The Debate Society is an Obie Award winning, Brooklyn based company that creates new plays through the collaboration of Hannah Bos (writer/performer), Paul Thureen (writer/performer) and Oliver Butler (director/developer).

The Debate Society’s plays include THE LIGHT YEARS (Playwrights Horizons), JACUZZI (Ars Nova; TimeOut Top 10 of 2014; published by Samuel French), BLOOD PLAY (Bushwick Starr/Under The Radar/Williamstown Theater Festival; Samuel French), BUDDY COP 2 (Ontological-Hysteric Incubator; Samuel French), YOU’RE WELCOME (The Brick; published by Playscripts), CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT (PS122; published by Samuel French and in PLAY A JOURNAL OF PLAYS), THE EATEN HEART, THE SNOW HEN and A THOUGHT ABOUT RAYA.

The Debate Society trio are recipients of a 2012 Obie Grant, 2013 Obie Award (Paul Thureen; Performance – Blood Play), NEFA National Theater Project Grant, Sundance Institute Fellows, winners of a 2010 “Village Voice Best of Award” for “Best Argument for Devised Theater” and were the 2012-14 Ars Nova Company in Residence. They are proud faculty members of The National Theater Institute.

• Hannah Bos is an award-winning actor, writer and founder/co-Artistic Director of Obie-winning theater company The Debate Society. She has written for HBO’s “High Maintenance” and Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle” and has developed pilots for HBO, FOX, Amazon and Paramount. She recently received an Independent Spirit Award Nomination (along with co-writer Paul Thureen) for Best First Screenplay for their feature Driveways (dir. Andrew Ahn) which premiered at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival (North American Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival) and will be released in spring 2020. The Debate Society’s most recent production The Light Years recently had its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons. In addition to co-writing all of the The Debate Society’s plays, she has starred in Jacuzzi (Ars Nova), Blood Play (Bushwick Starr/The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival/Williamstown Theatre Festival), Buddy Cop 2 (Ontological-Hysteric Incubator/Atlantic Stage 2), You’re Welcome (The Brick), Cape Disappointment (PS122), The Eaten Heart, The Snow Hen and A Thought About Raya. She also starred in the premiere of Will Eno’s The Open House at the Signature Theatre Company (Drama Desk Award and Lortel Nomination). Hannah is a Sundance Theatre Institute fellow, a former Ars Nova Artist-in-Residence and a recipient of The Six Points Fellowship. She is faculty at The National Theater Institute and has a B.A. from Vassar College and M.F.A from The Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University/Moscow Art Theater. Her work has been published by Samuel French, Playscripts and Play a Journal of Plays.
• Paul Thureen is a Brooklyn based writer, who – together with Hannah Bos – is the creator and showrunner of HBO’s Somebody Somewhere (AFI Award; GLAAD and Gotham noms for new/breakthrough series). They were nominated for a 2022 Humanitas Prize for Comedy Teleplay for the pilot episode. Paul and Hannah have also written for HBO’s High Maintenance and Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle, and developed pilots for HBO, FOX, Paramount, and Amazon. The duo received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for “Best First Screenplay” for their feature Driveways (dir. Andrew Ahn) which premiered at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival (North American premiere at Tribeca Film Festival). Along with Oliver Butler and Hannah, Paul was founder/co-Artistic Director of The Debate Society, a multiple-Obie award winning, Brooklyn based theater company.
• Oliver Butler is a co-founder and co-artistic director of The Debate Society (TDS), with whom he has co-created and directed nine full-length plays since 2004. Mr. Butler directed TDS’ Jacuzzi, which premiered last fall at Ars Nova. He also directed the premiere of Will Eno’s The Open House (Obie Award for Direction; Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play) at the Signature Theatre Company. He directed the City Center Encores! Off-Center production of Jonathan Larson’s Tick…Tick…Boom starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom and Karen Olivo. TDS’ acclaimed production of Blood Play had sold out runs at The Bushwick Starr, The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. TDS’ play Buddy Cop 2 was a Critic’s Pick in The New York Times, Time Out New York and Backstage. With TDS, Mr. Oliver has directed the world premieres of Cape Disappointment (PS122), You’re Welcome (The Brick), The Eaten Heart (The Ontological Incubator), The Snow Hen (Charlie Pineapple Theater) and A Thought About Raya (Red Room, The Brick and The Ontological Incubator). He recently directing the world premiere of Timeshare by Lally Katz (The Malthouse) in Australia, the world premiere of Daniel Goldfarb’s Legacy at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and the premiere of Christopher Shinn’s An Opening in Time at Hartford Stage Company. He is a Sundance Institute Fellow and a Bill Foeller Fellow (Williamstown Theatre Festival).