Gustavo Ott

Gustavo Ott (January 14, 1963 – Caracas, Venezuela) is a playwright, screenwriter, novelist and director who founded the Teatro San Martín de Caracas (Caracas Saint Martin Theatre) in 1993. Ott's plays have won numerous awards, including the Spanish Tirso de Molina International Playwriting Prize in 1998 for 80 Dientes, 4 metros y 200 kilos ("80 Teeth, 4 Feet & 500 Pounds"); the Ricardo López Aranda International Playwriting Prize (2003, Spain) for Tu Ternura Molotov ("Your Molotov Kisess"); placed second in the National Contest for Contemporary Creation and Innovative Playwriting of the Institute for Performing Arts and Music (2006, Venezuela) for 120 vidas x minuto ("120 Lives a Minute") and runner-up, Torreperogil Playwriting Prize (2007, Spain) for Monstruos en el closet, ogros bajo la cama. ("Monsters in the Closet, Ogres under the Bed")

Following the 1989 stage premiere of Divorciadas, evangélicas y vegetarianas, ("Divorcees, Evangelists, and Vegetarians"), Ott's works have been widely produced both in Venezuela and internationally to critical and public acclaim, making his work "indispensable...for any anthology of Venezuelan theater" and a regular participant in international theater festivals. Some of his success may be due to a commitment to "theater that can be both commercial and worthwhile. That can experiment and draw audiences." Ott's plays have been translated from Spanish into English, Portuguese, German, French, Danish, Greek, Russian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Japanese, Turkish, Catalan and Creole.

Influences

In his twenties, Ott studied under José Ignacio Cabrujas and took part in the 1988–1989 CELCIT Playwriting Workshop held by Venezuelan playwright Rodolfo Santana, whom he once called "the father" of his work. The two share a definite stiletto sharp comic sense and a metaphoric treatment of dramatic situation that confounds persona and politics, individual and nation.^{[citation needed]} Ott has often cited the "cordial relations" among Venezuelan playwrights and acknowledged the debt he owes to such "original models" as Isaac Chocrón, who also explores the subject of God in his work.

As an author who has claimed "you have to write for the world, not just your corner of it", his international influences cannot be overlooked. For Ott, who has lived abroad and traveled extensively, these include Harold Pinter, who the author recognizes "had an influence not only on my writings, but on my perception of art and even my dedication to literature." After Pinter, Ott developed an avid interest in the work of David Mamet, which included translating some of the American author's plays. Ott's close study of Mamet is clear in his poetic treatment of street dialogue, action language and rhythm marking found in much of his work, as well as its minimalist stage direction. Ott also cites other English-language playwrights as influences, including Tony Kushner, Terrence McNally, Merber and Ridley, along with a wide range of novelists and poets such as Jorge Luis Borges J. M. Coetzee, William Blake and Walt Whitman.

Career

In 1988 Teatro Cinco" was published in Venezuela and featured the plays Los peces crecen con la luna (1983), El Siglo de las luces (1986) as well as "Passport" (1988), a work focusing on identity, arbitrariness, and immigration.

Ott's stage premiere by the group TextoTeatro came in 1989 with Divorciadas, Evangélicas y Vegetarianas, ("Divorcées, Evangelists, and Vegetarians") a comedy about friendship. Other comedies followed, such as Apostando a Elisa (1990) and Cielito lindo (1990). In 1991 he opened one of his most acclaimed works, Pavlov: Dos Segundos antes del Crimen, ("Pavlov: Two Seconds Before the Crime") which displayed Ott's hallmark "cruel and unusual humor". Ott's debut on the American stage came in 1995 with GALA's Washington, D.C. based production of this play under the direction of Abel Lopez.

