Daniel W. Owens known by most as Dan Owens 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 ...

. Owens was born in

Malden, MA Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people. History Malden, a hilly woodland area north of the Mystic River, was settled by Puritans in 1640 on la ...

. He received his education at Bryant and Straton Junior College (certificate in computer programming, 1968). He also attended Boston State College (1968) and the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Owens attended Yale University School of Drama (playwriting, 1971 – 1972), and Harvard University School of Education (Ed.M) where he received his Master's in Education. He then went on to teach black theater and playwriting at Boston University and the University of Massachusetts. While at the University of Massachusetts Owens wrote for the locally produced television show Brotherlove. In the mid-1970s Owens moved from Roxbury, MA to New York City to write many successful off-broadway productions including critically acclaimed The Michigan, 1979. Owens followed up the following year with Lagrima Del Diablo (The Devil's Tear), 1980. In "Lagrima del Diablo" ("The Devil's Tear"), author Dan Owens imagines a power struggle between a Roman Catholic churchman and a revolutionary leader on a recently de-colonialized West Indian island. Archbishop Stephen Emmanuel Pontifex ( Graham Brown) has ordered the closing of the local churches until the revolution frees his fellow churchmen. "Lagrima del Diablo" ("The Devil's Tear") premiered at

St. Mark's Playhouse St. Mark's Playhouse at 133 Second Avenue in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City, was an Off-Off-Broadway theater notable for presenting the Negro Ensemble Company's production of '' The First Breeze of Summer'' by Leslie Lee, which pre ...

in New York on January 10, 1980 . In 1999 Owens teamed up with veteran actor

John Amos John Allen Amos Jr. (born December 27, 1939) is an American actor known for his role as James Evans Sr. on the CBS television series ''Good Times''. Amos's other television work includes ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', a recurring role as Admir ...

(

Good Times ''Good Times'' is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African ...

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

) for the production of Lindstrom and Matombi. The play captures the intercommunications of UN peacekeeping force officer Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lindstrom and the leader of a small Angolan opposition army General Isaac Ernesto Motambi. Owens coauthored Langston Hughes's Little Ham: A Harlem Jazzical with Judd Woldin in 2003. The book was published by Samuel French, Inc and performed as a musical Off Broadway. Langston Hughes's Little Ham: A Harlem Jazzical Is set in the heyday of the 1930s

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

. The story follows Hamlet Hitchcock Jones, known as Little Ham, as he prevents a downtown mob from taking over the Harlem numbers racket. Hughes's Little Ham: A Harlem Jazzical Arranger

Luther Henderson Luther Henderson (March 14, 1919 – July 29, 2003) was an American arranger, composer, orchestrator, and pianist best known for his contributions to Broadway musicals. Early life and career Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Henderson relocated to ...

was nominated for 2003 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations. One of Owens' plays, "''The Gang on the Roof"'' was supported by a grant from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays. "The Gang on the Roof" was inspired by a Seattle P-I article about a Vietnam-era racial mutiny. After years of writing in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

he moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

where he continued with his play ''Bobbie and Jerome'', which received its world premiere at

Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute (LHPAI) is a cultural, community, and artistic center in the Central District of Seattle, Washington, USA. It was founded in 1969 and named after the writer and leader of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston H ...

in Seattle. In September 2013, Owens premiered "Hello Darlin's: Mom's got something to tell you!". "Hello Darlin's: Mom's got something to tell you!" is a one-woman tribute to the late Jackie "Moms" Mabley. Owens was credited in multiple publications for capturing the irreverent and controversial aura of Jackie "Moms" Mabley in a reverent but comic light. Owens is a two time participant in the Eugene O'Neill’s National Playwrights Conference. Only eight scripts per year are selected from more than 1,400 submitted scripts to be invited for the Eugene O'Neill’s National Playwrights Conference. Writers receive a stipend and full room and board on a 90-acre seaside property, attending all first rehearsals and staged readings of their peers' work in addition to their own workshops.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Daniel American dramatists and playwrights Living people People from Malden, Massachusetts Year of birth missing (living people) David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni Boston State College alumni University of Massachusetts Boston alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni