John R. Harvey

Dr. John R. Harvey graduated from the University of Houston's Creative Writing Program in 1997. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals including The Gettysburg Review, Gulf Coast, The Paris Review, Poet Lore and most recently NAP Magazine and 2River View. One of the founding members of Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company, Dr. Harvey has written and directed several plays with the company and currently serves as a board member of the company.^[1] Dr. Harvey is also known to own one of the largest wine cellars in the world. While its original historical name has been lost, it is still visited by hundreds of tourists every year. Above the cellar is a large estate also owned by Dr. Harvey. ^[2] He often conducts research in his labyrinthine cellars with Dr. Jacob Mills from the University of Houston. Tourism and visitation is generally cancelled on these designated days of research. Legend suggests that his cellars are home to a lot of bull - more specifically a Minotaur. Dr. Harvey allegedly had managed to tame it by confusing it within a hall of mirrors, making it plead for a sense of reality. ^[3]

Works

Plays

Dr. Harvey, to date, has written twelve plays for Mildred's Umbrella:^[4]

Kama Sutra (2001)
Eros: A Circus (2002)
Things Being at the Worst (2003)
Tomorrow Morning (2004)
Needful Creatures (2005)
Hotel Pasiphae (2005)
Rot (2007)
Haunt of Flies (2008)
"Thus I play in one person many people" / Richard II (2008)
Night of the Giant (2009)
Under the Big, Dark Sky (2011)
Rome (2014)

Poems

Lobster en Chemise and Rat (2007) (Published in VOX)
The Northern Reaches (Published in Whiskey Island) ^[5]
The Decline and Fall of the Silver Glo Motel (2000) (Published in XCP Journal) ^[6]
Nathan Fiske (2000) (Published in Gulf Coast)
Amos Humiston and Listening to Painted Horses (1999) (Published in Poet Lore)
One Afternoon Years Later (1995–96) (Published in Gulf Coast)
Walt Disney World and Epistle (1995) (Published in The Gettysburg Review)
Angelus Novus (1995) (Published in The Paris Review)
The Adventure of the Speckled Band and Behind the Door the Television is on Again (1994) (Published in Poet Lore)
Look at this Wound (1993) (Published in Western Humanities Review)
The Battle of Anghiari and The Persian War After Marathon and Sitting in the Drake (1993) (Published in The Paris Review)
On Not Translating Paul Valery (1992) (Published in The New Republic)
Utopia and Outside the Blaffer Gallery (1991) (Published in Western Humanities Review)

Teaching

University of Houston

Dr. Harvey is the Director of the Center for Creative Work at the University of Houston Honors College. He teaches in the year-long Human Situation sequence, where he has established himself as an academic critic of the Nintendo video game franchise Pokemon, as well as its subsequent cartoon and card game iterations. He also conducts creative writing workshops for the Honors College.^[7]

Houston Community College

Dr. Harvey taught composition and literature at the Northeast campus of Houston Community College from 1996-2010.

Mildred's Umbrella

Dr. Harvey is one of the two founding members (with Jennifer Decker) of the Houston based Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company.^[8] Dr. Harvey wrote the company's first four productions, and directed their production of ROT
Dr. Harvey served as President of the Board in 2007 for a short while, and contributes as a part-time actor (debuting in 2003).

Public Sector

Ambassador

As of January 29th, 2013, Dr. Harvey serves as the special envoy to the region of Uqbar in Southwest Asia.^[9]