Heidi Schreck is a performer, playwright, TV writer, and producer from Wenatchee, Washington. Between ages 6-12 she played “most of the great Shakespearean comedic heroines” with children’s theatre group The Short Shakespeareans (Shulman), and she won enough high school debate competitions to completely pay for her education at the University of Oregon (Shulman).
Schreck is fluent in Russian and taught English in Serbia in 1995 (Schulman), then worked as a journalist in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1996 (Schulman; “Heidi Schreck”). She describes herself as a ‘big Russian-literature nerd’ and her 2024 translation of Uncle Vanya played at the Lincoln Center (Harms; Horton; Schulman). Schreck has taught playwriting and screenwriting at NYU, Columbia, Kenyon College, Primary Stages (“Heidi Schreck”), and Harvard (“Visiting Lecturer”). Schreck began her college education as a pre-law student, quickly changing to theatre, but not before becoming something of a “constitutional expert” (Genzlinger). She draws influence from playwright María Irene Fornés, whom she describes as her hero (Myers). Schreck lives in Brooklyn with her husband, theatre director Kip Fagan (Shulman).
Works Cited
1. Genzlinger, Neil. “Heidi Schreck’s Riveting Play Deconstructs the U.S. Constitution.” Smithsonian Magazine, Dec. 2019, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/heidi-schreck-riveting-play-deconstructs-us-constitution-180973500/. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.
2. Harms, Talaura. “‘Big Russian-Literature Nerd’: Heidi Schreck Translates Uncle Vanya for a Modern Audience.” Playbill, 7 Mar. 2024, https://playbill.com/article/big-russian-literature-nerd-heidi-schreck-translates-uncle-vanya-for-a-modern-audience. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.
3. “Heidi Schreck.” The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, https://www.blackburnprize.org/year/2019_/what-the-constitution-means-to-me/. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.
4. Horton, Adrian. “Uncle Vanya review – Steve Carell leads excellent cast in Chekhov reimagining.” The Guardian, 25 Apr. 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/apr/24/uncle-vanya-review-steve-carell. Accessed 28 Jul.2025.
5. Myers, Victoria. “The Prophet Arrived: Heidi Schreck.” The Interval, 10 Dec. 2018, https://www.theintervalny.com/interviews/2018/12/the-prophet-arrived-heidi-schreck/. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.
6. Schulman, Michael. “Heidi Schreck Takes the Constitution to Broadway.” The New Yorker, 11 Feb. 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/02/18/heidi-schreck-takes-the-constitution-to-broadway. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.
7. “Visiting Lecturer of English: Heidi Schreck.” Harvard University, https://english.fas.harvard.edu/people/heidi-schreck. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.