Bibliography
 |
Critical studies and reviews
- Als, Hilton (June 2, 2014). "Cruising : Edgar Oliver's park stories". The Critics. The Theatre. The New Yorker . Vol. 90, no. 15. pp. 80–81. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
Edgar Oliver (born October 31, 1956 [1] ) is an American stage and film actor, poet, performance artist and playwright. He is considered a "legend" of the lower Manhattan theater scene and is known for his distinctive accent and diction. [2] [3] [4]
Edgar Oliver was born in Savannah, Georgia, the son of Edgar Joseph Oliver Jr. and Mary Louise Gibson. His father died (of a morphine overdose) in Dallas, Texas before he was born. He and his older sister Helen (a painter [2] [5] ) were raised by their mother Louise, residing on 36th Street. [5] Louise died when he was 27 years old. [6]
Both Oliver siblings attended the 37th Street School and the Cathedral School as elementary students. Later, Edgar studied at Benedictine Military School while Helen was at St. Vincent's Academy for girls. Both were valedictorians of their classes-- '74 and '73-- at their respective Catholic schools. [5] He attended George Washington University. [7]
At a live The Moth event, recorded on January 25, 2006, Oliver recalled how he and his sister Helen escaped their eccentric mother by running away to Paris using their trust money from their deceased father. [7] Their mother chased them in her car when they tried leaving. They ran away the first summer after they started college at George Washington University. [7]
Oliver first started performing in New York City at the Pyramid Club in the mid-1980s. [8] Notable New York City productions include his roles in Edward II with Cliplight Theater and numerous productions at the Axis Theatre Company including A Glance at New York (which played at the Edinburgh Festival) and his autobiographical one-man show East 10th Street: Self Portrait With Empty House, which enjoyed an extended run with Axis.
His film credits include the Independent Spirit Award-winning The Jimmy Show and the multiaward-winning Henry May Long. He appeared in the Jared Hess film Gentlemen Broncos [2] and had the leading role as a Futurist performance artist [9] in the comedy feature That's Beautiful Frank. [10] He is also a frequent storyteller for The Moth radio program. [5]
Oliver has written at least a dozen plays, "including The Poetry Killers, The Ghost of Brooklyn, When She Had Blood Lust, The Master of Monstrosity, I Am A Coffin, My Green Hades and Chop Off Your Ear". [11] These has often been produced at La MaMa ETC, [2] most notably the 2000 production of his play The Drowning Pages starred Deborah Harry (of Blondie fame). [11]
Oliver has published two poetry collections: A Portrait of New York by a Wanderer There, Summer, and the novel The Man Who Loved Plants. His style has been characterized as "characterized as 19th Century romantic". [11]
Oliver has also gained cult fame appearing on the Science Channel series Oddities and was notable for his line "Is that a straitjacket?", [12] which was featured in the show's promos. He hosts the spin-off show Odd Folks Home.
On November 26, 2011, Third Man Records released a tricolor 45 RPM single of his "In The Park". Only 150 copies were produced. Fifty were sold at Third Man Records in Nashville, Tennessee, and fifty at Obscura in New York. Fifty copies were mailed at random out to those who ordered the unlimited black vinyl version.[ citation needed ]
His show East 10th Street: Self Portrait With Empty House won a Fringe First Award in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2009, competing against 750 shows. [5] [13]
Oliver has lived in the East Village [2] of New York City since 1977. [1] At one point, he lived in an apartment on the top floor of a building with no other occupants [5] [14] but has since relocated. [15]
Neither he nor his sister Helen know how to drive a car. [6]
On April 30, 2011, at another The Moth event, he related further adventures of his, when he, Helen, and a friend Jason traveled to Tangier, Morocco, to (eventually) meet author Paul Bowles. [16]
|
August Wilson was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of 10 plays, collectively called The Pittsburgh Cycle, which chronicle the experiences and heritage of the African-American community in the 20th century. Plays in the series include Fences (1987) and The Piano Lesson (1990), both of which won Wilson the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984) and Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1988). In 2006, Wilson was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Gypsy: A Musical Fable is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress June Havoc.
Mary Beth Peil is an American actress and soprano. She began her career as an opera singer in 1962 with the Goldovsky Opera Theater. In 1964 she won two major singing competitions, the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions; the latter of which earned her a contract with the Metropolitan Opera National Company with whom she performed in two seasons of national tours as a leading soprano from 1965 to 1967. She continued to perform in operas through the 1970s, notably creating the role of Alma in the world premiere of Lee Hoiby's Summer and Smoke at the Minnesota Opera in 1971. She later recorded that role for American television in 1982. With that same opera company she transitioned into musical theatre, performing the title role of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate in 1983. Later that year she joined the national tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I as Anna Leonowens opposite Yul Brynner, and continued with that production when it opened on Broadway on January 7, 1985. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal.
Charles Louis Busch is an American actor, screenwriter, playwright and drag queen, known for his appearances on stage in his own camp style plays and in film and television. He wrote and starred in his early plays off-off-Broadway beginning in 1978, generally in drag roles, and also acted in the works of other playwrights. He also wrote for television and began to act in films and on television in the late 1990s. His best known play is The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2000), which was a success on Broadway.