During these years, Ott wrote for a wide audience, with works such as 1992's ¿Nunca Dije Que Era una Niña Buena? ("Who Ever Said I Was a Good Girl?"), a work that deals with gang violence, also produced in the U.S. by GALA. With this play, Ott founded the Teatro San Martín de Caracas (TSMC), while in the same year Madrid's Cuarta Pared opened its Lavapies Theater with "Passport", directed by Javier Yagüe. Linda Gatita ("Minor Leagues", formerly "I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat"), also opened that year, chronicling the search for affection in relations between North and South America, along with Quiéreme mucho (The Very Thought of You) TSMC, 1993, where twin stories of love and immigration across two generations are told with the symmetry of an M. C. Escher painting.

In 1996 Avispa Publishers in Madrid issued two volumes containing six plays covering Ott's early work. In 1997 Las piezas del mal was published in Caracas featuring "Pavlov", the 1994 Gorditas ("Fat Chicks") written for a female cast on the subject of ambition, and Corazón Pornográfico (1995), a comedy that analyzes crime in a style oscillating between realism and comic book. In 1996, Ott began his most important group of plays to date, which he called "Pentagram." This comprised five plays in what he dubbed "the Latin American macabre style": Comegato (1997 Caracas Municipal Theater Award, 1998 Casa del Artista Award), a work on the dilemma between decency and crime; Fotomatón (1997 Caracas Municipal Theater Award, 1999 Casa del Artista Award), an autopsy of the Latin American soul; 80 Dientes, 4 metros y 200 kilos (80 Teeth, 4 Feet and 500 Pounds)(1998 Tirso de Molina International Playwriting Prize, Runner-up, 2001 Princess Grace Award, 2002 Caracas Municipal Theater Award, 2002 CELCIT Award), an epic work on the subject of guilt; Tres Esqueltos y Medio (finalist, 1998 Jose Ignacio Cabrujas Prize), a play on the macabre intersection between transcendence and the criminal present and "Miss" (2002 Celcit Award), on Latin American ambition.

2002 saw Casa de América in Madrid publish Dos Amores y un Bicho,("Two Loves and a Creature"). a play that marked a departure from Ott's usual style, with few ties to his previous work, particularly in its use of form, subject and language. "Two Loves..." is a play about hatred and was immediately translated into English, French, German, and Creole, premiering in Caracas in 2004, under the direction of its author. As Deux Amours et une Petite Bette, the play opened in December 2003 in Lyon, France. That year, his one-man show Bandolero y malasangre translated by Francoise Thanas, was premiered by Scene Nationale in Potiers, France, and later premiered in Catalan by the group Diverbia in Valencia, Spain. The play was published in Cuba's Conjunto magazine in 2004.

Ott was chosen in 2002 and 2003 to participate in the "New Work Now!" program at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in New York, with "80 Teeth…" and "Two Loves and a Creature," both translated by Heather McKay, as well as the Playwriting Program at La Mousson D'Ete in France and "La Mousson a Paris" in the Comedie Française, with "Photomaton," translated by Françoise Thanas and directed by Michel Didym. In 2005 Deux Amours was again presented at the studio of the Comedie Française, also translated by Thanas, under the direction of Vicent Colin.

In 2004, in Santander, Spain, Ricardo López Aranda prizewinner Tu ternura molotov ("Your Molotov Kisses"), a play on the interrelation of intolerance and terrorism, was published. "Molotov" premiered the same year in the Teatro Cuyás in la Palma on Grand Canary, staged by Profetas de Mueble Bar and also in Argentina (CLECIT, 2006), Mexico (Teatro Xola, DF, 2006), Portugal (AL-MaSRAH Teatro, Algarve), Washington, D.C. (GALA, 2008), Colombia (Teatro Nacional, 2008), California (Teatro de las Américas, 2008), Caracas (2009) and was presented in English by The Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas as part of its 2007 "New Plays" program.

Ott's first comedy in 10 years, "Pony" opened in 2006, examining the issues of both personal and political fraud. The same year, the Quartiers D´Ivry program in Paris presented "Deux amours…" and "Photomaton", directed by Elizabeth Chailloux. Ott took second place in the 2006 National Contest for Contemporary Creation and Innovative Playwriting of the Institute for Performing Arts and Music, Caracas, with "120 Lives a Minute", a piece on catastrophe and the meaning of art and country, premiered in Caracas, under the direction of the author in 2007. "120 Lives a Minute" opened in English in a production for Ohio Northern University, USA, directed by Otto Minera.

