Jo Harvey Allen
Encyclopedia
Jo Harvey Allen is an American writer, actress, and artist, born in 1942 and raised in Lubbock, Texas
.
where she walked away from a BFA degree from Woodbury College of Design over a disputed sixty dollar fee. She studied with poets, Philip Levine
and Kenneth Rexroth
and staged her first “poetry performance” for an audience of one, mentor, dancer, filmmaker, Yvonne Rainer
.
She is a pioneer of women in radio (1960s) hosting L.A.’s Rawhide & Roses, music and talk show, on the first underground rock station, KPPC-FM, Pasadena, California
, produced by her husband of 45 years, artist/songwriter, Terry Allen. She was one of the first performance artist (1970’s) performing throughout the U.S. in alternative spaces, cafes, art galleries and museums including ’80 Langton Street, San Francisco, The New Museum, New School, N.Y.C., and the Chick-N-Burger Café, Anchorage, Alaska
.
IMDb), (CD of audio available), (play was filmed by Alan Landsbury). COUNTER ANGEL was first performed in truck stops and cafes and based on Allen’s book of photographs and interviews titled The Beautiful Waitress, (unpublished).
Other plays written and performed by Allen include: HALLY LOU, (director Jo Harvey Allen), first performed on the back of a flatbed truck, (Aspen Museum, Aspen, Colorado), (Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles, (MOCA)/Japan American Center, L.A.), (The Palace of Fine Art, San Francisco), DUCKBLIND, (director Jo Harvey Allen), (Cornet Theater, LA.), and HOMERUN, (director Jill Parker Jones), (Remembrance Through The Performing Arts, Austin, Texas/McKinny Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas). HOMERUN is currently touring.
Allen co-wrote the radio play, EVERY THREE MINUTES, (National Public Radio) with her son, Bukka Allen and collaborated with Terry Allen and their sons Bukka and Bale Allen on the play, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE TONIGHT?, (Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C.), (Theater Artand, San Francisco). She toured, starred, and co-wrote with Terry Allen and Rinde Eckert the opera, PIONEER (director, Robert Woodruff), (Spoleto, U.S.A.) music by Paul Dresher Ensemble, and starred as, “Chippy”, in DIARIES OF A WEST TEXAS HOOKER co-written with Terry Allen, music co-written by the Allens, Joe Ely
, Butch Hancock
, and Jo Carol Pierce, (American Music Theater Festival, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lincoln Center, New York), (CD, Hollywood Records, L.A. Times Pick of the Year).
Allen co-starred in Böchener’s, LEON, LENA and LENZ, (director, Joan Akalaiatis), (Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota). She starred in Terry Allen’s radio plays, BLEEDER, DUGOUT, and REUNION (all NPR productions) and in PEDAL STEEL, (NPR), (winner of the Bessie and the Isadora Duncan awards). She has also starred in Terry Allen’s musical theater works including WARBOY and the BACKBOARD BLUES, (L.A. Theater Works at Skirball Theater, L.A. The Play Is The Thing (NPR), (director, Rosalind Ayers). Other performances of WARBOY and the BACKBOARD BLUES (director, Terry Allen), Red Cat-Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex, LA.), (Wortham Theater, Houston, Texas), (Austin Museum of Art, State Theater, Austin, Texas), (Santa Monica Art Museum). JUAREZ (director, Terry Allen), (Brattle Theater, Cambridge, Massachusetts), THE EMBRACE. . .ADVANCED TO FURY, (director, Terry Allen) (Houston Museum of Contemporary Art), (University of Cal at Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA), (National Gallery of American Art, Washington, DC), play toured U.S., Australia and Europe. ANTI-RABBIT BLEEDER/A BIOGRAPHY, (director, Terry Allen), (La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, CA) and the current work-in-progress, GHOST SHIP RODEZ, (director Terry Allen), (Les Subsistences, Lyon, France) and (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), (MASS, MOCA)).
Jo Harvey Allen’s film credits include starring roles as “The Lying Woman”, in David Byrne’s cult classic, TRUE STORIES, “Mama” in the short, WHY IS THE DOG HOWLIN’ MAMA?, (Cannes), (director, Rosalind Rosen). Allen will also star as “Mama” in the soon-to-be-made feature of Rosen’s film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097272/ELYSIAN FIELDS, CBS-Pilot, (director, Joan Tewkesbury), and co-starring roles in THE CLIENT, (director, Joel Schumacher
), and as “The Sex Therapist” in FRIED GREEN TOMATOES (director, Jon Avnet
). Other co-starring credits include made- for-T.V. films, COLD SASSY TREE and SCATTERING DAD, (director, Joan Tewkesbury), FLOATING AWAY, (director, John Badham).
