Arthur Laurents (July 14, 1917 – May 5, 2011) was an American playwright, stage director and screenwriter. After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S. Army during World War II, Laurents turned to writing for Broadway, producing a body of work that includes West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), Hallelujah, Baby! (1967), and La Cage Aux Folles (1983), and directing some of his own shows and other Broadway productions.