. Manzi directed Matt Cutugno's Incommunicado, Three Sisters, the world premieres of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s Between Time and Timbuktu and Samm-Art Williams' Cork, and George Kaiser's From Morning to Midnight, Keith Reddin's Rum & Coke, Heathcote Williams' The Local Stigmatic, and Durrenmatt's The Visit.

Manzi was a 1980 graduate of the Yale School of Drama. He appeared on Broadway in Amadeus and in the films Nuts, The Manhattan Project, and The Defection of Simas Kurdika. He was the Artistic Director of the Actors Collective for many years. When he died he was working on a novel and several short stories.

In Memoriam

Below are some kind thoughts from those that knew him.

MICHAEL WELLER: True story: we auditioned Manzi to play a lead long ago, and finally offered him the role. He thought it over and finally turned us down because, he explained, "He was almost finished writing a play that will run forever." Chris Cooper finally played the role. And Manzi's play has been running ever since. (My play closed in 2 weeks!)

JIM FARRELL: I auditioned for Warren Manzi in 1988. I had been in NYC for about two years (fresh out of college) and hadn't had much luck yet. I remember seeing an ad in Show Business (remember that paper?) for the Actors Collective production of From Morning to Midnight, and it said they were looking for 10 men. I thought, "Hey, if they're really looking for ten men - maybe I've got a shot." Long story short - Warren cast me and I did many shows with the Actors Collective as a result of that audition including three years as Inspector Ascher in Perfect Crime. I probably wouldn't have much of a NY career if it weren't for Warren and Cathy (and of course Clementine). I am grateful for their faith in me.
But what I remember most about Warren was playing tennis with him on the clay courts in Riverside Park. Warren always wanted to play two or three hours of tennis and then go get chili. Warren was VERY competitive - but so gracious if he lost. I thought it was so funny that he would smoke his Kool's between sets. So, we got to know each other - through Perfect Crime and tennis and chili. Once you were in his circle of friends, you were in for life. We hadn't been in touch for years, but when I heard of his passing I had a unexpected emotional reaction. I thought of those early years in NYC, doing all of those plays, playing tennis for hours and hours and then rushing to do the evening show of Perfect Crime. It was a formative period in my life, and I look forward to the time when we can hit the clay again and play a few sets. He better work on his serve. Thanks, Warren, for everything.