Lindsay-Abaire had his first theatrical success with Fuddy Meers, which was workshopped as part of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in 1998 under Artistic Director Lloyd Richards. The play premiered Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club, running from November 2, 1999 to January 2000 and transferred to the Minetta Lane Theatre on January 27, 2000, closing in April 2000 after 16 previews and 78 performances there. He returned to the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2001 with Wonder of the World, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, about a wife who suddenly leaves her husband and hops a bus to Niagara Falls in search of freedom, enlightenment, and the meaning of life. Lindsay-Abaire also wrote Kimberly Akimbo, Dotting and Dashing, Snow Angel, and A Devil Inside. Among his early short plays, he wrote The Li'l Plays which are five comedic plays, each 10–15 minutes in length. His play Rabbit Hole premiered in 2006 on Broadway with Cynthia Nixon, Tyne Daly, and John Slattery, and won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play, as well as other Tony awards, and Cynthia Nixon won the 2006 Tony Award as Best Actress. He wrote the book for the musicalHigh Fidelity, which ran on Broadway in December 2006. He wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Shrek the Musical which ran on Broadway from November 8, 2008 to January 3, 2010, with Lindsay-Abaire receiving a 2009 Tony Award nomination for Book of a Musical and in the West End in May 2011. The musical ran for 441 performances on Broadway. Good People officially opened on Broadway on March 3, 2011, with Frances McDormand and Tate Donovan in the lead roles. The play was nominated for the 2011 Tony Award, Best Play and won the 2011 Tony Award, Actress in a Play for McDormand. His play Ripcord opened Off-Broadway on October 20, 2015 at the Manhattan Theatre Club in a limited engagement. Directed by David Hyde Pierce, the cast features Marylouise Burke, Rachel Dratch, Glenn Fitzgerald, and Holland Taylor. The play focuses on two roommates in a retirement home, who according to Variety "devise dirty tricks...to torment one another." Among his influences, Lindsay-Abaire said: "I love Chris’s work. And I don’t think there’s been a piece written about me that hasn’t mentioned the fact that he and I live in the same world. But I think I’ve also been influenced by John Guare and Tina Howe and older folks like Feydeau and Ionesco and Joe Orton." Lindsay-Abaire has received commissions from Dance Theater Workshop and the Jerome Foundation. He has received awards from the Berilla Kerr Foundation, the Lincoln Center LeComte du Nuoy Fund, Mixed Blood Theater, Primary Stages, the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, the Tennessee Williams/ New Orleans Literary Festival, and the South Carolina Playwrights Festival.
Film
Lindsay-Abaire has written six screenplays: Robots, Inkheart, and Poltergeist. He wrote the screenplay of the 2010 film adaptation of his play Rabbit Hole, in which Nicole Kidman starred. She produced the film, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was well received. He wrote the screenplay for DreamWorks Animation, titled Rise of the Guardians, based on a story by co-director William Joyce. He co-wrote the screenplay for Oz the Great and Powerful.
Personal life
Lindsay-Abaire and his wife Christine live in Brooklyn, New York. In 2016, Lindsay-Abaire was named co-director of Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program.
