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William Missouri Downs

American dramatist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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William Missouri Downs is an American comedy writer, playwright, screenwriter, stage director, and author.

Life and career

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William Missouri Downs started as an actor earning an MFA in acting from the University of Illinois, but a bout with viral encephalitis left him with a slight stammer and ended his acting career.[1] So he moved to New York[2] and studied playwriting at the Circle Rep Theatre[citation needed] under Lanford Wilson and Milan Stitt.

He then moved to Los Angeles[3] and earned an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA.[4] While a student at UCLA film school, he won numerous screenwriting awards, including the Jack Nicholson prize.[5]

In Hollywood, he worked as a script secretary on NBC's Moonlighting and studied sitcom writing at the Warner Brothers Sitcom Writing Workshop. He was a staff writer on NBC's My Two Dads, with writing credits on four episodes, under the pen name Bill Streib.[citation needed] As Streib, he was also credited with writing one episode each for the NBC shows Amen and Fresh Prince Of Bel Air. In addition, he sold a movie to Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment and optioned another to Filmways. He worked with Jim Parsons to develop a TV pilot that was optioned by Hollywood producer Meryl Poster.[citation needed]

Downs has written numerous plays, several of which have won awards. These include: The Exit Interview[6] (which premiered at the Orlando Shakespeare), winner of a rolling premiere[clarification needed] from the National New Play Network (NNPN);[7] Women Playing Hamlet[8] (which premiered at the Unicorn Theatre in Missouri), winner of a rolling premiere from NNPN;[9] Mad Gravity, a finalist for Eugene O'Neill Award and winner of the Reva Shiner Comedy Award,[10] premiering at the Bloomington Playwrights Project;[11] Cockeyed[7] winner of The Greenhouse Festival of New Plays; and Seagulls in a Cherry Tree,[12] winner of the Larry Corse Prize for Playwriting.

There have been over 250 productions of his plays, including productions at the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre,[13] the InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia,[14] the San Diego Rep,[15] the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Salt Lake City Acting Company, the Actors Theatre of Charlotte,[16] the Jewish Theatre of Toronto,[17] the Bloomington Playwright's Project, the Detroit Rep, and the New York City Fringe Festival.[18]

His plays have been produced in Spain (Fuera de órbita),[19] Canada, South Africa (Durban Performing Arts Center), Russia (Хороший парень - The Serov Theatre Drama After Chekhov,[20] Serov), Singapore (The Hexis Theatre), Switzerland (Franklin University, Lugano,), Austria (stadt Theater walfischgasse, Vienna), Israel (The International Theatre Festival), India (Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, Bangalore),[citation needed] and South Korea (피카소를 훔치는 법 & 실제 게임 at Theatre in Daehangno & Daehakro Theatre, Seoul).

Downs has an extensive publication record including articles, plays, and books.[21] He has co-authored four books, including Naked Playwriting[22] (Silman/James), Playwriting: From Formula to Form[23] (Harcourt Brace), Screenplay: Writing the Picture[24] (Silman/James), and The Art of Theatre[25] (Wadsworth/Cengage). The Art of Theatre has gone through multiple editions and has been adopted as a college textbook in the US.

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Awards

Downs has won two rolling premieres from the National New Play Network[26] and has twice been a finalist at the Eugene O'Neill.[27][28] He also won the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild Julie Harris Award.[29]

Plays

  • Kosher Lutherans, published by Samuel French[30]
  • Women Playing Hamlet, published by Playscripts
  • Mr. Perfect, published by Playscripts
  • Mad Gravity, published by Playscripts
  • Cockeyed, published by Samuel French[31]
  • Forgiving John Lennon[32]
  • Dead White Males, published by Playscripts
  • The Exit Interview, published by Samuel French[33]
  • Headsets - A View from the Light Booth,[34] published by Heuer Publishing
  • Seagulls in a Cherry Tree,[35] published by Heuer Publishing
  • Innocent Thoughts, published by Next Stage Press[36]
  • Fascism the Musical[37][independent source needed]
  • Life on my Knees[38]
  • How to Steal a Picasso[38]
  • Angry Psycho Princesses (the musical)[38]
  • You Can't Say That![39]
  • How to Survive Your Family at Christmas[40]

Books

  • Downs, William Missouri; Wright, Lou Anne (14 August 1997). Playwriting: From Formula to Form. Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 0-15-503861-3.
  • Russin, Robin U.; Downs, William Missouri (July 2003). Screenplay: Writing the Picture. Silman-James Press. ISBN 1-879505-70-3.
  • Downs, William Missouri; Russin, Robin U. (28 January 2005). Naked Playwriting: The Art, the Craft, and the Life Laid Bare. Silman-James Press. ISBN 1-879505-76-2.
  • Russin, Robin U.; Downs, William Missouri (14 September 2005). Jak napisać scenariusz filmowy (in Polish). Wojciech Marzec. ISBN 83-922604-0-6.
  • Downs, William Missouri; Wright, Lou Anne; Ramsey, Erik (2011). The Art of Theatre. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. ISBN 978-0-15-506325-9.
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Monologues and short plays

  • Books on Tape, published by North West Theatre Review, Oregon State University (2008)[41]
  • Exceptional Monologues, published by Samuel French, New York (2009)
  • The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 2016, published by Smith And Kraus (2011)[42]
  • 222 Comedy Monologues, published by Playscripts (2016)
  • Contemporary Scenes For Twentysomethings, Applause Books (2017)[43]
  • Contemporary Monologues For Twentysomethings, Applause Books (2018)[44]
  • Actor's Choice Monologue, published by Playscripts, New York[when?]
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References

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