Mark Scharf is an American 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...

, 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 teacher

Teacher

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. His plays have received readings and productions in New York City

New York City

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, Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

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, Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

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, Philadelphia, Baltimore

Baltimore

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, Richmond, Va., Delaware

Delaware

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, Indiana

Indiana

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, Iowa

Iowa

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, Ohio

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, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, Georgia

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, Colorado

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, Nebraska

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, North Carolina

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, Texas

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, London

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, Beijing

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, Australia

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, Canada

Canada

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 and Singapore

Singapore

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.

Biography

Mark Scharf was born in New Albany, Indiana but moved while young with his family to Seaford, Delaware where he lived until graduating from Seaford High School in 1974. Mark then moved to Richmond, Virginia where he attended Virginia Commonwealth University and began his theatre career as an actor. He left Richmond in 1979 and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia where he played in two bands, The Motive and then The Monarchs, before enrolling as a graduate student in Playwriting at the University of Virginia. While attending U.Va., Mark appeared in several shows produced by the Virginia Players and in two seasons with the Heritage Repertory Theatre.

After receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1984, Mark moved to the DC area where he married and initially worked as publicity director for The Source Theatre Company. The marriage, which produced two sons, James Edward Scharf and Eric Michael Scharf, ended in divorce in 2000. Mark continues to work as a playwright, actor and teacher in the DC/Baltimore area.

Scharf’s plays Off the Grid, Like White on Rice and Wilderness are published by Brooklyn Publishing and his plays Memory Garden and The Machine are published by Pioneer Drama. His plays Get Stuffed, Lizard Brains and Keeping Faith are published by Original Works Publishing and his play Replay is published by Heurer Publishing. A monologue from Mark’s play The Mean Reds is published in One on One: The Best Men’s Monologues for the Twenty-First Century by Applause Books. Also, a monologue from his play Last Night at the Owl Bar appears in the 2009 The Theatre Audition Book 2 and a monologue from his play The Whispers of Saints appears in the 2011 Volume 3, Young Women's Monologues from Contemporary Plays, both published by Meriwether Publishing, Ltd.

Scharf was selected as a Playlab Playwright for the 2010 Great Plains Theatre Conference. His awards include the 2009 Maryland State Theatre Festival's Award for Best Original Script, the 2008 Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence, the 2006 Arts and Letters Prize in Drama, selected by Gary Garrison, 2nd Place in the Hinton Battle

Hinton Battle

Hinton Battle is an American actor, dancer, and dance instructor. He has won three Tony Awards, all in the category of Featured Actor in a Musical...

 Theatre Lab’s 2005 Reading Works Series, both the 1st Place Best Play and 1st Place Best Production Awards in the 2002 Baltimore Playwrights Festival and three Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships in Playwriting (1989, 1993 and 2005).

Many of Scharf’s plays have premiered at various theatres in Baltimore, MD where he has been involved with the Baltimore Playwrights Festival since 1994.

Scharf teaches Playwriting as a Guest Artist at the University of Mary Washington

University of Mary Washington

The University of Mary Washington is a public, coeducational liberal arts college located in the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA. Founded in 1908 by the Commonwealth of Virginia as a normal school, during much of the twentieth century it was part of the University of Virginia, until...

 and was asked to serve as a Thesis Advisor for the Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

 2005/2006 M.A. in Writing program. He has also served as Playwright-in-Residence for Theatre Virginia’s New Voices for the Theatre and served three terms as Chairman of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival (2003–2006). Scharf has an MFA in Playwriting from the University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

 and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Awards

• Eugene O'Neill National Theater Conference Semi-Finalist, 2010
• Playlab Playwright, 2010 Great Plains Theatre Conference
• Finalist, 2010 Theatre Conspiracy's Annual New Play Contest
• Finalist, 2009 Arts and Letters Prize in Drama
• Maryland State Theatre Festival Special Award for Best Original Script, 2009
• Finalist, 2008 Arts and Letters Prize in Drama
• Northern Virginia Theatre Alliance Best Production Original Script, 2008
• Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence, 2008
• 1st Place, Sandy Spring Theatre Group One-Act Play Festival 2007
• Eileen Heckart Drama Competition Semi-Finalist, 2007
• Winner of the 2006 Arts and Letters Prize in Drama
• 2nd Place Hinton Battle Theatre Lab, 2005 Readings Works Series
• Best Play, 1st Place, Baltimore Playwrights Festival, 2002
• Best Production, 1st Place, Baltimore Playwrights Festival, 2002
• Best Production, 3rd Place, Baltimore Playwrights Festival, 2001
• Two Awards of Excellence, Baltimore Playwrights Festival, 2000
• Award of Excellence, Baltimore Playwrights Festival, 1999
• Best Production, 1st Place, Baltimore Playwrights Festival, 1998
• Award of Excellence, Baltimore Playwrights Festival, 1998
• Award of Excellence, Baltimore Playwrights Festival, 1997
• Literary Prize, Montgomery Playhouse
  Montgomery Playhouse
  The Montgomery Playhouse is Maryland's oldest continually-running community theatrical performance group. Formed in 1989 from a merger between through a joint effort of the Board of Directors of both The Kensington/Garret Players and The Montgomery Players, The Montgomery Playhouse, in some form,...
  
