John Susman
John Susman is an American playwright, Theatre director, screenwriter, and film director He received the Uprising Playwright's Award for his play Tiger Treadwell Takes Tinseltown, produced by the Los Angeles Theatre Unit. As a director, he has staged many plays including Harold Pinter’s The Lover at the Court Studio Theatre at the University of Chicago.[1]
In the 1980s, he worked at Steppenwolf Theatre as their first literary manager in addition to dramaturg and assistant director on many Steppenwolf productions. At Chicago’s Northlight Theatre he ran the FDG/CBS New Plays Program to develop new plays funded by CBS and administered by the Foundation of the Dramatists Guild. Fluent in Spanish, he translated into English Bajarse al Moro (Making the Morocan Run) by José Luis Alonso de Santos.
In 1990, his play Tiger Treadwell Takes Tinseltown was produced at the Ventura Court Theatre by the L.A. Theater Unit in Los Angeles.[2]
In 2000, he wrote the play Nelson and Simon that was produced at Chicago’s Live Bait Theater directed by Richard Cotovsky [3] starring Gary Houston and Rebecca Covey. The play dramatizes the love affair between Chicago literary giant Nelson Algren and French existentialist Simone de Beauvoir.[4]
In 2003, his play Cafe Society was staged in Oak Park, Illinois at The Circle Theatre's New Plays Festival.[5]
In 2007, he wrote, directed, and produced the comedy short Making the Man[6] which has screened at over twenty film festivals in the US, Europe and Japan and had its commercial release on the DVD Best Of 16th Raindance Film Festival Shorts. [7]
[edit] Awards and honors
- Heideman Award
- Illinois Arts Council
- Illinois/Chicago Screenwriting Competition
- Nicholl Fellowship
- Uprising Playwright’s Award
[edit] References
- ^ ”The Internet Movie Database” Biography
- ^ "Los Angeles Times" Stage Review, February 22, 1990, Robert Koehler
- ^ ”Richard Cotovsky” Other works
- ^ ”Live Bait Theater” Production History
- ^ "Oak Park Journal" Circle Theatre New Plays Festival
- ^ ”The Internet Movie Database” IMDb Making the Man (2007)
- ^ ”Amazon.com” Best Of 16th Raindance Film Festival Shorts DVD, 2009
[edit] External links
- Making the Man - Official Website of the film including trailer, festivals, credits and photos.
- John Susman Filmography - The Internet Movie Database
- Question Reality! – Moving Pictures Magazine
- John Susman Bio - Making the Man official website
- Port Townsend Film Festival – The Gator’s Grin Blog, September 28, 2009
- Ruth Gamble House – Making The Man Festival Lineup
