Allan Havis

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 and Harold Pinter.

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).[1] 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.[2] His first opera libretto, Lilith (music by Anthony Davis), had its world premiere at the Conrad Prebys Music Center in UC San Diego on 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. His second opera with Anthony Davis, Lear on the 2nd Floor, had a showcase presentation at Princeton's Lewis Center for the Arts in March 2012.

Havis 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.[3] His wife, Julia Fulton, is an actor and college professor. They have two children.[4]

Dramatic works

  • Arthur and Joe (2012) [5]
  • Lear on the 2nd Floor (opera 2012)
  • Arrow to the Heart (2010)
  • Lilith (opera 2009)
  • The Tutor (2008)
  • Restless Spirits (2006)
  • The Haunting of Jim Crow (2005)
  • Three Nights in Prague (2004)
  • Private Parties (2003)
  • Nuevo California (with Bernardo Solano 2003)
  • Misjudgment of Paris (2002)
  • A Jew on Ethiopia Street (2001)
  • The Gift (1999)
  • Sainte Simone (1996)
  • A Vow of Silence (1994)
  • Ladies of Fisher Cove (1993)
  • A Daring Bride (1990)
  • Lilith (1990)
  • Hospitality (1988)
  • Haut Gout (1987)
  • Morocco (1986)
  • Mink Sonata (1985)
  • Holy Wars (1984)
  • Family Rites (1980)
  • Interludes (1978)

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "American Political Plays", University of Illinois.
  2. ↑ "American Political Plays after 9/11", Southern Illinois University Press.
  3. ↑ "UCSD Theatre & Dance: Faculty > Allan Havis". UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
  4. ↑ Jan Jennings and Dolores Davies (May 22, 2006). "Educator/Playwright Allan Havis Appointed Provost of Thurgood Marshall College at UCSD". University of California, San Diego. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
  5. ↑ "Playwrights Process at Cygnet", Charlene and Brenda in the Blogosphere, October 1, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Allan Havis - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation". Drama & Performance Art. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 1987. Retrieved 13 February 2010.

External links