Spain's Asociación de Autores de Teatro published "Monsters in the Closet, Ogres Under the Bed", in 2008, a work on the victims of the 9/11 attacks, while Mexico's Paso de Gato published "Passport" in its Cuadernos de Dramaturgia Internacional. The same year, Lagoudera Publishers in Athens published Tu Ternura Molotov, translated by Stamatis Polenakis and "Chat" (2008), a play about collective perversity in virtual communication, translated by Stamatis Polenakis, D. Siuva, Cleopatra Eleotriviari, S. Cufopulu, A. Sarafi, C. Tsocalidu and I. Lasopulu. Both Greek translations were overseen by Maria Jatziemanuíl.

Meriwether Publishing Ltd in the U.S. included selections from Otts plays in English translation by Heather McKay in "Audition Monologs for Student Actors" (1999); International Plays for Young Audiences (2000); " Audition Monologs for Student Actors II" (2001) and "New Audition Scenes and Monologues from Contemporary Playwrights: The Best New Cuttings From Around the World" (2003, 2005 and 2007). His plays have also been published in Spain, France, Colombia, Mexico, Cuba, Greece, and Venezuela.

Plays

Original Title	English Title	Cast	Written	Premiere
Notará que llevo un arma		3 M, 2 F	2007	2008
120 vidas x minuto	120 Lives X Minute	2 F, 3 M (variable)	2006	2007
Pony, Nunca te he negado una lágrima		1M, 1 F	2003	2006
Monstruos en el closet, ogros bajo la cama		2 F	2001	2006
Tu ternura molotov	Your Molotov Kisses	1 F, 1 M	2002	2004
Dos amores y un bicho	Two Loves and a Creature	1 M, 2 F	2001	2005
Bandolero y malasangre	Wet Dog Waiting	1 M, (one man show)	2000	2005
Miss	Miss	3 F, 4 M (multiple roles)	1999	2003
Lágrimas de cocodrila		1 F (one woman show)	1998	2005
Tres esqueletos y medio		3F, 3 M	1997/1998	2001
80 dientes, 4 metros y 200 kilos	80 Teeth, 4 Feet & 500 Pounds	4 M, 1 F	1996	2002
Comegato		1F, 2 M	1997	1998
Fotomatón		1 M (one-man show)	1995	1999
Corazón pornográfico		2 F, 4 M	1995	1995
Gorditas	Fat Chicks	4 F	1993	1993
Me parece ver una linda gatita	Minor Leagues	1 F (young), 1 M	1992	1992
Nunca dije que era una niña buena	Who Ever Said I was a Good Girl?	3 F, 2 M	1991	1991
Cielito lindo		2 F, 3 M	1990	1990
Apostando a Elisa		3 M	1990	1990
Divorciadas, evangélicas y vegetarianas	Divorceés, Evangelists and Vegetarians	3 F	1989	1989
Quiéreme mucho	The Very Thought of You	1 F, 1 M (2 roles each)	1989	1993
Passport	Passport	3 M or 1 F, 2 M	1988	1991
Pavlov: dos segundos antes del crimen	Pavlov: Two Seconds Before the Crime	2 F, 3 M	1986	1991
El Siglo de las Luces		1 F, 3 M	1986	2005
Los peces crecen con la luna	Red Sky at Night	1 F, 2 M	1982	1993

