Biography of James D Waedekin

James D. Waedekin is an award-winning playwright whose scripts and productions Blue Plains (The Story Of Georgia O'Keeffe, Canyon, Texas, 1918), Chicken Chokin' Time, Dream Book and Side Stream have been honored by Dramalogue, Los Angeles Cultural Affairs, Colorado Theatreworks 14th Annual Playwrights Forum, American College Theatre Festival and Writers' Digest Magazine. Notably, his play Blue Plains was one of five finalists for the National Repertory Theatre Foundation's National Play Award for 1999-2000. His work has appeared at UCLA, West Coast Theatre Ensemble, Theatre of Note and the Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, the Chicago Playwrights Center, The Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia, and the Writers' Theatre, Miranda Theatre Company, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, and York Theatre in New York City, and the Edinburgh Theatre Festival in Scotland.Waedekin's musical Urban Myths (Music/Lyrics John Bucchino) was produced regionally at Stage One, in Wichita, and spotlighted nationally in New York City's Barrymore Theatre at the 1998 National Alliance for Musical Theatre Fall Festival. Lavender Girl, a one-act musical (Music/Lyrics John Bucchino) premiered in October of 2000 at the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia as part of the show 3HREE, conceived by Harold Prince. 3HREE won The 2001 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical by The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. Produced by Center Theatre Group, 3HREE opened in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson Theatre in April of 2001. In the Fall of 2001 it received 5 OVATION Award nominations (LA's equivalent to New York's TONYS.) It was recently presented at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival by the Royal Academy of Drama and Music in Scotland. The original cast album for 3HREE is available on DRG records. His play Christmas in April has been published by Eldridge Publishing, under the title The Invisible J. Michael Hess. To date it has had 17 productions nationwide.His play Dream Book was presented at the Nashville Performing Arts Center, produced by Nashville Theatre Works, through the generous support of organizations including Equity Fights AIDS, with all proceeds supporting Nashville Cares.Waedekin earned a BFA in Journalism (Public Relations)/Theatre from the University of Oklahoma. He earned his MFA in Playwriting from UCLA. He earned his secondary teaching Clear CLAD Credential in English/Drama Instruction from Loyola Marymount University. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild.