Allan Havis (born 1951) is a playwright with pronounced political themes and probes on colliding cultures. His works range from minimal language texts to ambiguous, ironic narratives that delineate the genesis, paradoxes, and seduction of evil. Several of his dramas involve Jewish identity, cultural alienation, and universal problems of racism. His literary influences come, in part, from August Strindberg [1] and Harold Pinter.[2] In addition to his plays, Havis wrote a novel for children, Albert the Astronomer (Harper & Row, 1979; ISBN 0-06-022242-5). He edited an anthology for University of Illinois Press- American Political Plays (2001; ISBN 0-252-07000-3). Fifteen Havis plays are published in editions by Broadway Play Publishing Inc., Theatre Communications Group, Penguin/Mentor, and University of Illinois. His book Cult Films: Taboo and Transgression ( University Press of America, 2008; ISBN 0-7618-3967-4) covers ninety years of cinema. Southern Illinois University Press published his next edited anthology 2010, "American Political Plays after 9/11". His first opera libretto, "Lilith" (music by Anthony Davis) had its world premiere at the Conrad Prebys Music Center in UC San Diego December 4, 2009. The chamber opera, based on his play, highlights Adam's first wife of supernatural proportion and partly staged in a modern era.
He has an MFA from Yale Drama School (1980), has headed for many years the MFA playwriting program at University of California, San Diego, and became Provost of Thurgood Marshall College, UC San Diego in 2006.[1] His wife, Julia Fulton, is an actor and college professor. They have two children.[2]
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