John Belluso
John Belluso | |
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Born | November 13, 1969 New York City, New York, U.S. |
Education | New York University (BA, MA) |
Occupation(s) | Playwright, television writer, director |
John Belluso (November 13, 1969 – February 10, 2006) was an American playwright best known for his works focusing on the lives of disabled people. He also directed a writing program for disabled people.
Early life and education
Born in
Career
In 2001, he wrote The Body of Bourne, based on the life of Randolph Bourne, a World War I pacifist and author. It was produced in Los Angeles by the Mark Taper Forum. He also directed the Forum's Other Voices program for writers with a disability. After that, he wrote Pyretown, which criticises America's managed care health system through a romance between a divorced mother and a young, wheelchair-using man.
Belluso joined the crew of the HBO western drama Deadwood as a writer for the first season in 2004, writing "The Trial of Jack McCall".[1]
Selected work
- The Rules of Charity, in which the resentful caregiver adult daughter of a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy tries to rebel against the care-giving, and pursue her own desires, with variously disastrous consequences;
- Gretty Good Time, about a 32-year-old disabled woman living in a nursing home;
- Travelling Skin, about a waitress with cerebral palsy;
- Henry Flamethrowa, about a comatose woman who is believed to cause miracles; and
- A Nervous Smile, about the parents of a severely disabled child who consider abandoning her.
Death
He died in February 2006 in
Season 1, episode 17, of Ghost Whisperer is dedicated to his memory.
References
Further reading
- Associated Press Ohmynews "Disabled LA Playwright and Activist John Belluso dies" February 15, 2006
- New dramatists John Belluso