Allan Havis
Allan Havis (born 1951) is a playwright with pronounced political themes and probes on colliding cultures. His works range from minimal-language texts to ambiguous, ironic narratives that delineate the genesis, paradoxes, and seduction of evil. Several of his dramas involve Jewish identity, cultural alienation, and universal problems of racism. His literary influences come, in part, from August Strindberg[1] and Harold Pinter.[2]
In addition to his plays, Havis wrote a novel for children, Albert the Astronomer (Harper & Row, 1979; ISBN 0-06-022242-5). He edited an anthology for University of Illinois Press, American Political Plays (2001; ISBN 0-252-07000-3).[1] Fifteen Havis plays are published in editions by Broadway Play Publishing Inc., Theatre Communications Group, Penguin/Mentor, and University of Illinois. His book Cult Films: Taboo and Transgression ( University Press of America, 2008; ISBN 0-7618-3967-4) covers ninety years of cinema. Southern Illinois University Press published his next edited anthology 2010, American Political Plays after 9/11.[2] His first opera libretto, Lilith (music by Anthony Davis), had its world premiere recital at the Conrad Prebys Music Center, UC San Diego on December 4, 2009. The chamber opera, based on his play, highlights Adam's first wife of supernatural proportion and partly staged in a modern era. His second opera with Anthony Davis on a modern Lear archetype, Lear on the 2nd Floor, had a showcase presentation at Princeton's Lewis Center for the Arts in March 2012 and produced in March 2013 at Conrad Prebys Music Center, UC San Diego. Lilith will have a showcase presentation at the Qualcomm Institute, UC San Diego November 2015.
Havis has an MFA from Yale Drama School (1980), has headed for many years the MFA playwriting program at University of California, San Diego, and became Provost of Thurgood Marshall College, UC San Diego in 2006.[3] His wife, Julia Fulton, is an actor and college professor. They have two children.[4]
Dramatic works
- The Hypnotist (2014)
- Garments and Threads (2013)
- The Landlady (2012)
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Awards
- 2008 San Diego Patté Award for Outstanding New Play
- 2003 San Diego Theatre Critics Award
- McKnight Fellowship
- Kennedy Center Award for New Plays
- Guggenheim Fellowship[6]
- Rockefeller Fellowship
- National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
- California State Arts Fellowship
- New York State Arts Fellowship
- HBO’s Playwrights USA Award
- Foundation of the Dramatist Guild/CBS Award
References
- ↑ "American Political Plays", University of Illinois.
- ↑ "American Political Plays after 9/11", Southern Illinois University Press.
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- ↑ "Playwrights Process at Cygnet", Charlene and Brenda in the Blogosphere, October 1, 2013.
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