In this season of 2019-20, according to American Theatre’s recent listing, the most produced playwright in America will be Lauren Gunderson. Last year she was the second most-produced. And yet Gunderson is still a somewhat unknown quantity—perhaps because she’s based on the west coast and her work is rarely performed in New York (and American theater is New York-centric). This November, however, Gunderson steps into the spotlight with the Off Broadway premiere of her new play, The Half-Life of Marie Curie. It stars the fabulous Kate Mulgrew as the two-time Nobel-winning physicist, and is directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch. —L.J.