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Mark Kemble

MARK KEMBLE  

 Nationality:    n/a
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Abrams Artists Agency  


Mark Kemble is an award winning writer - director originally from Providence, Rhode Island. In 1995 his world premier play about the Hollywood Blacklist, the multi-award winning show Names, played to sold out audiences at the Matrix Theater and was Critic's Choice in every major newspaper, including the Los angeles Times. In the spring of 1997 Daryl Roth (Three Tall Women, Camping With Henry and Tom) produced the New York off-Broadway offering of Names, directed by Mr. Kemble. It had an extended run at the american Jewish Theater. Notable New York critic, Clive Barnes, called names a better play than Odets' The Big Knife. The first revival of Names highlighted the celebration honoring the hundred year anniversary of the birth of Lee Strasberg. The play ran from November 2001 through several extensions, closing in March of 2002 in Los angeles at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, under the direction of adam Davidson. Names is being developed as a feature film. Mark also wrote the stage adaptation of Hayam Maccoby's BBC tele-play, The Disputation, which received extended runs at the Tiffany Theater in Los angeles and at the University Of Judaism, before running off-Broadway at the Jewish american Theater. a London production followed in November 2001. Other produced plays include, Humans From Earth, Special Delivery and In a Family Way, which were written while Mark was a member of the Mark Taper Forum Mentor Playwrights Lab. His play, a Comfortable Truth, about pedophilia in the priesthood, premiered in Los angeles in 2004 to controversial reviews. Mark co-wrote and co-directed with James Eric, Hercules On Normandie, which enjoyed a successful run at the Greenway Court Theater in the summer of 2006. Mr. Kemble co-wrote and produced the HBO film, Race, written with Tom Musca, (Stand and Deliver, Money For Nothing). Race was nominated for the Imagen award in 1999. another film, Facing Fear, written by Kemble, Musca and Noel Quinones and starring Dean Cain (Lois and Clark), Talisa Soto (License To Kill) and Miguel Sandoval (Clear and Present Danger) opened in Los angeles in January, 2001. Facing Fear won Best Family Feature at the 2000 Hollywood Film Festival. The film continues its run on SHOWTIME. Plays and films in development by Mr. Kemble are Bad Hurt On Cedar Street, a Woman Not Loved, Snow Soldiers, Joan Of L.a., Terminal Bliss, Munoz, The Halo-Effect and Floaters. Mark has appeared on panels during U.C.L.a. career week for the School Of Film and Theater, lectured at Rhode Island School Of Design, and taught writing and acting in Los angeles. He is a member of the actors Studio Playwright/Director Unit.

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below is a list of Mark Kemble's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

 Bad Hurt On Cedar Street     Comfortable Truth, A     Disputation     Hercules On Normandie     Humans From Earth     In A Family Way     Names     One Man Heresy     Special Delivery

Bad Hurt On Cedar Street

Synopsis:
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1st Produced:
Lumia Theatre, 179 Broadway in Long Branch, New Jersey (reading)    2006

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -    Female:  -    Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Comfortable Truth, A

Synopsis:
a play about a pedophile priest and the young adult man who undergoes therapy to come to a comfortable truth.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, Los angeles    2001

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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
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Genre:
Play/Drama. - - Gay/Lesbian, of interest

Parts:
Male:  -    Female:  2    Other:  choir

Further Reference:
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Disputation

Synopsis:
a play about a famous disputation between Moses ben Nachman and Pablo Christiani in aragon, in 1263.

Notes:
Written by Hyam Maccoby, Mark Kemble is credited with "additional Writing"

1st Produced:
Tiffany Theater    1993

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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/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4    Female:  1    Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Hercules On Normandie

Synopsis:
a gay hip-hop artists is on the run being pursued by the police and homophobes

Notes:
Written with James Eric

1st Produced:
Greenway Court Theater, Los angeles    2006

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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/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -    Female:  -    Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Humans From Earth

Synopsis:
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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/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -    Female:  -    Other:  -

Further Reference:
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In A Family Way

Synopsis:
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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/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -    Female:  -    Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Names

Synopsis:
a play about the leading members of the Group Theater who await the arrival of Elia Kazan to find he will cooperate with HUaC and name names

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Matrix Theater in Los angeles    1995

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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/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -    Female:  -    Other:  -

Further Reference:
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One Man Heresy

Synopsis:
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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/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1    Female:  -    Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Special Delivery

Synopsis:
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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/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -    Female:  -    Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Apart from very popular and world touring productions, many performing arts events are largely forgotten about in a matter of months. Traces may remain in various collections, but few collecting agencies, such as libraries, catalogue each flyer or program individually. Hence, unless one knows that an event took place at a certain time in a certain place, tracking down such an event as part of a research project is often a matter of chance. Where research needs to be carried out on high profile and well-documented productions only, this is not a problem. However, both the historian and the analyst will attest that the cultural, political, or sociological context in which a performing arts event takes place is also of major importance, as are the other events that took place in close proximity, either in place or time. A good overview of such productions provides us with a 'social document' that can greatly enhance cultural studies in ways that extend far beyond the narrow confines of theatre history. For instance, data such as this can be used to monitor the health of communities, particularly when used in association with data obtained from other social science disciplines. When one researches a particular playwright one might want to know about all the productions of plays by that author; if one wants to investigate what choices a particular audience had over a period of history and compare this to, say, an ethnic breakdown of the population, one would need to know broadly all the events that took place during that time. If one wanted to do a statistical analysis on the shift in popularity of a genre over one or more generations, it is important to have knowledge of most of the relevant major and minor performance events that took place. In this context, issues of aesthetic quality and the professionalism of a production - which will of course have an impact on such studies - are not the determining factors when deciding to include or exclude events, since all events are the raw material for such research.