Allen’s character roles in numerous films include SECONDHAND LIONS,(director, Tim McCannlie); THE WENDELL BAKER STORY with Owen Wilson
, (directors, Luke Wilson
and Andrew Wilson
) and the acclaimed IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH, (directed by Oscar Winner, Paul Haggis
).
She is the author of a collection of poetry, CHEEK TO CHEEK, (Duckdown Press). Traveling exhibitions (catalogues available) of her photographs and drawings include, THE BEAUTIFUL WAITRESS, (curator, Ree Schanlau), (Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, Nebraska), 100 ARTISTS SEE SATAN, (curator, Mike McGee), (Cal State, Fullerton, CA), and 100 ARTISTS SEE GOD, (curators, John Baldessari and Meg Cranston), (Independent Curators International (ICI)). She is currently in group shows at The National Museum of Peru in Lima and at Museo de Arte Moderno in Trujillo, Peru (curator, Gus Kapriva).
Allen has been a visiting professor at San Diego State University
and Visiting Artist and Lecturer at many universities including The San Francisco Art Institute
, UCLA, NYU, The Art Institute of Chicago, University of Texas and The Architectural Institute of London. She co-hosted with Governor Ann Richards
, The First Texas Funny Women’s Symposium.
Jo Harvey and her husband Terry have two grandsons, Sled and Calder and live with their dogs in Santa Fe, New Mexico
and Marfa, Texas
.
She is the recipient of The National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, ART MATTERS grants and has received wide critical acclaim.
The Wendell Baker Story
Secondhand Lions
Screen Door Jesus
All The Pretty Horses
Why Is The Dog Howlin' Mama? (Cannes 2001)
Waking Up In Reno
True Stories
Fried Green Tomatoes
The Client
Checking Out
Mi Amigo
Floundering
Motorist
The Outfitters (Sundance 1999)
Fool’s Gold (Sundance 1999)
Tapeheads
Cold Sassy Tree
Scattering Dads
Floating Away
The Lazarus Man
Charlie Rose
Warboy and the Backboard Blues*
Homerun*
An Evening with Terry and Jo Harvey Allen
Chippy*
Pioneer*
The Embrace ...Advance To Fury*
Duckblind*
Hally Lou*
Anti-Rabbit Bleeder/A Biography*
Do You Know Where Your Children Are Tonight?*
Resurrection
Juarez
Leon, Lena & Lenz
A Moment’s Hesitation
Counter Angel*
As it is in Texas*
* Denotes, Original Production and National Tour
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
.
Education
In 1961, she married renowned artist and singer Terry Allen and moved to Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
where she walked away from a BFA degree from Woodbury College of Design over a disputed sixty dollar fee. She studied with poets, Philip Levine
Philip Levine (poet)
Philip Levine is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for over thirty years at the English Department of California State University, Fresno and held teaching positions at other universities as well...
and Kenneth Rexroth
Kenneth Rexroth
Kenneth Rexroth was an American poet, translator and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement...
and staged her first “poetry performance” for an audience of one, mentor, dancer, filmmaker, Yvonne Rainer
Yvonne Rainer
Yvonne Rainer is an American dancer, choreographer and filmmaker, whose work in these disciplines is frequently challenging and experimental. Her work is classified as minimalist art.- Early life :...
.
She is a pioneer of women in radio (1960s) hosting L.A.’s Rawhide & Roses, music and talk show, on the first underground rock station, KPPC-FM, Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
, produced by her husband of 45 years, artist/songwriter, Terry Allen. She was one of the first performance artist (1970’s) performing throughout the U.S. in alternative spaces, cafes, art galleries and museums including ’80 Langton Street, San Francisco, The New Museum, New School, N.Y.C., and the Chick-N-Burger Café, Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
.
Film and stage work
Jo Harvey Allen is best known, however, for her work in film and for her one woman plays which she has toured extensively including off-Broadway productions written and performed by Allen of A MOMENT’S HESITATION, (director Allen), AS IT IS IN TEXAS, (director Ellen Sabastian), and COUNTER ANGEL, (director Joan TewkesburyJoan Tewkesbury
Joan Tewkesbury is an American film and television director, screenwriter, producer and actress. She had a long association with Robert Altman, writing two of his most acclaimed films, Nashville and Thieves Like Us...
IMDb), (CD of audio available), (play was filmed by Alan Landsbury). COUNTER ANGEL was first performed in truck stops and cafes and based on Allen’s book of photographs and interviews titled The Beautiful Waitress, (unpublished).
