Brenda Withers

Brenda Withers is an American playwright and actress. Withers grew up in Long Island, New York, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 2000.^[1] She is close friends with Mindy Kaling, whom she met when they were both attending Dartmouth. In 2001, Withers and Kaling co-wrote the play Matt & Ben, a play in which Withers and Kaling star as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, respectively. The play debuted in 2002 at that year's New York International Fringe Festival, where it became a surprise hit and won the "Best in Fringe" award.^[1][2][3] It began an Off Broadway run in 2003, which led to it receiving multiple favorable reviews, including from the New Yorker.^[4] In one of the show's Off Broadway productions, in a scene in which Kaling was supposed to fake a choreographed punch to Withers's face, Kaling accidentally punched Withers so hard that she broke her nose and she had to go to the hospital. After an intermission, the play continued.^[3][5] In 2006, Withers appeared in the "Booze Cruise" episode of The Office.^[3]

She has also acted in stage productions of Crimes of the Heart, The Philadelphia Story, and Abundance.^[6] In 2011, her play The Ding Dongs or What is the Penalty in Portugal? premiered at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre, where she was a company member and playwright at the time.^[1][7] She later co-founded the Harbor Stage Company, a theater in Wellfleet, Massachusetts which she helps to run. In 2016, her play The Kritik premiered there.^[8][9]