Richard Brinsley Sheridan was an Irish playwright and poet, as well as long-term owner of the London Theatre Royale, Drury Lane. He was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford, Westminster, and Ilchester.

Broadway works include his first play The Rivals (John Street Theatre), A Trip to Scarborough (Cherry Lane Theatre), Everyman (Garden Theatre), A Tragedy Rehearsed (Daly’s Theatre), and The Critic and The School for Scandal, which is considered one of the greatest comedies of manners in English (John Street Theatre). Regionally produced plays include The Duenna (Center Stage).