The Playwrights Database
DONNIE HORN
(1954 - )Nationality: USA
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Donald l Horn aka Donnie is a playwright, author, director and producer (of well over 225 theatrical productions in the past 27 years) and the founder of triangle productions!, a theatre company established in 1989 and based in Portland, Oregon. He has written over fifteen plays and musicals, including '69-The Sexual Revolution Musical (which won two Portland Area Music Theatre Awards for Best Songs) and the musical about Gracie Hansen, Gracie - a musical adventure (which was nominated for four PAMTA's including Best Original work). His musical Ari-Maria about Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas premiered in Portland in 2013. In 2014, he premiered a new work about Native American jazz great Jim Pepper - The Jim Pepper Project. This has received major funding including National Endowment for the Arts to tour throughout the State of Oregon in 2015. He has also written and produced a musical based upon the legendary Portland theatre, Storefront entitled Storefront Revue: The Babes are BACK! Future projects are Trans-FORMATION (a play about Christine Jorgensen) and a musical Sex on the River (about infamous Nancy Boggs). He has authored over ten books. His first was his autobiography entitled: Crumbs of Love (and that's all you'll ever get), and has just published the sequel, Pinch Me. His second book, Agapi Mou (my beloved), is part love story, heartache and historical fiction about the Island of Zakynthos, Greece. In 2011 he wrote three books: Gracie (a biography about Gracie Hansen), Gracie Hansen's PARADISE and Lost History of Oregon: A hotel by the name of Hoyt. His murder/mystery series How Do You Say Murder in Greek? Is based on his favorite island in Greece, Zakynthos (and where he owns a home) and tries to solve a twenty-five year old murder. He is a father of two boys (Jason and Nathan), stepfather of three (Shawnee, Trisha and Sammy), a grandfather to Zackary and a step grandfather to eight more! He and his partner divide their time between homes in Portland, Oregon, Lincoln City, Oregon, Palm Springs, California, and Zakynthos, Greece. He holds a BA and MBA from City University in Seattle, Washington and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Willamette Writers and Women of the West.
Research: Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)
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below is a list of Donnie Horn's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
. . .tell momma, goodbye. . . '69 - the sexual revolution musical After the Rain Ari-Maria Dishin' with Divine Don't Know the Colour of Rainbows Gracie Jim Pepper Project, The Night with Day (the life and times of Billie Holiday) Soph: An evening with a red hot mama Storefront Revue: The Babes are BACK! Trans-FORMATION. . .tell momma, goodbye. . .
Synopsis:
Premiering in 1990 at the Women, Children and HIV Conference in Portland Oregon with approximately 500 people in attendance, this two act play was written during the run of After the Rain in response to a woman who asked the playwright, "Why are all plays, movies, even books - in fact all media concentrate on men and AIDS. Doesn't anyone realize that women and children suffer from this disease as well?" Nominated for Oregon Book Award - Best New Play.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Firehouse Theatre - Portland Oregon
Sep 1990
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
AIDS, full length play
Parts:
Male: - Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page'69 - the sexual revolution musical
Synopsis:
Time: 1969. The musical is a take-off on all the sex books of the day Everything you wanted to know about Sex to Coffee, Tea, or Me. It even spoofs the variety show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. It all begins with a marriage in trouble - the husband brings the television into their bedroom and the wife wants sex - or at least no distractions to obtain sex. With all original songs and some even from songwriter Marv Ross (Quaterflash - Harden My Heart fame) this show is bouncy entertainment and a look back on the sexual revolution. This show was nominated for five awards and won for two; songs "Perverts" and "We'll be fine".
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Artists Repertory Theatre - Portland Oregon
Aug 2010
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
Createspace. 2010 978-1452873374
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 3 Other: band
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageAfter the Rain
Synopsis:
Year 1990. The AIDS crises is in full swing and the theatre brings it to the forefront with many plays, however, most deat with those who had died; but what about the many left to deal with the aftermath? After the Rain sought to show the end of one life and how the balance of those left behind and how it affected their worlds. The parents who felt that they had been robbed of their son because of another having sex with him; the partner who struggles to find some solace in his own life and the 'fag hag' friend, Patti who decides the best way to live life is to celebrate it.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Firehouse Theatre - Portland Oregon
Apr 1990
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
Rain City Projects - Seattle Washington (1990) -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
AIDS, full length play
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageAri-Maria
Synopsis:
The love affair between Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis and opera legend Maria Callas fills many pages in books, magazines and various movies, but never once on stage. This musical begins the night they meet in Milan where Aristotle is famously heard to say, "Ah, so the two famous Greeks meet" to the night Aristotle marries widowed first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy. Nominated for four awards including Best Original Musical and Outstanding song, "But a Woman".
Notes:
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1st Produced:
The Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza - Portland Oregon
May 2013
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
Createspace. 2013 978-1484947487
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 4 Other: band
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageDishin' with Divine
Synopsis:
Harris Milstead has been offered the role to play Peg Bundy's "Uncle Otto" on the FOX television show Married with Children. Harris, better known under his drag name Divine had fought for years to be recognized as an actor, and he had begun to accomplish this by just appearing as a man in the movie Trouble in Mind. This play takes place right after the first rehearsal on the television show and Harris has gone to his hotel room to relax before tomorrow's big shoot. He recounts his life as an only child growing up in Baltimore (Maryland), being 'discovered' by film director John Waters and the fame that followed. Harris will die later that night of heart failure. The play was nominated for an Oregon Book Award for Best New Play and as well as a local theatrical awards for Best Original Play. The play was toured to San Francisco (Theatre Rhinoceros Studio) and Seattle (Velvet Elvis Lounge).
