John O'Keefe (playwright)

Last updated

John O'Keefe (born 1940) is an American playwright, director and solo performer. Notable awards include the 2002 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Times Like These, and a Bessie Award for Shimmer, which was also made into a motion picture by American Playhouse. [1]

Contents

Born in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1940, O'Keefe was raised in a series of Catholic orphanages and juvenile homes. [2] He began singing in church choirs at the age of five and pursued his musical interests, subsequently receiving a vocal scholarship at the University of Iowa, where he earned a BA degree in philosophy and an MFA in theater. [3]

O'Keefe moved to San Francisco in the early 1970s, beginning an affiliation with the Magic Theatre that continues to this day. O'Keefe also co-founded the Blake Street Hawkeyes, a performance-lab ensemble based in Berkeley. He wrote the libretto for Chrysalis, a new opera written with Clark Suprynowicz for the Berkeley Opera in 2006. [3]

Major works

Related Research Articles

Ha Jin Chinese-American writer

Xuefei Jin is a Chinese-American poet and novelist using the pen name Ha Jin (哈金). Ha comes from his favorite city, Harbin. His poetry is associated with the Misty Poetry movement.

David Henry Hwang American playwright

David Henry Hwang is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards. Three of his works—M. Butterfly, Yellow Face, and Soft Power—have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Terrence McNally American playwright

Terrence McNally was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter.

John Fante American writer (1909–1983)

John Fante was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel Ask the Dust (1939) about the life of a struggling writer, Arturo Bandini, in Depression-era Los Angeles. It is widely considered the great Los Angeles novel and is one in a series of four, published between 1938 and 1985, that are now collectively called "The Bandini Quartet". Ask the Dust was adapted into a 2006 film starring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek. Fante's published works while he lived included five novels, one novella, and a short story collection. Additional works, including two novels, two novellas, and two short story collections, were published posthumously. His screenwriting credits include, most notably, Full of Life, Jeanne Eagels (1957), and the 1962 films Walk on the Wild Side and The Reluctant Saint.

Meredith Willson American composer, conductor, musical arranger, and bandleader (1902-1984)

Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson was an American flutist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and author. He is best known for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the 1957 hit Broadway musical The Music Man. He wrote two other Broadway musicals and composed symphonies and popular songs. He was twice nominated for Academy Awards for film scores.

Nilo Cruz Cuban-American playwright and pedagogue

Nilo Cruz is a Cuban-American playwright and pedagogue. With his award of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Anna in the Tropics, he became the first Latino so honored.

<i>His Majesty OKeefe</i> 1954 film by Byron Haskin

His Majesty O'Keefe is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Byron Haskin and starring Burt Lancaster. The cast also included Joan Rice, André Morell, Abraham Sofaer, Archie Savage, and Benson Fong. The screenplay by Borden Chase and James Hill was based on the novel of the same name by Laurence Klingman and Gerald Green (1952).

Michael Korie American librettist and lyricist

Michael Korie is an American librettist and lyricist whose writing for musical theater and opera includes the musicals Grey Gardens and Far From Heaven, and the operas Harvey Milk and The Grapes of Wrath. His works have been produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and internationally. His lyrics have been nominated for the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award. In 2016, Korie was awarded the Marc Blitzstein Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Melvin Richard "Dakin" Matthews is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical scholar.

John Henry Diehl is an American character actor. Noted for his work in avant-garde theater, Diehl has performed in more than 140 films and television shows, including Land of Plenty, Stripes, City Limits, Nixon, Jurassic Park III and the TV series Miami Vice, The Shield and Point Pleasant.

Barnet Kellman is an American television and film director, television producer and film actor.

Prince Gomolvilas is a Thai American playwright. He has written many plays which have been produced in the United States and won several distinctive awards, including a PEN Center USA West Literary Award for Drama.

Daniel John Sullivan is an American theatre and film director and playwright.

Laurence Crawford "Larry" O'Keefe is an American composer and lyricist for Broadway musicals, film and television. He won the 2001 Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Musical as composer for Bat Boy: The Musical.

The Magic Theatre is a theatre company founded in 1967, presently based at the historic Fort Mason Center on San Francisco's northern waterfront. For half a century, The Magic Theatre has been one of the most prominent theatre companies in the United States solely dedicated to development and production of new plays.

Murray Mednick American playwright and poet (born 1939)

Murray Mednick is an American playwright and poet. He is best known as founder of the Padua Hills Playwrights Workshop/Festival, where he served as artistic director from 1978 to 1995. He has received numerous awards for his plays, including two Rockefeller Grants and an OBIE.

John Laurence Seymour American musician

John Laurence Seymour was an American composer and playwright. As a composer Seymour is best known for his operas, which have "complex orchestral textures and italianate lyricism".

Shimmer is a 1988 award-winning one-man play by American playwright John O'Keefe. It is a solo performance, portraying multiple characters, that describes life on a harsh juvenile detention farm in the Midwest in the 1950s.

Daniel Ezralow

Daniel Ezralow is an artistic director, choreographer, writer and performer. He is known for his work in theater, film, opera, and television. His approach, style of physical expression, freedom of spirit and articulate athletic vocabulary have earned him an international reputation. He is the artistic director and founder of Ezralow Dance, a movement based ensemble and the creative home for Ezralow's body of work.

William Aubert Luce was an American writer, primarily for the stage and television. He wrote several plays which starred Julie Harris, and specialized in one-person plays.

References

  1. Koehler, Robert (November 28, 1992). "Playwright Makes Art Out of 'Dark Memories'". Los Angeles Times.
  2. Holden, Stephen (July 14, 1989). "Stories of a Detention Farm, From One Who Lived There". The New York Times.
  3. 1 2 BWW News Desk (August 13, 2018). "John O'Keefe's ALL NIGHT LONG Gets Southern CA Premiere". BroadwayWorld.
  4. Greenman, Ben (December 4, 1991). "John O' Keefe Feature". Miami New Times.
  5. Whiting, Sam (February 13, 2000). "O'Keefe Dissects Literary Family / 'Bronte' tells story of three sisters whose novels captured the Victorian era". SFGate.
  6. Hirschhorn, Joel (October 22, 2002). "Times Like These". Variety.