Brian Parks (born c. 1962) is an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, journalist and editor. He is a former Arts & Culture editor of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' and former chairman of its

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

s. As a playwright, Parks has produced works that are noted for their dark comedy and fast pace. Best known for his play ''Americana Absurdum'' (which consists of two shorter plays, ''Vomit & Roses'' and ''Wolverine Dream''), his other works include ''Goner'', ''Suspicious Package'', ''Out of the Way'', ''The Invitation'' (titled ''Einladung zum Abendessen'' in the German-language version, translated by John and Peter von Duffel), ''Imperial Fizz'',Gardner, Lyn (August 13, 2010)
"Imperial Fizz"
''The Guardian''. and ''The Professor''.McMillan, Joyce (22 August 2019)
"Theatre review: The Professor, Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh"
''The Scotsman''. ''Americana Absurdum'' was honored with the “Best Writing” award at the 1997 New York International Fringe Festival and a

Scotsman Fringe First Award The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

at the

2000 Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. It was also produced in London in 2004 at the

Menier Chocolate Factory The Menier Chocolate Factory is a 180-seat off-West End theatre, which comprises a restaurant, bar and rehearsal rooms. It is located in a former 1870s Menier Chocolate, Menier Chocolate Company factory at 53 Southwark Street, a major street in ...

Theater. In 2019 ''The Scotsman'' called Parks "one of the great absurdists of Fringe theatre".

Education

Parks graduated from Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, in 1980."New York Playwright returns home to Detroit to open comedy "The House" at Ringwald Theatre"
WXYZ-TV, March 29, 2019. He attended

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, then

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

, where he was awarded an MFA in playwriting."Bio"
brianparksplaywright.com.

Education

References

Further reading