User:Propaniac/dresser

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Richard Dresser (born c. 1951) is a popular American playwright whose work has been widely performed in theatres across the United States, as well as in Europe. He has also been a writer and producer for multiple television series.

Personal life and early career

Dresser was raised in Massachusetts.

elective course in dramatic writing. The course led him to enter and win a collegiate play festival, after which his ambitions shifted toward a theatre career.[2]

Following college, Dresser had worked at several New England factories (including one job where he made

pharmaceutical companies.[5] He credits these experiences for inspiring his workplace comedies The Downside and Below the Belt (set in a pharmaceutical company and a manufacturing plant, respectively).[3][5]

As of the late 1980s, Dresser was living in New York City.[5] In the early 1990s, he moved to Los Angeles with his wife and son (born around 1990).[1][2] They moved to upstate New York in approximately 2000.[1]

Playwriting

Since his early career, Dresser has been unusually prolific for a playwright.

Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, California.[2][9][10]

Among his most notable early works were Better Days (premiered in April 1987 at the

Wall Street Journal as the "best new American play of the season." Since its debut, Below the Belt has found especially high popularity in Europe, including over 40 productions in Germany alone.[4]

Perhaps Dresser's most successful play in the new millennium has been Rounding Third, his 2002 two-character baseball comedy, which was workshopped at CATF in 2001 before its 2002 premiere in Chicago, where it met with great favour from audiences. In 2003, the play was performed at

Old Globe Theater
and the Laguna Playhouse before an Off-Broadway run in the fall and a return to CATF in summer 2004.

Kevin Kelly of the

Boston Globe
called Dresser "a ferocious playwright...(who) writes with a headlong intensity and a sense of pervasive mystery."

Musicals

Dresser wrote the

Beach Boys. Following a preview period, Good Vibrations opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre
in February 2005; the show received poor reviews and closed in April after 94 regular performances.

In spring 2010, the

American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts will premiere Red Sox Nation, a musical about the history of the Boston Red Sox with a book by Dresser and music by Robert and Willie Reale. Diane Paulus will direct the production.[4]

Television

Dresser's most significant work in television has been as a writer, story editor and producer for the 1987-1991 comedy-drama The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.[5] He was offered the writing job by the show's creator Jay Tarses after Tarses saw one of Dresser's plays at the Humana Film Festival.[2] Dresser also worked on the 2003 Fox series Keen Eddie.[1]

In 2002, Dresser worked with

pilot
to star Chase as a father of three daughters. The pilot, which Dresser co-wrote and produced, was not picked up to air on the network.

Other activities

In May 2009, Dresser delivered the

commencement address at Shepherdstown's Shepherd University, which hosts CATF annually. In his address, Dresser told graduates that in the current state of the world, "A lot of things need fixing and there are a lot of people who need help. We need you, your talent, energy and optimism." He warned them that "there are no safe choices." Dresser also received an honorary degree from the university during the ceremony.[6]

