Florida Playwrights' Theatre or FPT was a 54-seat
black box theatre
A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...
in
Hollywood, Florida
Hollywood is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. As of July 1, 2019, Hollywood had a population of 154,817. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now ...
that was in operation from 1993 to 1999. It was begun by Paul and Angela Thomas, whose goal was to create a small
repertory
A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation.
United Kingdom
Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...
company that would produce new plays and little-known plays, as well as the classics, including their annual
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
festivals.
New plays premiered
* "
Apathy-The Gen X Musical" by
Mickey Zetts (Both as a late-night 1995 and a mainstage 1997)
* "
Love is a Masochist" by
Mickey Zetts (shown with "
The Piano that Jack Filled", adapted by
Duncan Pflaster
Duncan Pflaster (born 1973) is an American Off-Off-Broadway playwright, composer and actor. His first play ''Wilder and Wilder'' (a transvestite adaptation of Alice in Wonderland), was produced in 1995 at Florida Playwrights' Theatre in Hol ...
from the song-cycle by
Adam Rabin) 1996.
* "
Wilder and Wilder by
Duncan Pflaster
Duncan Pflaster (born 1973) is an American Off-Off-Broadway playwright, composer and actor. His first play ''Wilder and Wilder'' (a transvestite adaptation of Alice in Wonderland), was produced in 1995 at Florida Playwrights' Theatre in Hol ...
(Both as a late-night and a mainstage - 1995)
* "
Amazing Dædalus" by
Duncan Pflaster
Duncan Pflaster (born 1973) is an American Off-Off-Broadway playwright, composer and actor. His first play ''Wilder and Wilder'' (a transvestite adaptation of Alice in Wonderland), was produced in 1995 at Florida Playwrights' Theatre in Hol ...
(Late-night 1997)
* "
Audition Pieces" by
Kim Mowrey
* "
The Jessie Donovan Show" by
Roberta Morgan
Other plays produced
1993
* ''Dancin' to Calliope'' by Jack Gilhooley
* ''Eli: A Mystery Play of the Sufferings of Israel'' by
Nelly Sachs
Nelly Sachs (; 10 December 1891 – 12 May 1970) was a German-Swedish poet and playwright. Her experiences resulting from the rise of the Nazis in World War II Europe transformed her into a poignant spokesperson for the grief and yearnings of he ...
* ''
The Mystery of Irma Vep
''The Mystery of Irma Vep'' is a play in three acts by Charles Ludlam. It is a satire of several theatrical, literary and film genres, including Victorian melodrama, farce, the penny dreadful, ''Wuthering Heights'' and the Alfred Hitchcock fil ...
'' by
Charles Ludlam
Charles Braun Ludlam (April 12, 1943 – May 28, 1987) was an American actor, director, and playwright.
Biography
Early life
Ludlam was born in Floral Park, New York, the son of Marjorie (née Braun) and Joseph William Ludlam. He was raise ...
* ''
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You
''Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You'' is a play by Christopher Durang.
Productions
''Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You'' was first performed on December 14, 1979, at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City. It was ...
'' by
Christopher Durang
Christopher Ferdinand Durang (born January 2, 1949) is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s, though his career seemed to get a second wind in the late 1990s.
...
* ''
Psycho Beach Party
''Psycho Beach Party'' is a 2000 comedy horror film based on the off-Broadway play of the same name, directed by Robert Lee King. Charles Busch wrote both the original play and the screenplay. As the title suggests, ''Psycho Beach Party'', set in ...
'' by
Charles Busch
Charles Louis Busch (born August 23, 1954) is an American actor, screenwriter, playwright and drag queen, known for his appearances on stage in his own camp style plays and in film and television. He wrote and starred in his early plays Off-off- ...
* ''
Greater Tuna
''Greater Tuna'' is the first in a series of four comedic plays (followed by '' A Tuna Christmas,'' ''Red, White and Tuna'', and '' Tuna Does Vegas''), each set in the fictional town of Tuna, Texas, the "third-smallest" town in the state. The se ...
'' by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard
* 1st Annual
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
Festival
** ''
Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...
''
** ''
As You Like It
''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...
''
* ''The Miss Firecracker Contest'' by
Beth Henley
Elizabeth Becker Henley (born May 8, 1952) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actress. Her play ''Crimes of the Heart'' won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 1981 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play, and a ...
* Double bill of ''Graceland'' by Ellen Byron and ''
Line
Line most often refers to:
* Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity
* Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system
Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to:
Arts ...
'' by
Israel Horovitz
Israel Horovitz (March 31, 1939 – November 9, 2020) was an American playwright, director, actor and co-founder of the Gloucester Stage Company in 1979. He served as artistic director until 2006 and later served on the board, ex officio an ...
1994
* ''
Oedipus Rex
''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' ( grc, Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC. Originally, to the ancient Gr ...
'' by
Sophocles
Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...
* ''
The House of Blue Leaves
''The House of Blue Leaves'' is a play by American playwright John Guare which premiered Off-Broadway in 1971, and was revived in 1986, both Off-Broadway and on Broadway, and was again revived on Broadway in 2011. The play won the Drama Critics ...
'' by
John Guare
John Guare ( ;; born February 5, 1938) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is best known as the author of ''The House of Blue Leaves'' and ''Six Degrees of Separation''.
Early life
He was raised in Jackson Heights, Queens.Druckman, ...
* ''
The Taming of the Shrew
''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...
'' by
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
* ''Messiah'' by
Martin Sherman
Martin Gerald Sherman (born December 22, 1938) is an American dramatist and screenwriter best known for his 20 stage plays which have been produced in over 60 countries. He rose to fame in 1979 with the production of his play '' Bent'', which e ...
