Mark Medoff
Encyclopedia
Mark Medoff is an American
playwright
, screenwriter
, film
and theatre director, actor
, and professor
. His play Children of a Lesser God
received both the Tony Award
and the Olivier Award. He was nominated for an Academy Award and a Writers Guild of America Best Adapted Screenplay Award for the film script of Children of a Lesser God
and for a Cable ACE Award for his HBO Premiere movie, Apology. Mark also received an Obie Award
for When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
. Medoff's feature film Refuge is currently in production.
. In 1967, while working as an instructor at the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute in Washington, D.C.
, he wrote his first play, The Wager. His first play to be staged in New York City
was When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
, which won him the 1974 Drama Desk
and Obie
Awards for Outstanding New Playwright.
degree from the University of Miami
and his Master's
from Stanford University
. Medoff also received an honorary degree in 1981 from Gallaudet University
.
, which won him the Tony
, Drama Desk, and Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Play. Medoff was back on Broadway again with the staging of his play Prymate in 2005.
Medoff's screen credits include adaptations of his plays Red Ryder and Children of a Lesser God, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, BAFTA
, and Writers Guild of America
Award, Clara's Heart
(for which he cast, and subsequently "discovered", Neil Patrick Harris
), and City of Joy
. In 2000, he produced and directed the documentary Who Fly on Angels’ Wings, about a mobile pediatric unit traveling through the under-served regions of southern New Mexico
, and the following year he directed the feature film Children on Their Birthdays
, based on the short story
by Truman Capote
.
, where he has been a professor for a total of twenty-seven years and currently is teaching Screenwriting and Acting for Film, Short Film Production, and Film Directing and Producing. He is currently the Creative Director of the Creative Media Institute at NMSU, the film dept at the university. The theater dept. is still the American Southwest Theater Company.
For one semester a year between 2003-06, he worked at Florida State University
as a Reynolds Eminent Scholar in the School of Theatre. For the spring semester of 2008 he joined the faculty of the University of Houston
School of Theatre and Dance as Distinguished Lecturer. He is the winner of the Kennedy Center Medallion for Excellence in Education and Artistic Achievement, given periodically to professionals in theater who also teach and mentor students.
, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
, Equus
, and Hot L Baltimore
. As an actor, he has appeared in the plays Marat/Sade
, Black Comedy/White Lies
, and Old Times
, among others, and the films The Twilight of the Golds, Santa Fe, Homage, Red Ryder, and Clara's Heart.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, film
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and theatre director, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
. His play Children of a Lesser God
Children of a Lesser God
Children of a Lesser God is a 1986 American romantic drama film directed by Randa Haines and written by Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff. An adaptation of Medoff's Tony Award-winning stage play of the same name, the film stars William Hurt and Marlee Matlin as two employees at a school for the deaf:...
received both the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
and the Olivier Award. He was nominated for an Academy Award and a Writers Guild of America Best Adapted Screenplay Award for the film script of Children of a Lesser God
Children of a Lesser God
Children of a Lesser God is a 1986 American romantic drama film directed by Randa Haines and written by Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff. An adaptation of Medoff's Tony Award-winning stage play of the same name, the film stars William Hurt and Marlee Matlin as two employees at a school for the deaf:...
and for a Cable ACE Award for his HBO Premiere movie, Apology. Mark also received an Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? is a play by Mark Medoff.The setting is Foster's Diner, a New Mexico rest stop that lost most of its clientele when a new highway bypass opened. Employees include restless cook Stephen , mousy waitress Angel, and their no-nonsense boss Clark...
. Medoff's feature film Refuge is currently in production.
Early life
Born in Mount Carmel, IllinoisMount Carmel, Illinois
Mount Carmel is a city in and the county seat of Wabash County, Illinois, United States. At the time of the 2000 census, the population was 7,982, while the next largest town in Wabash County is Allendale, population 528. Located at the confluence of the Wabash, Patoka, and White Rivers, Mount...
. In 1967, while working as an instructor at the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, he wrote his first play, The Wager. His first play to be staged in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
was When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? is a play by Mark Medoff.The setting is Foster's Diner, a New Mexico rest stop that lost most of its clientele when a new highway bypass opened. Employees include restless cook Stephen , mousy waitress Angel, and their no-nonsense boss Clark...
, which won him the 1974 Drama Desk
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
and Obie
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
Awards for Outstanding New Playwright.
Education
Medoff received his Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
and his Master's
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. Medoff also received an honorary degree in 1981 from Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University is a federally-chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, located in the District of Columbia, U.S...
.
Awards and nominations
Medoff's big breakthrough and most famous work was 1980s Children of a Lesser GodChildren of a Lesser God (play)
Children of a Lesser God is a play by Mark Medoff, published in 1980 focusing on the conflicted professional and romantic relationship between deaf former student, Sarah Norman, and her teacher, James Leeds. The play was specially written for the Deaf actress Phyllis Frelich, based to some extent...
, which won him the Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
, Drama Desk, and Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Play. Medoff was back on Broadway again with the staging of his play Prymate in 2005.
Medoff's screen credits include adaptations of his plays Red Ryder and Children of a Lesser God, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, BAFTA
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
, and Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
Award, Clara's Heart
Clara's Heart
Clara's Heart is a 1988 American film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Neil Patrick Harris, Kathleen Quinlan and Michael Ontkean. It was directed by Robert Mulligan and written by Mark Medoff, based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Joseph Olshan.-Plot:...
(for which he cast, and subsequently "discovered", Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...
), and City of Joy
City of Joy
City of Joy is a novel written by Dominique Lapierre and a 1992 film directed by Roland Joffé.-Plot:The story revolves around the trials and tribulations of a young Polish priest, Stephan Kovalski, the hardships endured by a rickshaw puller, Hasari Pal in Calcutta , India and the experiences of...