List of plays

Title Plot/Notes Premiere and/or Selected Other Performances
At Home One-act. Premiered April 1984 at
Ensemble Studio Theater in New York City, as part of the theater's seventh annual marathon of new one-act plays.[12]
The Hit Parade A decade after the death of a talent agent's only successful client, the agent hires a car thief to impersonate the dead rock star in a comeback concert for the residents of the musician's hometown.[13] Performed in summer 1985 by Manhattan Punch Line at TOMI Theater in New York City.[13]
Bait and Switch One-act. Two brothers attempt to save their struggling restaurant by bringing in a new partner, a member of the Mafia.[14] Performed April 1986 as the opening play in the third annual
North Hollywood.[16]
Amnesia A man suffers from amnesia and other difficulties. Originally written to be filmed.[17] First reading July 1987 at the
National Playwrights Conference at Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford.[17]
The Downside Employees of a New Jersey
side effects.[18]
 Premiered November 1987 at
Griffin Theatre in Chicago.[20]
Alone at the Beach Six single strangers share a summer house in the
Hamptons.[21]
 Performed in spring 1988 at
Sag Harbor.[25]
Splitsville One-act. A young Florida couple seek jobs in a sinister new
theme park being built across the street from their home.[26]
 Performed May 1988 by Primary Stages Company at 45th Street Theater in New York City.[26] West Coast premiere in fall 1993, along with Bed and Breakfast and Bait and Switch (under the title Splitsville) by Interact Theater Company at Theater Exchange.[16]
Better Days A depressed former
factory town in New England is revitalized by a booming industry in arson.[27]
 Performed in 1986 by Levin Gheater Company at Douglas College in New Brunswick.[27] Performed summer 1989 by Gloucester Stage Company in Massachusetts.[27] Performed May 1990 by Renegade Theater Company at United Synagogue of Hoboken.[27] Performed July 1990 by Dramatist Workshop in Chicago.[28] Performed January 1991 at Primary Stages in New York City.[29] Performed in winter 1992-1993 at Way Off Broadway Playhouse in Santa Ana.[30]
Bed and Breakfast One-act. Two American couples vacation near England's Stonehenge.[31] Performed May 1993 as part of
Ensemble Theater's Marathon of one-act plays.[31] West Coast premiere in fall 1993 by Interact Theater Company at Theater Exchange (see Splitsville).[16]
The Road to Ruin One-act. Two mechanics work on the broken automobile of a married couple.[32] Performed July 1993 by Renegade Theater Company in New York as part of "An Evening of One-Act Comedies."[32]
Below the Belt Three managers stationed in a bleak, rural
manufacturing plant toil and conspire against each other.[33]
 Premiered April 1995 at
Wall Street Journal).[34] Southern California premiere May 1997 at Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.[3] Performed summer 1997 at Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) in West Virginia.[35] Over 40 productions in Germany.[4]
Gun Shy A divorced couple and their new partners are stranded together in a snowbound house.[36] Premiered April 1997 at Humana Festival.
Laguna Playhouse.[2]
What Are You Afraid Of? One-act (15 minutes long), written by the request of the Humana Festival's producing director Jon Jory, who asked Dresser to write a play performed in the front seat of an actual car while audience members sit in the back seat.
hitchhiker.[2]
 		Premiered spring 1999 at Humana Festival in parked vehicle.
Hamburg, Germany, where actors drove on city streets with the audience.[2]
Something in the Air A down-and-out man seeks to profit from the
terminally ill patient.[40]
 Performed summer 1999 at Bay Street Theater in
Sag Harbor.[41] Performed summer 2000 at CATF.[40]
Wonderful World A mother attempts to connect with her two grown sons, both of whom are struggling with their own long-time relationships.[42] Premiered spring 2001 at Humana Festival.[42] West Coast premiere summer 2001 at Laguna Playhouse.[42]
Rounding Third Two Little League coaches try to reconcile their very different approaches to baseball and to life.
Little League coach was planning to cheat to win a game.[1] In the original Chicago production, which starred George Wendt, the play's opening scene was moved from a bar to a ballfield to avoid audience identification with Wendt's Cheers character.[43]
 		Workshopped summer 2001 at CATF.[44] Premiered fall 2002 at Northlight Theatre outside Chicago.[43]

West Coast premiere January 2003 at Laguna Playhouse.[1] Performed summer 2003 at Old Globe Theater in San Diego.[45] Performed October 2003 at John Houseman Theater in New York (off-Broadway).[46] Performed summer 2004 at CATF.[44]

Greetings From The Home Office One-act (seven minutes long), performed with no live actors, only recorded voices emitted from a speaker phone.[47] A solo audience member enters an office setting and finds that they are playing the role of a newly hired employee. The audience member interacts with the computer while the voices of a boss and co-workers come from the intercom, involving the audience member in a storyline of purported scandal and corruption. Eventually the audience member "must make a pivotal decision about whom to trust," based on the voices and their interactions with the computer.[47] The play was written for a specifically detailed commission by the Technology Plays project, a joint effort by the [[State University of New York] (SUNY) and the Capital Repertory Theater[47]. (Dresser said later that he had accepted the commission, with its strenuous demands for a play to be told without live actors to one audience member at a time, only because he believed "nothing would ever come of it", and was forced to follow through when the project received a grant.)[47] Premiered November 2003 with five other short plays (one commissioned from William Kennedy; four others the result of a university-sponsored script competition) in the New Atrium Library at SUNY.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). Two female housecleaners scheme with their shady manager to achieve a better life for themselves.[8] Premiered summer 2006 at CATF.[8] New England premiere in fall 2006 at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell.[48]
The Pursuit of Happiness The second play in the Happiness Trilogy.[9] Unhappily-married middle-class parents attempt to help their daughter win acceptance to college.[9]Written on commision from the Laguna Playhouse.[9] Premiered January 2007 at Laguna Playhouse.[9] Performed summer 2007 at CATF.[49] Performed at Merrimack Repertory Theatre.[50]
A View of the Harbor The third play in the Happiness Trilogy. A young man brings his wealthy girlfriend to meet his eccentric family at the rural home where he grew up, and buried secrets come to light.[50] Premiered summer 2008 at CATF. New England premiere January 2009 at Merrimack Repertory Theatre.[50]


