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Organic Theater Company
Organic Theater Company was founded in 1969 in Madison, Wisconsin by artistic director Stuart Gordon and his wife Carolyn Purdy Gordon. Its first play was a production of ''Richard III'' but harassment from the local officials of Madison caused the production to be moved to three different venues before closing. In 1970 at the invitation of Paul Sills, Organic moved to Chicago where Sills helped the theater find a home in the Holy Covenant Church where they produced original adaptations of George Orwell's ''Animal Farm'' and Homer's ''Odyssey''. When Sills took his production of Story Theater to Los Angeles that summer he invited Organic to produce at his Body Politic Theater on Lincoln Avenue. The company ended up staying there over three years where it produced ''Candide'' which was invited by Joseph Papp to the Public Theater in New York. They also produced ''Poe'' by playwright Stephen Most and ''Warp!'' by Stuart Gordon and Bury St. Edmund aka Lenny Kleinfeld, an origi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuart Gordon
Stuart Alan Gordon (August 11, 1947 – March 24, 2020) was an American filmmaker, theatre director, screenwriter, and playwright. Initially recognized for his provocative and frequently controversial work in experimental theatre, Gordon is perhaps more widely known for work in film. Most of Gordon's cinematic output was in the horror genre, though he also ventured into science fiction and film noir. Born in Chicago, Gordon became known for experimental and sometimes controversial live theater at the University of Wisconsin in the late 1960s. Moving back to Chicago, he founded and led the Organic Theater Company. In the early 1980s, Gordon went to California to pursue movie making. Like his friend and fellow filmmaker Brian Yuzna, Gordon was a fan of H. P. Lovecraft and adapted several of the author's stories for the screen, including ''Re-Animator'', '' From Beyond'', and ''Dagon'', as well as the ''Masters of Horror'' episode ''Dreams in the Witch-House''. He turned to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Mantegna
Joseph Anthony Mantegna (, ; born November 13, 1947) is an American actor. Mantegna began his career on stage in 1969 in the Chicago production of the musical ''Hair''. He earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play and a Joseph Jefferson Award for portraying Richard Roma in the first American productions of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize–winning play '' Glengarry Glen Ross'', the first of many collaborations with Mamet. His long-standing association with Mamet includes the premieres of ''A Life in the Theatre'', ''The Disappearance of the Jews'' and ''Speed-the-Plow'' on Broadway. Mantegna also directed a highly lauded production of Mamet's ''Lakeboat'', which enjoyed a successful theatrical run in Los Angeles. He later directed the film version of ''Lakeboat''. In addition to theatrical appearances directed by Mamet, Mantegna appeared in Mamet's films ''House of Games'' (1987), '' Things Change'' (1988), ''Homicide'' (1991), and ''Redbelt'' (2008). In film and on tel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Switch Bitch
''Switch Bitch'' (1974) is a book of adult short stories by British writer Roald Dahl. Four stories, originally published in ''Playboy'' between 1965 and 1974, are collected. They are linked by themes of rape by deception: in each one some major act of cunning, cruelty, or hedonism underpins the sexuality. The book is notable for its introduction of the Uncle Oswald character, a wealthy hobbyist and gadabout who stars in both the first and last stories. (Although the first story seemingly presages his imminent decline and death.) He later appeared in Dahl's comic novel for adults, ''My Uncle Oswald''. Oswald is a male fantasy figure described as "the greatest fornicator of all time", his adventures recounted by a nephew who inherits his diaries and decides to edit them for publication. Despite the stories in ''Switch Bitch'' being dark and cynical in tone, the Oswald tales are also humorous and satirical, resembling crude comic anecdotes. Contents and introductions " The Visit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century". Dahl was born in Wales to affluent Norwegian immigrant parents, and spent most of his life in England. He served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He became a fighter pilot and, subsequently, an intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence as a writer in the 1940s with works for children and for adults, and he became one of the world's best-selling authors. His awards for contribution to literature include the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the British Book Awards' Children's Author of the Year in 1990. Dahl and his work have been criticised for racial stereotypes, misogyny a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn
''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or as it is known in more recent editions, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry "Huck" Finn, the narrator of two other Twain novels (''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' and ''Tom Sawyer, Detective'') and a friend of Tom Sawyer. It is a direct sequel to ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer''. The book is noted for "changing the course of children's literature" in the United States for the "deeply felt portrayal of boyhood". It is also known for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River. Set in a Southern antebellum society that had ceased to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced", and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". His novels include ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and its sequel, ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), the latter of which has often been called the " Great American Novel". Twain also wrote ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' (1889) and '' Pudd'nhead Wilson'' (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner. Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for ''Tom Sawyer'' and ''Huckleberry Finn''. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to the newspaper of his older brother Orion Clemens. He later became a river ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony Award, Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and ''Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained critical acclaim for a trio of off-Broadway 1970s plays: ''The Duck Variations'', ''Sexual Perversity in Chicago'', and ''American Buffalo (play), American Buffalo''. His plays ''Race (play), Race'' and ''The Penitent (play), The Penitent'', respectively, opened on Broadway theater, Broadway in 2009 and previewed off-Broadway in 2017. Feature films that Mamet both wrote and directed include ''House of Games'' (1987), ''Homicide (1991 film), Homicide'' (1991), ''The Spanish Prisoner'' (1997), and his biggest commercial success, ''Heist (2001 film), Heist'' (2001). His screenwriting credits include ''The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981 film), The Postman Always Rings Twice'' (1981), ''The Verdict'' (1982), ''The Untouchables (film), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexual Perversity In Chicago
''Sexual Perversity in Chicago'' is a play written by David Mamet that examines the sex lives of two men and two women in the 1970s. The play is filled with profanity and regional jargon that reflects the working-class language of Chicago. The characters' relationships come to be hindered by the caustic nature of their words, as much of the dialogue includes insults and arguments. The play presents "intimate relationships sminefields of buried fears and misunderstandings". The play has twice been adapted for film as ''About Last Night'', first in 1986, then again in 2014. Characters and plot * Dan Shapiro: An urban male in his late twenties * Bernard Litko: Dan's friend and associate * Deborah Soloman: A woman in her late twenties * Joan Webber: Deborah's friend and roommate Scene: Various spots around the North Side of Chicago, a Big City on a Lake. Time: Approximately nine weeks one summer.Mamet, ''Sexual Perversity in Chicago'', Grove Press, Inc., 1974 Danny and Berni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William J
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of England in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill, and Billy. A common Irish form is Liam. Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie or the play ''Douglas''). Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the given name ''Wilhelm'' (cf. Proto-Germanic ᚹᛁᛚᛃᚨᚺᛖᛚᛗᚨᛉ, ''*Wiljahelmaz'' > German ''Wilhelm'' and Old Norse ᚢᛁᛚᛋᛅᚼᛅᛚᛘᛅᛋ, ''Vilhjálmr''). By regular sound changes, the native, inherited English form of the name shoul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Ostrander
John Ostrander (born April 20, 1949) is an American writer of comic books, including ''Suicide Squad'', ''Grimjack'' and '' Star Wars: Legacy''. Career Ostrander studied theology with the intent of becoming a Catholic priest, but now describes himself as an agnostic. Originally an actor in the Organic Theater Company in Chicago, Ostrander moved into writing comics in 1983. His first published works were stories about the character "Sargon, Mistress of War", and appeared in the First Comics series ''Warp!'', based on a series of plays by that same Chicago theatre company. He and Timothy Truman co-created the character Grimjack, who originally appeared in a backup story in the First Comics title, ''Starslayer'', before receiving his own title. Just prior to entering the comics industry, Ostrander had a supporting character named for him in '' The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl'' series. His friend, writer Paul Kupperberg, incorporated him into the Supergirl storyline in 1982. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloody Bess - A Tale Of Piracy And Revenge
''Bloody'', as an adjective or adverb, is a commonly used expletive attributive in British English, Australian English, Irish English, Indian English and a number of other Commonwealth nations. It has been used as an intensive since at least the 1670s. Considered respectable until about 1750, it was heavily tabooed during c. 1750–1920, considered equivalent to heavily obscene or profane speech. Public use continued to be seen as controversial until the 1960s, but since then, the word has become a comparatively mild expletive or intensifier. In American English, the word is used almost exclusively in its literal sense and is seen by American audiences as a stereotypical marker of British English, without any significant obscene or profane connotation. Canadian English usage is similar to American English, but use as an expletive adverb may be considered slightly vulgar depending on the circumstances. Origin Use of the adjective ''bloody'' as a profane intensifier preda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction. Bradbury wrote many works and is widely known by the general public for his novel ''Fahrenheit 451'' (1953) and his short-story collections ''The Martian Chronicles'' (1950) and ''The Illustrated Man'' (1951). Most of his best known work is speculative fiction, but he also worked in other genres, such as the coming of age novel ''Dandelion Wine'' (1957) and the fictionalized memoir ''Green Shadows, White Whale'' (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including ''Moby Dick'' and ''It Came from Outer Space''. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. ''The New York Times'' called Bradbury "the writer most responsible for bringing modern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
