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Philip Middleton Williams

PHILIP MIDDLETON WILLIAMS   (1952 - )

Nationality:   USA    Email:   Click here to contact    Website:   n/a

Literary Agent:  n/a

Philip Middleton Williams was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Perrysburg, Ohio. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drama from the University of Miami in 1974, a Master of Fine Arts in playwriting from the University of Minnesota in 1977, and a Ph.D. in theatre from the University of Colorado in 1988. His first play, The Hunter, was produced at the University of Minnesota in April 1977 as a part of his master's degree requirements. In 1979 he entered the teaching profession and then went on to graduate studies at the University of Colorado in 1982. He directed a production of The Hunter at the University of Colorado in 1984. His other plays include Dark Twist, staged by The Nomad Players in Boulder in 1986, and The Purer, Brighter Years, which premiered at the Old Town Playhouse in Traverse City, Michigan in 1992. Here's Hoping was commissioned by Northern Michigan Planned Parenthood for the Troupe Teen Theatre Company as a part of their AIDS education out-reach program for World AIDS Day in 1994. Other works include The Campers Strike Back (with Fred Kahn), Men At Ski Hi, The Return of the J.C., and A Mountain Home Companion, written for Cheley Colorado Camps, and South Valley Shorts, a collection of short pieces (Acting Exercise Alpha, Gallery, Keyboards, and Waiting for Bro), written while he was teaching at South Valley Charter School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His latest play, Can't Live Without You, was presented in a staged reading at the University of Miami in 2005. He has also written numerous pieces of short fiction and has a novel, Bobby Cramer, in progress. In 1992 he was appointed to the national advisory board of the William Inge Theatre Festival. McFarland and Company published his doctoral thesis, A Comfortable House - Lanford Wilson, Marshall W. Mason and the Circle Repertory Theatre, in 1993. He wrote five articles on the life and works of Lanford Wilson for the The Facts on File Companion to American Drama, edited by Jackson R. Bryer and Mary C. Hartig, published in 2003. He wrote a book called A Comfortable House  Lanford Wilson, Marshall W. Mason, and the Circle Repertory Theatre Company. It is a doctoral dissertation on the playwright/director relationship between Wilson and Mason and their work on the Talley plays; Fifth of July, Talley's Folly, and Talley & Son. It was published in 1993 by McFarland & Company (ISBN 0-89950-836-7). He has been a member of The Dramatists Guild since 1984.

Plays by Philip Middleton Williams

Can't Live Without You

1st Produced:

University of Miami (reading)

2005

Company:

n/a

1st Published:

I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page.

ISBN/ASIN:

-

Music:

-

doollee no

#76977

To Buy This Play:

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Genre:

Romantic Comedy - 2 acts Comedy

Parts:

Male

3

Female

2

Parts other:

-

Notes:

New York premiere at Manhattan Repertory Theatre, NY, USA, >>> on the 23, 25 & 26th January as a part of the Manhattan Rep's Winterfest 2008 program.

Synopsis:

Donny Hollenbeck is a successful writer of romance novels (under the pen name of "Amanda Longington") living calmly and quietly in the Florida Keys with his girlfriend, Anna, a successful realtor. Both have what they think is their dream life. To make things even better, Donny's agent Barbara arrives to tell him that he could make even more money turning his bodice-rippers into made-for-TV movies. But then, as if by magic, Bobby Cramer appears. He is the main character in the novel that Donny was writing when he hit the big time with the romance novels. Bobby asks Donny: "Why have you left me in a file folder in the bottom of your desk drawer? I'd like to know what happened to me." This leads to a hilarious series of confrontations between the flesh-and-blood author and his fictional character who is, in many ways, the guy Donny wishes he could be. Meanwhile, Anna begins to look at her life and wonders if just selling real estate is all there is for her. She'd like to start a family. So Donny must choose between Anna and their comfortable life or Bobby and the unknown world of being a writer of his own stories.

Further Reference:

-


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Dark Twist

1st Produced:

Nomads Theatre, Boulder, Colorado

1986

Company:

Nomad Players, Boulder, Colorado

1st Published:

I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page.

ISBN/ASIN:

-

Music:

-

doollee no

#76974

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

 

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abebooks.co.uk

stageplays.com

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Genre:

2 acts Play/Drama

Parts:

Male

3

Female

-

Parts other:

-

Notes:

-

Synopsis:

Two former students return to their New England boarding school to become teachers. They relive their struggles and rivalries with one of their old teachers who is serving as their mentor.

Further Reference:

-


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Here's Hoping

1st Produced:

Petoskey High School, Petoskey, Michigan

1994

Company:

Troupe Teen Theatre, Petoskey, Michigan

1st Published:

I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page.

ISBN/ASIN:

-

Music:

-

doollee no

#76976

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

 

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abebooks.co.uk

stageplays.com

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

Genre:

One Act

Parts:

Male

3

Female

3

Parts other:

-

Notes:

Written for World AIDS Day 1994 and used as an informational and teaching tool by students.

Synopsis:

An AIDS support group meets in a church basement to counsel and share their hopes and fears.

Further Reference:

-


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Hunter, The

1st Produced:

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

1977

Company:

n/a

1st Published:

I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page.

ISBN/ASIN:

-

Music:

-

doollee no

#76851

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

 

abebooks.com
abebooks.co.uk

stageplays.com

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

Genre:

2 acts Mystery

Parts:

Male

10

Female

-

Parts other:

-

Notes:

The original script was extensively revised in 1984 and produced at the University of Colorado.

Synopsis:

Six students and four teachers are on a wilderness survival course in Colorado. One of the students dies in an accident and the students are convinced that the teachers are trying to kill them.

Further Reference:

-


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Purer, Brighter Years, The

1st Produced:

Old Towne Playhouse, Traverse City, Michigan

1992

Company:

n/a

1st Published:

I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page.

ISBN/ASIN:

-

Music:

-

doollee no

#76975

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

 

abebooks.com
abebooks.co.uk

stageplays.com

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

Genre:

2 acts Play/Drama

Parts:

Male

2

Female

2

Parts other:

-

Notes:

The main character is the narrator from "The Hunter," some five years after the events in that play.

Synopsis:

After spending a winter alone in his grandmother's summer home in Michigan, Lee Simmons (the narrator from "The Hunter") comes to terms with his past and his future, as does his elderly grandmother and his pregnant sister.

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.