MJ Kaufman

MJ Kaufman is an American playwright and academic, who is Head of Playwriting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Their plays often deal with themes relating to transgender relationships or queer perspectives, including Sagittarius Ponderosa, Seven Deadly Sins and Galatea or Whatever You Be. Based on Amazon Prime's Transparent, Kaufman also co-wrote A Transparent Musical. They have been the recipient of a Helen Merrill Emerging Writers Award and the Jane Chambers Prize in Feminist Theatre.

Career Kaufman was educated at Wesleyan University and Yale School of Drama. It is inspired by the relationship between a transgender grandparent and their trans grandchild, as well as medieval chronicles and Joan of Arc. The play was noted for its multi-sensory production, including the audience inhaling the scent of Ponderosa pine. Premiering at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco in February 2016, the San Francisco Examiner reviewed Kaufman's writing as having a "gift for dialogue but fall[ing] short of offering a distinct point of view". This sentiment was echoed by the New York Times who praised the production and sound design, but felt the characterisation was "flat".

Sensitive Guys was also developed in 2016 and is a play that addresses toxic masculinity and rape culture on university campuses. It debuted in 2018 at InterAct Theatre. In 2018 they were interviewed by the New York Times with Basil Kreimendahl and Jess Barbagallo to discuss what it means to be transgender and a playwright. All three expressed frustration with the limitations societally imposed and the expectation that a "trans play" is only likely to be a coming-out play.

In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaufman was one of seven writers who contributed short plays to the production Seven Deadly Sins. This was an outdoor performance where each play was performed in an empty shopfront in the Meatpacking District of New York. Audience members used headsets to hear the sound and dialogue. Each writer responded to a different deadly sin: Kaufman's was pride.

Also in 2021, Kaufman's Galatea or Whatever You Be, a genderqueer translation of Gallathea by John Lyly, was debuted. Described as a "trans love story set against the backdrop of a climate crisis", the work was directed by Mo Zhou. Kaufman was explicit about sexual politics in the play, portraying "Diana and her nymphs a ‘lesbian separatist commune’". Based on Amazon Prime's Transparent, A Transparent Musical was co-written by Kaufman with Joey Soloway and Faith Soloway. It was debuted in 2023 by the Center Theatre Group.

As of 2026 Kaufman is Head of Playwriting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Personal life Kaufman is originally from Portland; they are transgender.

Awards

2010: Jane Chambers Prize in Feminist Theatre 2013: ASCAP Cole Porter Prize in Playwriting 2017: Helen Merrill Emerging Writers Award

Selected works

Eat And You Belong To Us (2016) Sensitive Guys (2016) Sagittarius Ponderosa (2016) Galatea or Whatever You Be (2021) 'Wild Pride' in Seven Deadly Sins (2021) A Transparent Musical (2023) A Walrus in the Body of a Crocodile (2024)