Other plays written and performed by Allen include: HALLY LOU, (director Jo Harvey Allen), first performed on the back of a flatbed truck, (Aspen Museum, Aspen, Colorado), (Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles, (MOCA)/Japan American Center, L.A.), (The Palace of Fine Art, San Francisco), DUCKBLIND, (director Jo Harvey Allen), (Cornet Theater, LA.), and HOMERUN, (director Jill Parker Jones), (Remembrance Through The Performing Arts, Austin, Texas/McKinny Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas). HOMERUN is currently touring.
Allen co-wrote the radio play, EVERY THREE MINUTES, (National Public Radio) with her son, Bukka Allen and collaborated with Terry Allen and their sons Bukka and Bale Allen on the play, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE TONIGHT?, (Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C.), (Theater Artand, San Francisco). She toured, starred, and co-wrote with Terry Allen and Rinde Eckert the opera, PIONEER (director, Robert Woodruff), (Spoleto, U.S.A.) music by Paul Dresher Ensemble, and starred as, “Chippy”, in DIARIES OF A WEST TEXAS HOOKER co-written with Terry Allen, music co-written by the Allens, Joe Ely
Joe Ely
Joe Ely is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist whose music touches on honky-tonk, Texas Country, Tex-Mex and rock and roll....
, Butch Hancock
Butch Hancock
Butch Hancock is a country/folk music recording artist and song writer. He was born July 12, 1945 in Lubbock, Texas. Hancock is a member of The Flatlanders along with Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, but he has principally performed a solo career....
, and Jo Carol Pierce, (American Music Theater Festival, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lincoln Center, New York), (CD, Hollywood Records, L.A. Times Pick of the Year).
Allen co-starred in Böchener’s, LEON, LENA and LENZ, (director, Joan Akalaiatis), (Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota). She starred in Terry Allen’s radio plays, BLEEDER, DUGOUT, and REUNION (all NPR productions) and in PEDAL STEEL, (NPR), (winner of the Bessie and the Isadora Duncan awards). She has also starred in Terry Allen’s musical theater works including WARBOY and the BACKBOARD BLUES, (L.A. Theater Works at Skirball Theater, L.A. The Play Is The Thing (NPR), (director, Rosalind Ayers). Other performances of WARBOY and the BACKBOARD BLUES (director, Terry Allen), Red Cat-Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex, LA.), (Wortham Theater, Houston, Texas), (Austin Museum of Art, State Theater, Austin, Texas), (Santa Monica Art Museum). JUAREZ (director, Terry Allen), (Brattle Theater, Cambridge, Massachusetts), THE EMBRACE. . .ADVANCED TO FURY, (director, Terry Allen) (Houston Museum of Contemporary Art), (University of Cal at Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA), (National Gallery of American Art, Washington, DC), play toured U.S., Australia and Europe. ANTI-RABBIT BLEEDER/A BIOGRAPHY, (director, Terry Allen), (La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, CA) and the current work-in-progress, GHOST SHIP RODEZ, (director Terry Allen), (Les Subsistences, Lyon, France) and (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), (MASS, MOCA)).
Jo Harvey Allen’s film credits include starring roles as “The Lying Woman”, in David Byrne’s cult classic, TRUE STORIES, “Mama” in the short, WHY IS THE DOG HOWLIN’ MAMA?, (Cannes), (director, Rosalind Rosen). Allen will also star as “Mama” in the soon-to-be-made feature of Rosen’s film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097272/ELYSIAN FIELDS, CBS-Pilot, (director, Joan Tewkesbury), and co-starring roles in THE CLIENT, (director, Joel Schumacher
Joel Schumacher
Joel T. Schumacher is an American film director, screenwriter and producer.-Early life:Schumacher was born in New York City, the son of Marian and Francis Schumacher. His mother was a Swedish Jew, and his father was a Baptist from Knoxville, Tennessee, who died when Joel was four years old...
), and as “The Sex Therapist” in FRIED GREEN TOMATOES (director, Jon Avnet
Jon Avnet
Jonathan Michael "Jon" Avnet is an American director, writer and producer.-Early life:Avnet was born in Brooklyn, the son of Joan Bertha and Lester Francis Avnet, a corporate executive and electronics distributor. He attended Great Neck North High School in Great Neck, New York...
). Other co-starring credits include made- for-T.V. films, COLD SASSY TREE and SCATTERING DAD, (director, Joan Tewkesbury), FLOATING AWAY, (director, John Badham).
Allen’s character roles in numerous films include SECONDHAND LIONS,(director, Tim McCannlie); THE WENDELL BAKER STORY with Owen Wilson
Owen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...