* ''A Woman Called Truth: The Story of
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth (; born Isabella Baumfree; November 26, 1883) was an American abolitionist of New York Dutch heritage and a women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to f ...
'' by Sandra Fenichel Asher
* ''
The Children's Hour'' by
Lillian Hellman
Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, prose writer, memoirist and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway, as well as her communist sympathies and political activism. She was blacklisted aft ...
1995
* ''Angel City'' by
Sam Shepard
Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any write ...
* ''
Lenny'' by Julian Barry (
Carbonell Award
The Carbonell Awards recognize excellent theater in the South Florida region of the United States annually. The awards are named after the sculptor Manuel Carbonell, who designed the bronze and marble award that is given to the winners. Voting is ...
won for Best Actor
Todd Durkin, nominated for Best Supporting Actor
Larry Jurrist)
* 2nd Annual
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
Festival
** ''
Much Ado About Nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...
''
** ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
''
* ''The Secret Lives of The Sexists'' by
Charles Ludlam
Charles Braun Ludlam (April 12, 1943 – May 28, 1987) was an American actor, director, and playwright.
Biography
Early life
Ludlam was born in Floral Park, New York, the son of Marjorie (née Braun) and Joseph William Ludlam. He was raise ...
* ''Laundry and Bourbon'' and ''Lone Star'' by
James McLure
James Miller McLure, Jr. (August 5, 1951 – February 17, 2011) was an American playwright. He was born in Alexandria, Louisiana and grew up in Shreveport where he was educated by the Jesuits. He became interested in acting in high schoo ...
* ''What The Butler Saw'' by
Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his death in 1967, was short but highly influential. During this brie ...
* ''
Oleanna'' by
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 ...
* ''The Loman Family Picnic'' by
Donald Margulies
Donald Margulies (born September 2, 1954) is an American playwright and academic. In 2000, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play ''Dinner with Friends''.
Background and education
Margulies attended John Dewey High School in Brookly ...
* ''
On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning)'' by
Eric Overmeyer
Eric Ellis Overmyer (born September 25, 1951) is an American writer and producer. He has written and/or produced numerous TV shows, including '' St. Elsewhere'', '' Homicide: Life on the Street'', '' Law & Order'', ''The Wire'', '' New Amsterdam' ...
* ''Reckless'' by
Craig Lucas
Craig Lucas (born April 30, 1951) is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director.
Biography
Born on April 30, 1951, he was found abandoned in a car in Atlanta, Georgia. Lucas was adopted when he wa ...
1996
* ''
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
'' by
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
* ''
Talk Radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
'' by
Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian ( hy, Էրիկ Բոգոսյան; ; born April 24, 1953) is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and ...
* 3rd Annual
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
Festival
** ''
The Comedy of Errors
''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. It ...
''
** ''
Two Gentlemen of Verona
''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1589 and 1593. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as showing his first tent ...
''
* ''
The Mystery of Irma Vep
''The Mystery of Irma Vep'' is a play in three acts by Charles Ludlam. It is a satire of several theatrical, literary and film genres, including Victorian melodrama, farce, the penny dreadful, ''Wuthering Heights'' and the Alfred Hitchcock fil ...
'' by
Charles Ludlam
Charles Braun Ludlam (April 12, 1943 – May 28, 1987) was an American actor, director, and playwright.
Biography
Early life
Ludlam was born in Floral Park, New York, the son of Marjorie (née Braun) and Joseph William Ludlam. He was raise ...
* ''
Laughing Wild'' by
Christopher Durang
Christopher Ferdinand Durang (born January 2, 1949) is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s, though his career seemed to get a second wind in the late 1990s.
...
(
Carbonell Award
The Carbonell Awards recognize excellent theater in the South Florida region of the United States annually. The awards are named after the sculptor Manuel Carbonell, who designed the bronze and marble award that is given to the winners. Voting is ...
nomination'' for Best Actress
Angela Thomas)
* ''
American Buffalo
American Buffalo may refer to:
*American Buffalo (play), ''American Buffalo'' (play), a play by David Mamet
*American Buffalo (film), ''American Buffalo'' (film), a 1996 film of Mamet's play directed by Michael Corrente
*American Buffalo (coin), a ...
'' by
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 ...
* ''Times Square Angel'' by
Charles Busch
Charles Louis Busch (born August 23, 1954) is an American actor, screenwriter, playwright and drag queen, known for his appearances on stage in his own camp style plays and in film and television. He wrote and starred in his early plays Off-off- ...
1997
* ''Betty the Yeti: An Eco Fable'' by Jon Klein
* 4th Annual
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
Festival
** ''
The Merry Wives of Windsor
''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...
''
** ''
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
''
* ''
The Diary of Anne Frank
''The Diary of a Young Girl'', also known as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherl ...
'' by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
* ''
Mass Appeal'' by Bill C. Davis
1998
* 5th Annual
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
Festival
** ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
''
** ''
The Tempest''
* ''
Black Comedy/White Lies
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
'' by
Peter Shaffer
Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films.
Early life
Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in L ...
* ''
The Art of Dining'' by
Tina Howe
Tina Howe (born November 21, 1937) is an American playwright. In a career that spans more than four decades, Howe's best-known works include ''Museum'', '' The Art of Dining'', ''Painting Churches'', ''Coastal Disturbances'', and ''Pride's Crossin ...
* ''
Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
'' by
Christopher Durang
Christopher Ferdinand Durang (born January 2, 1949) is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s, though his career seemed to get a second wind in the late 1990s.
...
External links
Small WonderArticle from New Times
Broward/
Palm Beach
{{authority control
Theatre companies in Florida
Hollywood, Florida