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Mark Dawidziak | |
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Born | Mark Daniel Dawidziak September 7, 1956 Huntington, New York, U.S. |
Occupation | Writer |
Mark Dawidziak (born September 7, 1956) is an American author and critic. [1]
Dawidziak was born in Huntington, New York, [2] on September 7, 1956. He is a graduate of Harborfields High School, class of 1974.
A journalism graduate of George Washington University, Dawidziak has worked as a theater, film and television critic since 1979. He started his journalism career in the Washington, D.C. bureaus of Knight-Ridder Newspapers and the Associated Press. In 1983, after stints as the arts and entertainment editor at the Bristol Herald-Courier in Bristol, Virginia and the Kingsport Times-Times in Kingsport, Tennessee, he moved to the Akron Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio as the newspaper's TV critic (and later film critic). He is currently the television critic for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. [3]
Dawidziak has written two non-fiction books about TV characters: The Columbo Phile: A Casebook (The Mysterious Press, 1989), [4] a history of Peter Falk's Lt. Columbo, and The Night Stalker Companion: A 30th Anniversary Tribute (Pomegranate Press, 1997), a history of the Carl Kolchak character played by Darren McGavin in two TV movies and the 1974-75 ABC series. [5] His 2003 book, Horton Foote's The Shape of the River: The Lost Teleplay About Mark Twain (Applause Books) details the 1960 Playhouse 90 production on CBS. [6]
In addition to Horton Foote's The Shape of the River: The Lost Teleplay About Mark Twain (Applause Books, 2003), he assembled Mark Twain's thoughts on writing and the writing process for Mark My Words: Mark Twain on Writing (St. Martin's Press, 1996). [7] He also teamed with noted Twain scholar R. Kent Rasmussen for the chapter Mark Twain on the Screen published in A Companion to Mark Twain (Blackwell Publishing, 2005, edited by Peter Messent and Louis J. Budd). He has twice been the visiting Twain scholar giving the Trouble Begins at Eight lecture at Elmira College's Center for Mark Twain Studies. He has presented academic papers at four consecutive State of Mark Twain Studies conferences (held every four years in August at Elmira College): on The Shape of the River in 2001; on the many similarities between Twain and Charles Dickens in 2005; on the importance of Hal Holbrook's one-man show, Mark Twain Tonight! , in 2009; and on director-producer Will Vinton's Claymation film The Adventures of Mark Twain in 2013.
Dawidziak and Paul J. Bauer are the authors of the first full-length biography of writer Jim Tully. Titled Jim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler, [8] it was published by Kent State University Press in 2011 with a foreword by Ken Burns. [9]
In addition to writing two non-fiction books about the Carl Kolchak character – Night Stalking: A 20th Anniversary Kolchak Companion (Image, 1991) and The Night Stalker Companion: A 30th Anniversary Tribute (Pomegranate Press, 1997), Dawidziak has edited three collections of works by Richard Matheson, all published by Gauntlet Press: Richard Matheson's Kolchak Scripts (2003), Bloodlines: Richard Matheson's Dracula, I Am Legend, and Other Vampires Stories (2006) [10] and Richard Matheson's Censored and Unproduced I Am Legend Screenplay (2012). His work in the horror field includes a 1994 novel (The Kolchak Papers: Grave Secrets), a play (The Tell-Tale Play), short stories, comic book scripts and the non-fiction book The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion to Dracula (Continuum, 2008). [11]
Dawidziak met his wife, actress Sara Showman, through the stage. In 2002, they founded the Largely Literary Theater Company, a touring troupe dedicated to promoting literacy, literature and live theater. [12] The company's artistic director, he frequently appears in Largely Literary productions as Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.[ citation needed ] His two-act adaptation of Twain material, Twain By Three, was performed at the 103rd Annual International Dickens Fellowship Conference (held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio). His play The Mystery of Dashiell Hammett was premiered as part of Big Read initiative at Hiram College in 2009. His other plays include a two-act adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol for three actors. [13]
Dawidziak is currently teaching part-time as an adjunct professor at Kent State University, in addition to writing for The Plain Dealer. He teaches the Reviewing Film and Television and Vampires in Film and Television courses. [14] His first class was in the spring of 2009.
He frequently lectures and gives talks on Mark Twain, [15] Charles Dickens, television and vampires. On October 23, 2009, Dawidziak appeared at the Kent Stage, in Kent Ohio, with the lecture "Haunted Theaters, Dracula & Me".
Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 season. The series followed wire service reporter Carl Kolchak who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those involving the supernatural or science fiction, including fantastic creatures. The series was preceded by the two television movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973). Although the series lasted only a single season, it rapidly achieved cult status and has remained very popular in syndication.
