Iris Rainer Dart

Iris Rainer Dart received her degree in theater from the drama department at Carnegie Mellon University, where she won BMI awards for the libretto and lyrics she wrote for two varsity musicals with composer Stephen Schwartz. She wrote episodes for many situation comedies and was hired in 1975 as the first woman writer on “The Sonny and Cher Show.” Her best-selling novel Beaches was later made into the iconic film of the same name starring Bette Midler. Iris was a governor’s appointee to the California Arts Council on which she served for eight years. She was the keynote speaker for four years running at the Governor’s Conference for Women in California. In 1999, Iris was the commencement speaker at her alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University. She’s married to Stephen Dart, a California businessman, and has two adult children and two extraordinary grandchildren. Iris’ first Broadway outing was The People in the Picture.