References

  1. ^
    The Los Angeles Times, 2003-01-04
    , p. E1.
  2. ^
    The Los Angeles Times, 2000-05-22
    , p. B8.
  3. ^ a b c d Phillips, Michael. "Playwright visits workplace reality to create fantasy." The San Diego Union-Tribune, 1997-05-08, p. B8.
  4. ^ a b c d Worssam, Nancy. "Richard Dresser's dark comedy "Below the Belt" opens at ACT." The Seattle Times, 2009-05-28.
  5. ^
    The Los Angeles Times, 1989-12-23
    .
  6. ^ a b Belisle, Richard F. "Playwright addresses Shepherd grads." The Herald-Mail, 2009-05-16.
  7. ^ Jones, Chris. "Will a New Broom At Humana Sweep The Old Era Away?" The New York Times, 2001-03-11, p. 2.6.
  8. ^ a b c Horwitz, Jane. "Unnatural Wonders Abound at CATF." The Washington Post, 2006-07-04, p. C5.
  9. ^
    The Los Angeles Times, 2007-01-08
    , p. E3.
  10. The Los Angeles Times, 2003-01-06
    , p. E2.
  11. ^ Dresser, Richard. Better Days. p. 5.
  12. ^ Freedman, Samuel G. "Theater Fare For The Daring." The New York Times, 1984-04-27, p. C1.
  13. ^ a b Rich, Frank. "Theater: 'Parade' By Dresser." The New York Times, 1985-07-19, p. C3.
  14. ^ Koehler, Robert. "Good Plays, Bad Endings." Los Angeles Times, 1993-10-29, p. 10.
  15. New York Times, 1986-04-02
    , p. C21.
  16. ^ a b c McCulloh, T. H. "Keeping It Short and Sweet." Los Angeles Times, 1993-10-15, p. 6.
  17. ^
    New York Times, 1987-07-19
    , p. A29.
  18. New York Times, 1987-11-08
    , p. A79.
  19. ^ Sullivan, Dan. "'F.M.,' 'Downside' Beat the Odds in Long Wharf Theatre Premieres." Los Angeles Times, 1987-11-21, p.1.
  20. ^ Christiansen, Richard. "'Downside' Offers Merry Marriage Of Realism, Ridiculous." Chicago Tribune, 1990-12-09, p. 5.
  21. ^
    New York Times, 1989-08-06
    , p. A23.
  22. New York Times, 1988-03-23
    , p. C26.
  23. ^ Warren, M.E. "Making Some Giant Footprints in the Sand Way Off Broadway Steps Far Beyond Its Past Achievements With 'Alone at the Beach'." Los Angeles Times, 1991-07-26, p. 24.
  24. ^ Smith, Sid. "Time-Share In A Bottle: Griffin Theatre's 'Alone At The Beach' A Breezy Celebration Of Endless Summer." Chicago Tribune, 1992-05-21, p. 10.
  25. New York Times, 1993-06-27
    , p. A19.
  26. ^
    New York Times, 1988-05-28
    , p. 1.15.
  27. ^
    New York Times, 1990-05-13
    , p. A13.
  28. ^ Smith, Sid. "Apocalyptic Vision No Laughing Matter In 'Better Days'." Chicago Tribune, 1990-07-27, p. 22.
  29. New York Times, 1991-01-24
    , p. C22.
  30. ^ Smith, Mark Chalon. "Way Off Broadway Production Will Make Anyone Feel Good About His Own Life, No Matter How Grim." Los Angeles Times, 1992-11-27, p. 1.
  31. ^
    New York Times, 1993-05-15
    , p. 1.13.
  32. ^
    New York Times, 1993-07-25
    , p. A11.
  33. ^ a b Winn, Steven. "Splurge of New Plays At Festival / Humana is Main Event in Theater." San Francisco Chronicle, 1995-04-05, p. E1.
  34. Wall Street Journal, 1996-03-20
    , p. A12.
  35. ^ Swisher, Kara. "A Hit 'Below the Belt'." The Washington Post, 1997-07-19, p. F2.
  36. ^ a b Sodergren, Rebecca. "Theater Fest Offers Plays and Puppets." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1998-07-08, p. D5.
  37. ^ Phillips, Michael. "At The Dramateria, Small Bites Prove Best." The San Diego Union-Tribune, 1997-04-09, p. E7.
  38. New York Times, 1998-02-04
    , p. E5.
  39. ^ Newmark, Judith. "So Many Plays, So Little Time; But Humana Festival Is Worth It." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1999-03-28, p. F3.
  40. ^ a b Rose, Lloyd. "New-Play Festival Raises The Curtain on Women." The Washington Post, 2000-07-11, p. C1.
  41. New York Times, 1999-06-27
    , p. 14LI.10.
  42. ^ a b c Boehm, Mike. "Growing Into the Part; Barbara Tarbuck Confronts Issues of Aging for a Laguna Stage Role." Los Angeles Times, 2001-07-27, p. F24.
  43. ^ a b Boehm, Mike. "'Rounding Third,' to Crowd's Cheers." Los Angeles Times, 2003-01-05, p. E42.
  44. ^ a b Horwitz, Jane. "Thinking Big at Ford's; New Producing Director Wants To Expand Theater's Range." The Washington Post, 2004-05-25, p. C5.
  45. ^ De Poyen, Jennifer. "Globe '03: Less Rooted, More Modern." The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2002-10-21, p. D3.
  46. New York Times, 2003-10-08
    , p. E12.
  47. ^
    New York Times, 2003-11-20
    , p. E1.
  48. Boston Globe, 2006-09-17
    , p. 9.
  49. ^ "Pros Tee Up Superstars." The Washington Post, 2007-07-06, p. T3.
  50. ^
    Boston Globe, 2009-01-19
    , p. G6.
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