English playwright Caryl Churchill was BOTD in 1938. Born in London, she was raised in Canada, returning to England to study at Oxford University. She began writing plays as a student, and continued writing radio and television dramas while raising her family. Her first stage play Owners was produced in 1972, leading to her appointment as the Royal Court Theatre’s first female writer-in-residence. She rose to fame with 1979 Cloud Nine, a farce about gender warfare in the Victorian era with cross-gender casting and (for the time) frank depictions of homosexuality and bisexuality. Her best-known work is her 1982 play Top Girls, satirical fantasy about an ambitious businesswoman who has dinner with historical figures including the legendary female pontiff Pope Joan, Dull Gret (the subject of Pieter Breughel’s painting of the same name), Japanese noblewoman Lady Nijō and English travel writer Isabella Bird, discussing the role of women in a patriarchal world. Often read as an indictment of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher‘s doctrine of individualism and self-interest, it has become a modern classic and a set text in British secondary schools. Churchill’s other works include A Mouthful of Birds, Serious Money and A Number, one of the first plays to examine the ethical implications of cloning. Her focus on the interplay between identity, sexuality, power and violence has become an essential part of feminist and queer discourse in 20th century theatre, earning her Honorary SuperGay status.