   Black Box New Play Festival, 1995
• Best Original Script, Maryland Community Theatre Festival, 1995
• Best Play, New Works Theatre One Act Play Marathon, 1994
• Best Production, Montgomery Playhouse
  Montgomery Playhouse
  The Montgomery Playhouse is Maryland's oldest continually-running community theatrical performance group. Formed in 1989 from a merger between through a joint effort of the Board of Directors of both The Kensington/Garret Players and The Montgomery Players, The Montgomery Playhouse, in some form,...
  
  Black Box New Play Festival, 1994
• Award of Excellence, Baltimore Playwrights Festival, 1994
• Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship in Playwriting, 1993
• New Works Theatre Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting Award 1991-92
• Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship in Playwriting, 1989
• Clay E. Delauney Playwriting Award, 1982
• E. Roger Boyle Playwriting Award, 1982

Major Plays

• ZELDA (1981)
• FIRE IN THE NIGHT (1984)
• THE PRETENDERS (1985)
• BLOOD SECRET (1986)
• SLOWER DELAWARE (1987)
• PRIVATE BEACHES (1991)
• BELTWAY ROULETTE (1991)
• NO RIDERS (1992)
• THE JUNG AND THE RESTLESS (1993)
• LIZARD BRAINS (1994)
• LOVE IN THE AGE OF REAGAN(1995)
• FALLING GRACE (1995)
• SECOND STAR TO THE RIGHT (1997)
• LIKE WHITE ON RICE (1998)
• THE MEAN REDS (1998)
• FREEFALL (2000)
• THE WHISPERS OF SAINTS(2002)
• HIRED GUN(2003)
• WILDERNESS (2003)
• EMPIRES FALL (2004)
• BLUE MERMAID (2005)
• GET STUFFED (2005)
• MEMORY GARDEN (2006)
• LAST NIGHT AT THE OWL BAR(2007)
• KEEPING FAITH (2008)
• OFF THE GRID (2008)
• SCORPIONS (2009)
• REPLAY (2009)
• FORTUNE'S CHILD (2010)
• BEST MAN (2010)
• THE MACHINE (2011)

External links

• Mark Scharf's Website: http://sites.google.com/site/markscharfsite/
• Applause Publishers—publishers of ONE ON ONE - THE BEST MEN'S MONOLOGUES FOR THE 21st CENTURY (includes a monologue from Mark's play, THE MEAN REDS) http://www.applausepub.com/
• Brooklyn Publishers—publishers of Mark's plays Off the Grid, Like White on Rice and Wilderness (http://www.brookpub.com)
• Pioneer Drama—publisher of Mark's award winning play Memory Garden and his play for young audiences, The Machine (http://www.pioneerdrama.com)
• Heurer Publishing-publisher of Mark's play Replay (http://www.hitplays.com/)
• Original Works Publishing—publisher of Mark's plays Get Stuffed, Lizard Brains and Keeping Faith (http://www.originalworksonline.com/)
• Mark's plays Get Stuffed, Lizard Brains and Keeping Faith available on Kindle on Amazon.com: (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004LZ564U)
• Meriwether Publishing—publishers of THE THEATRE AUDITION BOOK 2 (includes a monologue from Mark's play LAST NIGHT AT THE OWL BAR) and VOLUME 3, YOUNG WOMEN'S MONOLOGUES FROM CONTEMPORARY PLAYS (includes a monologue from Mark's play THE WHISPERS OF SAINTS)(https://www.meriwetherpublishing.com/Default.aspx)
• Baltimore Playwrights Festival (http://www.baltimoreplaywrightsfestival.com)
• University of Mary Washington - where Mark teaches Playwriting (http://www.umw.edu/cas/theatre/)
• Website of Playwrights and their work, select "S" for Scharf (http://www.doollee.com)
• Interview in Insight for Playwrights, Vol. 12 Issue 5 (http://www.baltimoreplaywrightsfestival.org/insight200405.rtf)
• Article on Mark Scharf in the U.Va. Alumni Magazine (http://www.baltimoreplaywrightsfestival.org/UVA%20article.jpg)