Biography
Ken LaZebnik is a playwright and screenwriter whose work has been staged in theaters across the United States. His film and television scripts include collaborations with Garrison Keillor and Robert Altman, as well as contributions to the popular CBS series Touched by An Angel. Many of his plays have premiered at The Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, all directed by Artistic Director Jack Reuler. Their latest collaboration, On The Spectrum, debuted in November 2011 and received a Steinberg Citation from the American Theatre Critics Association, recognizing it as one of the top three new plays produced outside New York that year. In the spring following its premiere, On The Spectrum enjoyed a successful run at Los Angeles' Fountain Theatre. Other Mixed Blood premieres include Vestibular Sense, League of Nations, and Calvinisms.
LaZebnik co-wrote Robert Altman’s final film, A Prairie Home Companion, alongside Garrison Keillor. The film stars Meryl Streep, Lindsay Lohan, and John C. Reilly. He also has an extensive history writing for Keillor’s "Prairie Home Companion" radio show. In 2008, LaZebnik penned the Lionsgate film Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage, featuring Peter O'Toole as the mentor to the painter Thomas Kinkade, with Marcia Gay Harden portraying Kinkade's mother.
His play Rachel Calof, adapted from the memoir of a Jewish homesteader in North Dakota, premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival in August 2011. Additionally, his play Theory of Mind, commissioned for young audiences by the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, has been produced in Minnesota, Hawaii, and Michigan.
In television, LaZebnik has written for a diverse range of series including Touched By An Angel, Providence, and Star Trek: Enterprise. Over seven years on Touched By An Angel, he wrote more than twenty episodes, including four popular Christmas specials that have been released on DVD. In 2012, he wrote an episode of Army Wives and is currently working on the Hallmark Channel series When Calls The Heart.
He also created three PBS specials for the "In Concert at the White House" series, filmed in the White House's East Room. These specials featured a wide array of performers, including Broadway stars Patti LuPone and Jennifer Holiday, as well as country artist Toby Keith.
