Dan O'Brien (playwright)
Encyclopedia
Dan O’Brien is an American playwright
whose plays include The Body of an American, The Three Christs of Ypsilanti, The Cherry Sisters Revisited, The Voyage of the Carcass, The Dear Boy, The House in Hydesville, Moving Picture, Key West, "Will You Please Shut Up?", and The Disappearance of Daniel Hand. His work has been produced by Second Stage Theatre
, Ensemble Studio Theatre
, The Humana Festival of New American Plays
at Actors Theatre of Louisville
, Williamstown Theatre Festival
, Geva Theatre Center
, Page 73 Productions, The Production Company, SoHo Playhouse, and elsewhere. He has served as a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University
, the Djerassi Fellow in Playwriting at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and as the Tennessee Williams Fellow in Playwriting at The University of the South (Sewanee). He has frequently served on the playwriting faculty at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. His work has been developed at the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, The New Harmony Project, and elsewhere. Many of his plays are published by Playscripts, Inc.
A song cycle entitled Theotokia (Hymn to the Mother of God), with music by Jonathan Berger
and text by Dan O'Brien, premiered at the 2010 Spoleto Festival USA
, performed by Dawn Upshaw
.
O'Brien is the recipient of a 2011 Rockefeller Foundation
Bellagio Center Residency. He is a graduate of Brown University
's playwriting program and Middlebury College
. In 1996-97 O'Brien received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
for travel and independent study in Ireland and the U.K. Awards include the American Theatre Critics Association's Osborn Award for Best New Play by an Emerging Playwright.
O'Brien's poetry and fiction have appeared in many literary journals and magazines including 5 AM, StoryQuarterly
, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Pinch
, Greensboro Review, Crab Orchard Review, 32 poems
, Bellevue Literary Review
, Iodine
, South Carolina Review, America
, and Margie.
O'Brien lives in Los Angeles and is married to actor and writer Jessica St. Clair
.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
whose plays include The Body of an American, The Three Christs of Ypsilanti, The Cherry Sisters Revisited, The Voyage of the Carcass, The Dear Boy, The House in Hydesville, Moving Picture, Key West, "Will You Please Shut Up?", and The Disappearance of Daniel Hand. His work has been produced by Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...
, Ensemble Studio Theatre
Ensemble Studio Theatre
The Ensemble Studio Theatre is a membership-based, developmental theatre located in New York City. It has a dual mission of nurturing individual theatre artists and developing new American plays.-Overview:...
, The Humana Festival of New American Plays
Humana Festival of New American Plays
Humana Festival of New American Plays is an internationally renowned festival that celebrates the contemporary American playwright. Produced annually in Louisville, Kentucky by Actors Theatre of Louisville, this prestigious event showcases new theatrical works and draws producers, critics,...
at Actors Theatre of Louisville
Actors Theatre of Louisville
Actors Theatre of Louisville is a performing arts theater located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1964 by Louisville native Ewel Cornett, local producer Richard Block and actor Ken Jenkins of Scrubs fame, and was designated the "State Theater of Kentucky" in 1974. It is run as a...
, Williamstown Theatre Festival
Williamstown Theatre Festival
The Williamstown Theatre Festival is a regional summer stock theatre on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, founded in 1954 by Williams College news director, Ralph Renzi, and drama program chairman, David C. Bryant. The theatre was conceived as a way to use the Adams...
, Geva Theatre Center
Geva Theatre Center
Geva Theatre Center is Rochester's leading professional theatre, operating in the Naval Armory-Convention Hall. It is the birthplace of many new and popular works such as Gregg Coffin's Convenience and Five Course Love. Geva is an abbreviation of Genesee Valley Arts Foundation...
, Page 73 Productions, The Production Company, SoHo Playhouse, and elsewhere. He has served as a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, the Djerassi Fellow in Playwriting at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and as the Tennessee Williams Fellow in Playwriting at The University of the South (Sewanee). He has frequently served on the playwriting faculty at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. His work has been developed at the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, The New Harmony Project, and elsewhere. Many of his plays are published by Playscripts, Inc.
Playscripts, Inc.
Playscripts, Inc. is a New York City-based publisher of new plays and musicals, founded by brothers and playwrights Doug and Jonathan Rand. Included in the exclusive Playscripts catalog are over 1,600 plays and musicals by over 800 authors....
A song cycle entitled Theotokia (Hymn to the Mother of God), with music by Jonathan Berger
Jonathan Berger
Jonathan Berger is an American composer. His works include orchestral, chamber, vocal, choral and electro-acoustic music. He has been commissioned by some of today’s most exciting chamber ensembles and has enjoyed commissions and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bourges...
and text by Dan O'Brien, premiered at the 2010 Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy...
, performed by Dawn Upshaw
Dawn Upshaw
Dawn Upshaw is an American soprano described as "one of the most consequential performers of our time" by the Los Angeles Times. The recipient of several Grammy Awards and Edison Prize-winning discs, Upshaw is at home both in opera and art song, and in repertoire from Baroque to contemporary...
.
O'Brien is the recipient of a 2011 Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
Bellagio Center Residency. He is a graduate of Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
's playwriting program and Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
. In 1996-97 O'Brien received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship is a grant that enables graduating seniors to pursue a year of independent study outside the United States. The Fellowship Program was established by the children of Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM....
for travel and independent study in Ireland and the U.K. Awards include the American Theatre Critics Association's Osborn Award for Best New Play by an Emerging Playwright.
O'Brien's poetry and fiction have appeared in many literary journals and magazines including 5 AM, StoryQuarterly
StoryQuarterly
StoryQuarterly is an American literary journal based at Rutgers University–Camden in Camden, New Jersey. It was founded in 1975 by Pamela Painter, among others. Works originally published in StoryQuarterly have been subsequently selected for inclusion in The Prize Stories: The O...
, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Pinch
The Pinch
The Pinch is a literary journal published at the University of Memphis. The journal is published biannually. Work that has appeared in The Pinch has been reprinted in the Best American Essays and Best American Nonrequired Reading...
, Greensboro Review, Crab Orchard Review, 32 poems
32 poems
32 Poems Magazine is a literary magazine, founded in the American states of Maryland and Texas in 2003, that has published poems from writers around the world.-Beginning:...
, Bellevue Literary Review
Bellevue literary review
Bellevue Literary Review is a literary journal that publishes fiction, nonfiction and poetry about the human body, illness, health and healing. The Bellevue Literary Review is based in Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in the United States, and has been published by the Department of...
, Iodine
Iodine
Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The name is pronounced , , or . The name is from the , meaning violet or purple, due to the color of elemental iodine vapor....
, South Carolina Review, America
America (magazine)
America is a national weekly magazine published by the American Jesuits that contains news and opinion about Catholicism and how it relates to American politics and cultural life....
, and Margie.
O'Brien lives in Los Angeles and is married to actor and writer Jessica St. Clair
Jessica St. Clair
Jessica St. Clair is an American actress, writer, sketch comedian and comedy improviser who often performs at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York and Los Angeles, usually as a member of the improv group Mother. Jessica has been a regular on the show Best Week Ever, offering her...
.
External links
- Doollee, The playwrights database.
- Author website.
- L Magazine interview.
- 2010 Humana Festival Newsletter.
- City Pages.
- Poem at Linebreak.org.