. In 2000, he produced and directed the documentary Who Fly on Angels’ Wings, about a mobile pediatric unit traveling through the under-served regions of southern New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, and the following year he directed the feature film Children on Their Birthdays
Children on Their Birthdays
Children on Their Birthdays is a 2002 American independent film directed by Mark Medoff. The screenplay written by Douglas Sloan is based on "Children on Their Birthdays", the short story of the same title by Truman Capote.-Plot:...
, based on the short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
.
Teaching
Medoff was co-founder of the American Southwest Theatre Company and head of the Department of Theatre Arts for nine years at New Mexico State UniversityNew Mexico State University
New Mexico State University at Las Cruces , is a major land-grant university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States...
, where he has been a professor for a total of twenty-seven years and currently is teaching Screenwriting and Acting for Film, Short Film Production, and Film Directing and Producing. He is currently the Creative Director of the Creative Media Institute at NMSU, the film dept at the university. The theater dept. is still the American Southwest Theater Company.
For one semester a year between 2003-06, he worked at Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
as a Reynolds Eminent Scholar in the School of Theatre. For the spring semester of 2008 he joined the faculty of the University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
School of Theatre and Dance as Distinguished Lecturer. He is the winner of the Kennedy Center Medallion for Excellence in Education and Artistic Achievement, given periodically to professionals in theater who also teach and mentor students.
Personal life
Medoff has been married to second wife Stephanie Thorne since 1972; they have three daughters.Plays
- The Wager, 1966
- The Odyssey of Jeremy Jack, (w/ Carleene Johnson, 1973)
- The Kramer, 1973
- When You Comin Back, Red Ryder?, 1974
- The Halloween Bandit, 1978
- The Conversion of Aaron Weiss, 1978
- Firekeeper, 1978
- The Last Chance Saloon, 1979
- The Froegle Dictum, 1980
- Children of a Lesser GodChildren of a Lesser God (play)Children of a Lesser God is a play by Mark Medoff, published in 1980 focusing on the conflicted professional and romantic relationship between deaf former student, Sarah Norman, and her teacher, James Leeds. The play was specially written for the Deaf actress Phyllis Frelich, based to some extent...
, 1980 - The Majestic Kid, 1981
- The Hands of Its Enemy, 1984
- Kringle's Window, 1985.
- The Heart Outright
- The Homage That Follows, 1995
- Showdown on Rio Road (with Ross Marks, 1998).
- Crunch Time, (with Phil Treon, 1998).
- Gila, 1996.
- Gunfighter - A Gulf War Chronicle, 1997
- A Christmas Carousel, 1997.
- Tommy J and Sally, 2000.
- The Same Life Over, 2002.
- Prymate, 2003.
- The Dramaturgy of Mark Medoff, 2004.
Screenplays
- Good Guys Wear Black, 1978
- When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder\", 1979
- Off Beat, 1986
- Apology, 1986
- Children of a Lesser GodChildren of a Lesser GodChildren of a Lesser God is a 1986 American romantic drama film directed by Randa Haines and written by Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff. An adaptation of Medoff's Tony Award-winning stage play of the same name, the film stars William Hurt and Marlee Matlin as two employees at a school for the deaf:...
, 1986 - Clara's HeartClara's HeartClara's Heart is a 1988 American film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Neil Patrick Harris, Kathleen Quinlan and Michael Ontkean. It was directed by Robert Mulligan and written by Mark Medoff, based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Joseph Olshan.-Plot:...
, 1987 - City of JoyCity of JoyCity of Joy is a novel written by Dominique Lapierre and a 1992 film directed by Roland Joffé.-Plot:The story revolves around the trials and tribulations of a young Polish priest, Stephan Kovalski, the hardships endured by a rickshaw puller, Hasari Pal in Calcutta , India and the experiences of...
, 1992 - Showdown on Rio Road, 1993
- HomageHomageHomage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
, 1995 - Santa Fe, 1997
- 100 MPG, 2006
- Refuge, 2009
Acting and directing
Medoff's theatre directing credits include Waiting for GodotWaiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds is a 1964 play written by Paul Zindel, a playwright and science teacher. Zindel received the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for the work. The play's world premiere was staged in 1964 at the Alley Theatre...
, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is an American musical revue of the songs of Jacques Brel.-Original Off-Broadway Production:...
, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a play based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name. Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation, with music by Teiji Ito, made its Broadway preview on November 12, 1963, its premiere on November 13, and ran until January 25, 1964 for a total of one preview and 82...
, Equus
Equus (play)
Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses....
, and Hot L Baltimore
Hot L Baltimore
The Hot l Baltimore is a play by Lanford Wilson. Set in the lobby of the Hotel Baltimore, it focuses on the residents of the decaying property who are faced with eviction when the structure is condemned...
. As an actor, he has appeared in the plays Marat/Sade
Marat/Sade
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , almost invariably shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss...
, Black Comedy/White Lies
Black Comedy/White Lies
The White Liars is a one-act play by Peter Shaffer, first performed in 1967 originally titled White Lies.It is often performed with another of Shaffer's one-act plays, Black Comedy, to form the double-bill of The White Liars and Black Comedy.The White Liars revolves around Sophie Lemberg, an...
, and Old Times
Old Times
Old Times is a play by the Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter. It was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre in London on June 1, 1971. It starred Colin Blakely, Dorothy Tutin, and Vivien Merchant, and was directed by Peter Hall...
, among others, and the films The Twilight of the Golds, Santa Fe, Homage, Red Ryder, and Clara's Heart.