, (directors, Luke Wilson
Luke Wilson
Luke Cunningham Wilson is an American film actor known for his roles in Old School, Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums, Legally Blonde, Idiocracy and Death at a Funeral.-Early life:...
and Andrew Wilson
Andrew Wilson
Andrew Wilson or Andy Wilson may refer to:*Andrew Wilson , Unificationist educator*Andrew Wilson , US actor*Andrew Wilson , Scottish landscape-painter...
) and the acclaimed IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH, (directed by Oscar Winner, Paul Haggis
Paul Haggis
Paul Edward Haggis is a Canadian screenwriter, producer, and director. He spent his early career producing and directing various American and Canadian television network series.-Early life and education:...
).
She is the author of a collection of poetry, CHEEK TO CHEEK, (Duckdown Press). Traveling exhibitions (catalogues available) of her photographs and drawings include, THE BEAUTIFUL WAITRESS, (curator, Ree Schanlau), (Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, Nebraska), 100 ARTISTS SEE SATAN, (curator, Mike McGee), (Cal State, Fullerton, CA), and 100 ARTISTS SEE GOD, (curators, John Baldessari and Meg Cranston), (Independent Curators International (ICI)). She is currently in group shows at The National Museum of Peru in Lima and at Museo de Arte Moderno in Trujillo, Peru (curator, Gus Kapriva).
Allen has been a visiting professor at San Diego State University
San Diego State University
San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
and Visiting Artist and Lecturer at many universities including The San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...
, UCLA, NYU, The Art Institute of Chicago, University of Texas and The Architectural Institute of London. She co-hosted with Governor Ann Richards
Ann Richards
Dorothy Ann Willis Richards was an American politician from Texas. She first came to national attention as the state treasurer of Texas, when she delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards served as the 45th Governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995 and was...
, The First Texas Funny Women’s Symposium.
Jo Harvey and her husband Terry have two grandsons, Sled and Calder and live with their dogs in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
and Marfa, Texas
Marfa, Texas
Marfa is a town in the high desert of far West Texas in the Southwestern United States. Located between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park, it is also the county seat of Presidio County. The population was 1,981 at the 2010 census....
.
She is the recipient of The National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, ART MATTERS grants and has received wide critical acclaim.
Filmography
In the Valley of ElahIn the Valley of Elah
In the Valley of Elah is a 2007 film written and directed by Paul Haggis, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon. The film’s title refers to the Biblical valley where the battle between David and Goliath is said to have taken place....
The Wendell Baker Story
The Wendell Baker Story
The Wendell Baker Story is a 2005 American film. It is the first film directed by Luke Wilson and his eldest brother Andrew Wilson, which premiered at the 2005 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas in March 2005...
Secondhand Lions
Secondhand Lions
Secondhand Lions is a 2003 American dramedy film written and directed by Tim McCanlies. It tells the story of an introverted young boy who is sent to live with his eccentric uncles on a farm in the U.S...
Screen Door Jesus
All The Pretty Horses
Why Is The Dog Howlin' Mama? (Cannes 2001)
Waking Up In Reno
True Stories
True Stories
True Stories may refer to:* True Stories , a 1986 film by Talking Heads frontman David Byrne* True Stories , a 1986 Talking Heads album featuring songs from the film...
Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried Green Tomatoes (film)
Fried Green Tomatoes is a 1991 comedy-drama film based on the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. It was released in the UK under the novel's full title. Directed by Jon Avnet and written by Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski, it stars Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy,...
The Client
The Client
The Client is a legal thriller written by American author John Grisham, set mostly in Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans, Louisiana...
Checking Out
Mi Amigo
Floundering
Motorist
The Outfitters (Sundance 1999)
Fool’s Gold (Sundance 1999)
Tapeheads
Tapeheads
Tapeheads is a 1988 comedy film directed by Bill Fishman. The film stars John Cusack, Tim Robbins, Sam Moore, and Junior Walker. The movie was produced by Michael Nesmith, who is seen briefly in the film as a bottled water delivery man.-Plot:...
Television Appearances
Elysian FieldsCold Sassy Tree
Scattering Dads
Floating Away
The Lazarus Man
Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993...
Theater
Ghost Ship Rodez*Warboy and the Backboard Blues*
Homerun*
An Evening with Terry and Jo Harvey Allen
Chippy*
Pioneer*
The Embrace ...Advance To Fury*
Duckblind*
Hally Lou*
Anti-Rabbit Bleeder/A Biography*
Do You Know Where Your Children Are Tonight?*
Resurrection
Juarez
Leon, Lena & Lenz
A Moment’s Hesitation
Counter Angel*
As it is in Texas*
* Denotes, Original Production and National Tour
External links
- Oral history interview with Jo Harvey Allen, 1998 Apr. 21 from the Smithsonian Archives of American ArtArchives of American ArtThe Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 16 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washington, D.C...