Published work

• Η ΤΡΥΦΕΡΗ ΣΟΥ ΜΟΛΟΤΟΦ & CHAT, Trans. Stamatis Polenakis, D. Siuva, C. Eleotriviari, S. Cufopulu, A. Sarafi, C. Tsocalidu and I. Lasopulu; Lagoudera Publishers (Athens, 2008). ISBN 978-960-7893-54-3
• "Monstruos en el clóset, ogros bajo la cama" in Ícaro y Monstruos en el clóset, ogros bajo la cama, Asociación de Autores de Teatro (Torreperogil, 2008). ISBN 978-84-96837-04-1
• 120 vidas X minuto, Fund. Ed. el perro y la rana (Caracas, 2007). ISBN 978-980-396-531-0
• Passport!, DRAMA Ed., Trans. Thomas Hauger (Grasten, Denmark: 2007). ISBN 978-87-7865-682-7
• "Sin su pasado puñal" in El Diván: 25 autoconfesiones Ed. El Milagro (Mexico City, 2003). ISBN 968-6773-83-5
• Divorciadas, Evangélicas e Vegetarianas, Ed.3 & Pronto, Trans. Marcio Gallacci Pereira (Salvador, Brazil: 2005).
• Scenes from "Two Loves and a Creature" and "Your Molotov Kisses" in New Audition Scenes and Monologs from Contemporary Playwrights: the best new cuttings from around the world, ed. Roger Ellis, Meriwether Publishing Ltd. (2005). ISBN 978-1-56608-105-4
• Tu ternura Molotov Ed. Ayuntamiento de Santander (Santander, 2004). ISBN 84-86993-69-5
• Photomaton, Ed. Les Solitaires Intempestifs, Trans. Françoise Thanas (Besançon, France: 2003). ISBN 2-84681-61-3
• "Bandolero y Malasangre" in Conjunto, No. 127 (Havana, Cuba) January–March 2003.
• Monologue from "Who Ever Said I Was a Good Girl?" in New Audition Scenes and Monologues from Contemporary Playwrights: The Best New Cuttings From Around the World, ed. Roger Ellis, Meriwether Publishing Ltd. (2003).
• "Dos amores y un bicho" in Nueva Dramaturgia de Venezuela Ed. Casa de América (Madrid, 2002). ISBN 84-88490-58-5
• Gorditas Ed. Fundación Author (Madrid, 2001). ISBN 84-8048-425-X
• Monologue from "80 Teeth, 4 Feet & 500 Pounds" in Audition Monologs for Student Actors II, Meriwether Publishing (2001). ISBN 978-1-56608-073-6
• Gustavo Ott I (Divorcidadas, evangélicas y vegetarianas; Quiéreme mucho; El siglo de las luces) Ed. Avispa (Madrid 2000). ISBN 84-95489-14-7
• Gustavo Ott II (Gorditas; Tres esqueletos y medio; Apostando a Elisa) Ed. Avispa (Madrid 2000). ISBN 84-95489-15-5
• "Minor Leagues" in International Plays for Young Audiences, Meriwether Publishing (2000). ISBN 978-1-56608-065-1
• 80 Dientes, 4 Metros y 200 Kilos Ed. Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional, Ediciones de Cultura Hispánica (Madrid, 1999). ISBN 84-7232-820-1
• Monologue from "Who Ever Said I Was a Good Girl?" in Audition Monologs for Student Actors, Meriwether Publishing (1999). ISBN 978-1-56608-055-2
• Antología culpable Ed. FUNDARTE (Caracas, 1997). ISBN 980-253-332-7
• "Divorciadas, evangélicas y vegetarianas" in Antología crítica del teatro breve hispanoamericano. 1948-1993 Ed. María Mercedes Jaramillo and Yepes, M., Editorial Universidad de Antioquia, Colección Teatro (Medellín, 1997).
• "Divorciadas, evangélicas y vegetarianas" in Dramaturgia: Voces Nuevas Fund. CELARG (Caracas, 1991). ISBN 980-6197-16-X
• 8 Piezas and two plays, Vols. I and II, Ed. Textoteatro (Caracas, 1991). ISBN 980-07-0665-8
• Teatro Cinco, Ed. Textoteatro (Caracas, 1989). ISBN 980-300-622-3

Bibliography

• GUSTAVO OTT´S DRAMATIC COCKTAILS, by Bárbara Mujica, Americas Magazine. June 2005
• "A Manera de Introducción", Orlando Rodriguéz in Teatro Venezolano Contemporaneo, Centro de Documentación Teatral, Quinto Centenario, Fondo de Cultura Económica (Madrid, 1991).