Geneseo alumna Molly Smith Metzler ’00, playwright, screenwriter and TV writer, will deliver the keynote address for Geneseo’s two commencement ceremonies on May 13 in the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena. Metzler received Geneseo’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2012.
Her plays, which include “Cry it Out,” “Elemeno Pea,” “The May Queen,” “Carve,” “Training Wisteria” and “Close Up Space,” have been produced across the country, in theaters such as Manhattan Theatre Club, Actors Theatre of Louisville, South Coast Repertory, The O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, Chautauqua Theater Company, Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, and many more.
Metzler has numerous professional awards to her credit, including the Lecomte du Nouy Prize from Lincoln Center, the National Student Playwriting Award from The Kennedy Center, the Association for Theatre in Higher Education's David Mark Cohen Award, and the Mark Twain Comedy Prize. She is under commission at Manhattan Theatre Club and South Coast Repertory.
In television, Metzler has written for “Codes of Conduct” (HBO), “Casual” (Hulu), and “Orange Is the New Black” (Netflix). She is also a screenwriter and is currently adapting Ali Benjamin’s award-winning novel “The Thing About Jellyfish” into a feature film for OddLot and Pacific Standard (actress Reese Witherspoon's company).
Metzler, an English major at Geneseo, also is a graduate of the Juilliard School and holds a master's degree from Boston University. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.
Honorary degree recipients and the speaker for Geneseo’s graduate ceremony will be announced soon.