E. M. Lewis

Last updated

E. M. Lewis
Born Silverton, Oregon
OccupationPlaywright
LanguageEnglish
Education Silverton High School
Alma mater Willamette University
University of Southern California
Princeton University
Period2004–
Genresdrama, opera
Subjectsclimate change, war and gun control
Notable awardsSteinberg Award
Primus Prize
Edgerton Award
Hodder Fellowship
Website
emlewisplaywright.com

Books-aj.svg aj ashton 01.svg  Literatureportal

Ellen M. Lewis (professionally known as E. M. Lewis) is an American playwright, teacher, and opera librettist based in Oregon.

Contents

Career

Lewis pursued degrees in literature (BA English, MFA Writing) before moving to Baltimore in 2013 to train with the American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program. [1]

Her work has gone on to receive critical success. [2] Edward Albee, in his award citation for Heads, remarked it was ″provocative and wonderfully threatening.″ The LA Weekly observed of the play that “the question of who we are beneath our posturing lands with such force, it jangles the nerves long after the play has ended.” Of Magellanica The New Yorker wrote ″part drawing-room comedy, part locked-room mystery, Magellanica de-abstracts the larger threats surrounding the characters and their relationships, gradually immersing the audience in possibilities usually too complex—or too disturbing—to face.″ [3] Her one-man The Gun Show, which went on tour across the U.S. and to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, has been called a “compact yet high-caliber theatrical, a short one-hour blast of personal recollection, rhetoric and genuinely conflicted questioning.” [4]

Her plays have been workshopped, developed, and produced by a range of organizations, including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, American Lyric Theatre, The Lark, Page 73, Project Y, Ashland New Plays Festival, Arkansas New Play Festival, PlayFest Santa Barbara, EcoDrama Festival, the HotCity Greenhouse Festival, Great Plains Theater Conference, Last Frontier Theater Conference, William Inge Center for the Arts, Artists Repertory Theater, TimeLine Theater, Guthrie Theatre, Playwrights Theater of New Jersey, New Voices for the Theater Program, Theatre Latte Da, Moving Arts, Passage Theater, 16th Street Theater, and University of Maryland Opera Studio, among others.

Originally from rural Oregon, Lewis has taught at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Lewis & Clark College, Independence Community College, and Hostos Community College. She returned to the Pacific northwest in 2014, where she writes and frequently gives workshops through the ArtsHub at Artists Repertory Theatre. [5] She is a member of the LineStorm Playwrights writing collective, International Center for Women Playwrights, the National Opera Center, and the Dramatists Guild.

Awards

In addition to this positive critical reception, Lewis has been a finalist for the Sundance Theater Lab, Oregon Book Award, the Shakespeare's Sisters fellowship, and Arizona Opera’s “Arizona Bold!” program, and a semi-finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference.

Works

Full-Length Plays

One-Acts

Operas

Published works

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References

  1. "Focus on a Playwright: E.M. Lewis". Breaking Character Magazine. Samuel French. April 1, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  2. Bermea, Bobby (January 19, 2018). "Spotlight on: E.M. Lewis and 'Magellanica'". Oregon ArtsWatch. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  3. Nijhuis, Michelle (January 25, 2018). "A Six-Hour Theatrical Epic About the Hole in the Ozone Layer". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  4. Hughley, Marty (September 13, 2016). "The great American (gun) divide". Oregon ArtsWatch. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  5. Lewis, E.M.; Stolowitz, Andrea (March 16, 2020). "New Plays at Artists Repertory Theatre". Dramatists Guild. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  6. "The Hodder Fellowship". Lewis Center for the Arts. Princeton University. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  7. Hirschman, Bill. "U.S. theatre critics honor E.M. Lewis' Song of Extinction" (PDF) (Press release). American Theatre Critics Association. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  8. "EMPS New Play Competition". Earth Matters On Stage. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  9. "ACTA Awards: 2008". About The Artists. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  10. "2008 Awards". LA Drama Critics Circle. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  11. "Past Winners". Ashland New Plays Festival. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  12. BWW News Desk (August 15, 2019). "Oregon Shakespeare Festival Announces 6 New Commissions For Acclaimed American Revolutions Cycle". Broadway World. Wisdom Digital Media. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  13. "E.M. Lewis, The Great Divide". Table / Room / Stage. Artists Repertory Theatre. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  14. Lane, Nicole. "Artists Rep takes on Climate Science in Epic Play set in South Pole" (PDF) (Press release). Artists Repertory Theatre. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  15. Carlsson, Jae (February 26, 2020). "Fertile Ground 2: 'Dorothy's Dictionary,' etc". Oregon Arts Watch. Retrieved May 11, 2020.