WOIO is a television station licensed to Shaker Heights, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland area as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate WTCL-LD and Lorain-licensed CW affiliate WUAB, the latter station transmitting over WOIO's full-power spectrum via a channel sharing agreement. WOIO, WUAB and WTCL-LD share studios on the ground floor of the Reserve Square building in Downtown Cleveland, with WOIO and WUAB sharing transmitter facilities at the West Creek Reservation in Parma.
WUAB is a television station licensed to Lorain, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate WTCL-LD and Shaker Heights–licensed CBS affiliate WOIO, the latter station whose full-power spectrum WUAB transmits over via a channel sharing agreement. WUAB, WOIO and WTCL-LD share studios on the ground floor of the Reserve Square building in Downtown Cleveland, with WUAB and WOIO sharing transmitter facilities at the West Creek Reservation in Parma.
Great Lakes Theater, originally known as the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, is a professional classic theater company in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1962, Great Lakes is the second-largest regional theater in Northeast Ohio. It specializes in large-cast classic plays with a strong foundation in the works of Shakespeare and features an educational outreach program. The company performs its main stage productions in rotating repertory at the Hanna Theatre in Playhouse Square, which reopened on September 20, 2008. The organization shares a resident company of artists with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. On its main stage and through its education programs, GLT connects approximately 85,000 adults and students to the classics each season.
WVIZ is a PBS member television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Ideastream Public Media alongside classical music station WCLV and co-managed with Kent State University–owned WKSU, the NPR member for both Cleveland and Akron. The three stations share studio facilities at the Idea Center on Playhouse Square in Downtown Cleveland; WVIZ's transmitter is located in suburban Parma, Ohio.
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The Akron Beacon Journal is a morning newspaper in Akron, Ohio, United States. Owned by Gannett, it is the sole daily newspaper in Akron and is distributed throughout Northeast Ohio. The paper's coverage focuses on local news. The Beacon Journal has won four Pulitzer Prizes: in 1968, 1971, 1987 and 1994.
WCLV is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, carrying a combined fine art/classical music and jazz format. Owned by Ideastream Public Media, the station serves both Greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio as the home station for the Cleveland Orchestra and an affiliate of the BBC World Service.
WKSU is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Kent, Ohio, featuring a public radio format. Owned by Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media, WKSU's primary signal encompasses the Akron metro area, Greater Cleveland and much of Northeast Ohio as the regional affiliate for National Public Radio (NPR), American Public Media, Public Radio Exchange and the BBC World Service. The station's reach is extended into the Canton, Mansfield, Lorain, Ashtabula, Sandusky, New Philadelphia and Wooster areas via a network of five full-power repeaters, two low-power translators, and one on-channel booster.
Ideastream is the main public broadcaster in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, serving both Greater Cleveland and much of Northeast Ohio. Its headquarters, newsroom, and radio and television studios are located at the Idea Center in Playhouse Square in Downtown Cleveland. It operates WKSU, the region's main radio news service aligned with NPR, and owns classical music/jazz outlet WCLV and Cleveland PBS member station WVIZ.
Donald L. Plusquellic is the former mayor of Akron, Ohio. First elected in 1987, he became the 59th Mayor of Akron after previously serving 13 years on Akron City Council. Plusquellic has served his seventh term, making him the longest-serving mayor of the city. Plusquellic announced his resignation effective May 31, 2015, citing unfriendly coverage from the Akron Beacon Journal as his primary motivation.
Howard Alan "Howie" Chizek was an American radio personality, former public address announcer, and philanthropist.
Richard Duane Goddard was an American television meteorologist, author, cartoonist, and animal activist.
The Night Stalker is an American made for television horror film which aired on ABC on January 11, 1972, as their ABC Movie of the Week. In the film, an investigative reporter, played by Darren McGavin, comes to suspect that a serial killer in the Las Vegas area is actually a vampire.
Brian Windhorst, nicknamed Windy, is an American sportswriter for ESPN.com who covers the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the Cleveland Cavaliers beat writer for the Akron Beacon Journal from 2003 through the summer of 2008, and began to work for Cleveland newspaper The Plain Dealer in October 2008. He moved to ESPN in 2010 after LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.
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The Night Strangler is an American made for television horror film which first aired on ABC on January 16, 1973, as a sequel to The Night Stalker. In the film, an investigative reporter assigned to series of killings comes to suspect the murderer is an immortal with superhuman strength.
Hattie Larlham is an American nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for more than 1,600 children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the state of Ohio. Services provided encompass medical, work training and employment, recreational, educational, and residential, catering to both children and adults.
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Bibliography of works on Dracula is a listing of non-fiction literary works about the book Dracula or derivative works about its titular vampire Count Dracula.