Arthur Lee Kopit ( Koenig; May 10, 1937 – April 2, 2021) was an American playwright. He was a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for Indians and Wings. He was also nominated for three Tony Awards: Best Play for Indians (1970) and Wings (1979), as well as Best Book of a Musical for Nine (1982). He won the Vernon Rice Award (now known as the Drama Desk Award) in 1962 for Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad and was nominated for another Drama Desk Award in 1979 for Wings. Early life Kopit was born Arthur Lee Koenig in Manhattan on May 10, 1937. His family was of Jewish descent. His father, Henry, worked as an advertising salesman; his mother, Maxine (Dubin), was a millinery model. They divorced when he was two years old. He consequently adopted the surname of his stepfather, George Kopit, after his mother remarried. Kopit was raised in Lawrence, Nassau County, and attended Lawrence High School. He studied engineering at Harvard University, graduating in 1959. Although he intended to go into science or business, his interest in theater was piqued when he enrolled in a modern drama workshop. He started to compose short plays featuring "outlandish" and long-winded titles, which were staged while he was still an undergraduate. He studied with dramatist Robert Chapman, who was the director of Harvard's Loeb Drama Center. Career Early works After graduating from Harvard, Kopit undertook a graduate fellowship in Europe. It was during this time that he learned of a playwriting contest organized by the university, which he consequently signed up for. He wrote the play — titled Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad — in Europe and completed it in five days. He ultimately won the contest with a $250 prize, even though he had dismissed the play's commercial potential. Oh Dad proceeded to run off-Broadway by Jerome Robbins for over a year, touring for 11 weeks, and culminating in a six-week run on Broadway in 1963. It also began a long-standing collaboration with Roger L. Stevens, who participated in the production of all of Kopit's work until 1984, with the sole exception of Nine. Kopit was conferred the Vernon Rice Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Play in 1962. Kopit continued his success with a series of one-act