Victor Bumbalo
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| Victor Bumbalo | |
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| Born | 1948 |
Victor Bumbalo (born 1948) is an American actor and playwright.
Bumbalo grew up in a working-class Italian family in Utica, New York, where he attended public high school. Bumbalo went away to college at age seventeen to Plattsburgh State University, the first member of his immediate family to get beyond twelfth grade. He graduated from the Masters Program in Theater at Bennington College in June of 1967, after studying writing under Bernard Malamud. Coming to New York City, Bumbalo became immersed in the newly born Off- and Off-Off Broadway theater movement. He managed to get Joseph Papp to provide costumes for a very independent production of OEDIPUS REX. He directed the American premiere of Mrozek's THE ENCHANTED NIGHT. As artistic director of the Soul and LatinTheater, one of the first successful street theaters, his productions toured the streets of New York for three consecutive summers (1968-1970). Then came work as a guest director for Bennington College and Adelphi University. In the mid-1970s Bumbalo wrote with a partner, Judy Engles. They completed a screenplay, material for comedy groups, and a play, CLASS ACT, which had a successful run at the Cubiculo Theater. But as a gay man by 1979 he felt the need to put the lives of gay men and lesbians on the stage. He wrote KITCHEN DUTY, and it was produced by John Glines. This play dealt with being obviously gay, unable to "pass" and being in a relationship that fell apart because one partner was "too gay." In the winter of 1982 he received his first of two MacDowell Fellowships. Next he wrote AFTER ELEVEN which examines a successful long-term gay relationship. Then came NIAGARA FALLS, a comedy about a working class family's reaction to their gay son and his lover arriving unexpectedly for his sister's wedding. This play has enjoyed a long active life, playing in both mainstreamand alternative theaters. Then the era of AIDS began. Eventually almost everyone involved with KITCHEN DUTY died. He volunteered with GMHC. He supported Lambda Legal Defense. He worked for the Anti-Violence Project. And he tried to avoid writing. Finally, confronting his demons, in 1987 an Ingram Merrill Award allowed him to complete ADAM AND THE EXPERTS, his first play dealing with AIDS. It was about his friend, the novelist and journalist, George Whitmore, and Bumbalo, and their search for a way out of the nightmare. He found there could be laughter in the pain. Even if the laughter only lasted a moment, it was a moment of relief, a moment of life. Bumbalo put a death on stage and had the audience act as a witness of affirming love. After the successful off-broadway run the play has had numerous productions in the United States and Canada.
From 1980 to 1995, Bumbalo supported his writing by coaching actors in his own studio. He also taught at The Cooper Union as an adjunct professor in the Engineering School. During this period he received fellowships at Yaddo and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. In 1991 he served on the playwriting committee for the Massachusetts State Arts Council. WHAT ARE TUESDAYS LIKE? was an outgrowth of his work with the People With AIDS Theater. Following a set of strangers in the waiting room of an AIDS clinic overseveral months, Bumbalo was able to expand the world of HIV beyond the usual cast of gay white men and include a woman of color, exploring class, gender, and race. In the summer of 1993 the play was selected for the Carnegie Mellon Showcase of New Plays. The actor/producer Dan Lauria introduced WHAT ARE TUESDAYS LIKE? in Los Angeles in the winter of 1994 at a staged-reading at the Westwood Playhouse. The Contemporary American Theater Festival chose the work for its 1994 summer season. The play has had productions throughout the United States and in Germany, Japan, England, and Sweden.Bumbalo wrote other plays during this period: SHOW, which was included in the collection Best American Short Plays of 1992-1993, TELL, and AND THEN. All these one-acts deal either directly or indirectly with the epidemic and continue to find productions and audiences in both the straight and gay communities. In 1995, David Milch, executive producer of NYPD BLUE, having seen the reading of WHAT ARE TUESDAYS LIKE?, invited Bumbalo to write an episode for his series. He moved from New York to Los Angeles.
The success of his NYPD BLUE episode led to a staff writing position on AMERICAN GOTHIC's 1995-1996 season. Since then he has written several movies of the week and a number of episodes for network television series. In addition, Bumbalo wrote for HBO's animated series SPAWN. In April of 2005, QUESTA opened at the Court Theatre in Los Angeles. The play was produced by David Milch and starred Wendie Malick, Dan Lauria, and Dorian Harewood. The wider canvas he began to explore in TUESDAYS became even wider as he wrote about gay, straight, male, female, white, black, the homed and the homeless. “The rehearsals and run of this show provided some of the best times I have ever spent in the theater. It is amazing how stagework can surprise and inspire and rejuvenate one.”said Bumbalo. Bumbalo is a 2007 finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for his play QUESTA.
Publications
QUESTA, Broadway Play Publishing, 2006
WHAT ARE TUESDAYS LIKE? appears in the anthology, The Actor's Book of Gay and Lesbian Plays, Penguin Books, 1995
WHAT ARE TUESDAYS LIKE? appears in the anthology, Sharing the Delirium: Seco0nd Generation Aids Plays and Performances, Heinemann, 1994
SHOW appears in the anthology, Best American Short Plays 1992-1993, Applause Theatre Book Publishers, 1993
TELL appears in the anthology, Gay and Lesbian Plays Today, Heinemann, 1993
SHOW appears in the anthology, Tough Acts to Follow, Alamo Square Press, 1992
ADAM AND THE EXPERTS, Broadway Play Publishing, 1990
NIAGARA FALLS AND OTHER PLAYS, Calamus Books, 1984 (includes KITCHEN DUTY and AFTER ELEVEN).