David Patrick Kelly is an American actor, musician and lyricist who has appeared in numerous films and television series. He is best known for his role as the main antagonist Luther in the cult film The Warriors (1979). Kelly is also known for his collaborations with Spike Lee, in the films Malcolm X (1992), Crooklyn (1994), and Chi-Raq (2015), and with David Lynch, appearing in Wild at Heart (1990) as well as Twin Peaks (1990–91) and its 2017 revival.
The Hayes Theater is a Broadway theater at 240 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Named for actress Helen Hayes, the venue is operated by Second Stage Theater. It is the smallest Broadway theater, with 597 seats across two levels. The theater was constructed in 1912 for impresario Winthrop Ames and designed by Ingalls & Hoffman in a neo-Georgian style. The original single-level, 299-seat configuration was modified in 1920, when Herbert J. Krapp added a balcony to expand the Little Theatre. The theater has served as a legitimate playhouse, a conference hall, and a broadcasting studio throughout its history.
Indian Ink is a 1995 play by Tom Stoppard based on his 1991 radio play In the Native State.
The Todd Haimes Theatre is a Broadway theater at 227 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Built in 1918, it was designed by George Keister and developed by brothers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn, for whom the theater was originally named. The theater is owned by the city and state governments of New York and leased to New 42nd Street. It has 740 seats across two levels and is operated by Roundabout Theatre Company.
Oliver Morosco was an American theatrical producer, director, writer, film producer, and theater owner. He owned the Morosco Photoplay Company. He brought many of his theater actors to the screen. Frank A. Garbutt was in charge of the film business. The company was merged with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players–Lasky Corporation in 1916.
David Alvarez is a Canadian dancer and actor, best known for being one of the original Billys in the Broadway production of Billy Elliot the Musical and becoming one of the youngest winners of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He trained as a dancer with American Ballet Theatre and plays Bernardo in Steven Spielberg's 2021 film version of West Side Story.
En Garde Arts is a New York City-based theatre company, and a pioneer in the field of site-specific theatre. They are an artist-centric company that supports playwrights, directors, composers and designers in creating new work from the ground up. “They invite artists to think deeply about the stories they choose to tell and the physical sites where they belong to meet audiences where they live and work, spark conversations that explore a range of perspectives, and build an inclusive community”. Founded in 1985 by Artistic Director Anne Hamburger, the company was New York's first exclusively site-specific theatre, leading audiences to unexpected locations across the city for innovative, contemporary, highly visual new work. En Garde's productions earned six Obie Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, the Special Outer Critics Circle Award and the Edwin Booth Award.
Brian Hutchison is an American actor based in New York City. He has appeared on such network shows as Blue Bloods, Madam Secretary, Chicago Med, Jessica Jones, Elementary, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Godfather of Harlem, The Sinner, FBI: Most Wanted and Lisey's Story.
Anatol Yusef is an English film, television and stage actor, writer, director. He was born in Barking, East London and is best known for his work at The Royal Shakespeare Company, for his portrayal of Meyer Lansky in the television series Boardwalk Empire, and Channel 4's Southcliffe.
Henry Ives Cobb Jr. was an American artist and architect who lived and worked in New York, New York. He is known primarily for his paintings of scenes in and around Manhattan, especially Central Park. He was a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Art Students League of New York, as well as the Society of Independent Artists and the Royal Academy.
Fun Home is a musical theatre adaptation of Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic memoir of the same name, with music by Jeanine Tesori, and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. The story concerns Bechdel's discovery of her own lesbian sexuality, her relationship with her closeted gay father, and her attempts to unlock the mysteries surrounding his life. It is told in a series of non-linear vignettes connected by narration provided by the adult Alison character.
The Select (The Sun Also Rises) is a stage adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises by Elevator Repair Service theater ensemble. It has been performed in several venues. It premiered at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Off-Broadway production, which ran from September 11 – October 23, 2011 at the New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW), earned awards for its sound design. The show directed by John Collins and produced by Ariana Smart Truman and Lindsay Hockaday received the Lucille Lortel Award for being outstanding.
Conrad Wayne Ricamora-Jensen is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Oliver Hampton on the ABC television series How to Get Away with Murder (2014–20). As a stage actor, he is noted for his roles in the original Off-Broadway musicals Here Lies Love and Soft Power, which premiered in 2013 and 2019, respectively. He made his Broadway debut in the 2015 revival of The King and I.
TweedTheaterworks, also known as TWEED, Tweed Ensemble, and theatretweed, is an experimental theatre company founded in 1983. It is known for its Fractured Classicks series, satirical interpretations of classic American plays and films that employ unique casting choices; and its critically acclaimed productions featuring performance artist John Kelly, playwrights Bill Russell and Adrienne Kennedy, and drag icons Varla Jean Merman and Lypsinka.
Shona Tucker is an American actress and director. Beginning in the 1990s, she had roles in several television shows including Law & Order and New York Undercover. She has appeared in regional theater, including at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Off-Broadway at The Public Theater and elsewhere, in films such as 2016's King Cobra, and on Broadway in original cast of 2018's To Kill a Mockingbird with Jeff Daniels, and Death of a Salesman with Wendell Pierce. From 2008 until 2023 she taught in the Drama department at Vassar College, before becoming the chair of the Department of Theater Arts at the University of Louisville.