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Portland Repertory Theatre - Portland Oregon
Jan 1995
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
Rain City Projects - Seattle Washington (1995) -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageDon't Know the Colour of Rainbows
Synopsis:
The final play in Donnie's trilogy of plays dealing with devastating health issues (After the Rain and "...tell momma, goodbye..." being the other two). The title is a bit disjointed as this play deals with Alzheimer's disease. All seem to be all right with grandpa until one day his granddaughter notices something - is she wrong? So, she asks him to play a game with her, counting backwards from 10 and when he can't successfully do it, she hugs him and says that everything is all right - but she knows it is not. Heart breaking and full of love, this play deals with a subject of Alzheimer's way before it became headline news.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Theatre Paris - Portland Oregon
Nov 1992
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
AIDS, full length play
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageGracie
Synopsis:
This musical honors Gracie Hansen from her days in a small town in Washington state at the base of Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens called Morton where she ran a liquor store and was the ring leader for the Morton Follies. After the Follies closed because of some logger's indecent exposure, Gracie went to Seattle in 1961 to seek fame (which she did) opening a 'night club' pavilion at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. After the fair closed she moved to Portland Oregon and ran a 5,000 seat night club entitled "Gracie Hansen's Roaring 20's Room". By 1970 she got antsy and ran for Governor of Oregon where she came in third; wrote a book Horoscope for Swingers and then moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in television and movies. The show was nominated for four awards including Best Original Show and Best Original Score.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
The Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza - Portland Oregon
May 2012
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
Createspace. 2012 978-1477451021
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
musical adventure
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 6 Other: band
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageJim Pepper Project, The
Synopsis:
Jim Pepper was the first Native American who fused Native American tribal chants with jazz music. Duke Ellington's sister Ruth had stated that most of the credit had been given to African American's for jazz, but she truly felt it should have been given to the Native American. This 45-minute piece takes the audience from the time Jim was a young man, visiting his grandfather in Oklahoma and hearing stories and chants to the end of Jim's life. Along the way the audience will experience stories of The Trail of Tears and songs such as Swing Low, Sweet Chariot to Amazing Grace sung in Cherokee. Jim was proficient on flute, saxophone and trumpet and his song, Everything Is Everything - Witchi Tai To is the only song of this type to reach Billboard's Top 100 chart (1969). In 2015, through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and local foundations, The Jim Pepper Project toured to the Nine Federally Recognized Tribes within the State of Oregon.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
The Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza - Portland Oregon
08 May 2014
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageNight with Day (the life and times of Billie Holiday)
Synopsis:
Time: March 1959 Event: Billie's last recording session which was for the MGM label; less than five months later on July 17, 1959 she died in a New York City hospital room. Billie arrives late, knowing that she may get fired, thanks the engineer for waiting for her and through that session she records and reminisces about her life. However, her energy begins to wane and she leaves to go to the bathroom. When she returns she appears to have gained a new zest for the recording, but what gave her the zest was the hit of heroin in the bathroom. This is the last recording session Billie ever attended. This show was nominated for two awards; one for Best Actress in a Musical and for Outstanding Achievement as a Director.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Jimmy Mak's Jazz Club - Portland Oregon
11 Mar 2009
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: 1 Other: 1 pianist
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageSoph: An evening with a red hot mama
Synopsis:
Sophie Tucker was a bawdy singer, writer and very Jewish. Portland actresses Wendy Westerwelle and Vana O'Brien traveled to New York, went through the Billy Rose Theatrical Library and wrote Soph: The Last of the Red Hot Mama's in 1984. It became a hit in Portland, played along the west coast and landed in Los Angeles playing for two years. However, playwright Donnie felt that the original two and one half hour show was a bit too long for audiences. With permission from both revamped it down to 90 minutes. Actress Wendy Westerwelle was nominated for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Sophie Tucker.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
CoHo Theatre - Portland Oregon
2010
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: 1 Other: 1 pianist
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageStorefront Revue: The Babes are BACK!
Synopsis:
Storefront Theatre Company was, for 21 years one of the most influential theatre companies in Oregon and some say on the west coast of America. It sprung out of the 1969 Kent State riots that spread throughout all the major college campuses in America. The musical relives the beginning, the rise and the ultimate demise of this iconic theatre company. It honors the founders Tom Hill (Never Ending Story fame) and Anne Gerety along with the theatres contribution to American theatre. Songs range from "I've Been Waiting For Your Phone Call for 18 years" to a snippet of "Give Peace A Chance". Storefront was nominated for Best Original Musical, Best Original Song "Don't Get In That Car" and Best Original Orchestration.
Notes:
music by Teddy Deane
1st Produced:
The Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza. Portland, OR 97232
07 May 2015
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 4 Other: band
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageTrans-FORMATION
Synopsis:
This play is based on the life of George/Christine Jorgensen Jr. Ranging from 1945, when George Jorgensen was drafted into the military to 1952. It then moves to Denmark where George seeks and receives two sex change surgeries and then returns to America amidst much fan-fare.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
[Staged Reading] The Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza - Portland Oregon
2016
Organisations:
triangle productions!
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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