Richard Wesley
Encyclopedia
Richard Wesley is an African American
playwright
, and screenwriter
for television
and cinema
. He is an associate professor at New York University
's Tisch School of the Arts
where he is presently the chair of the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing.
Wesley was born in Newark, New Jersey
to George & Gertrude Wesley, and grew up in that city's Ironbound
section. Following high school he studied playwriting and dramatic literature at Howard University
and earned a Master of Fine Arts
degree there in 1967.
He is married to author Valerie Wilson Wesley
. , he was a resident of Montclair, New Jersey
.
of his 1971 play Black Terror, which portrayed the story of a black revolution that was to take place in "the very near future". Clive Barnes
in The New York Times
described the play as a "winner" that "makes the case for black revolution and against black revolution." Wesley was recognized with the Drama Desk Award
for the 1971–72 season as most promising playwright for Black Terror, which earned him a $100 check from the president of Ticketron
.
In 1975, Wesley created The Past Is the Past, a drama about a black man who meets the father who had abandoned him many years before. The play was revived in 1989 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
's Billie Holiday Theatre, starring John Amos
and Ralph Carter
.
Wesley earned a substantial amount of money writing the screenplays for the 1974 film Uptown Saturday Night
and the following year's Let's Do It Again
, both of which starred Bill Cosby
and Sidney Poitier
.
His 1978 play The Mighty Gents tells the story of the members of a gang that had ruled the Central Ward
of Newark having conquered their rivals the Zombies, who are now in their 30s and left only with the recollections of their past successes.
Wesley's 1989 play The Talented Tenth takes its name from W. E. B. Du Bois's seminal 1903 article, The Talented Tenth
, that described the likelihood of one in ten black men becoming leaders of their race in the world, through methods such as continuing their education, writing books, or becoming directly involved in social change. The play features six successful graduates of Howard University
— among them a realtor, advertising agent, a middle manager at a Fortune 500 firm and a Republican — who have reaped the benefits of their success, but feel the guilt of betraying their origins. Wesley had originally considered including the character of Essex Braxton from The Mighty Gents, who had achieved financial success in loan sharking and prostitution after leaving the gang, but dropped the idea as too artificial. The play was recognized with six awards, including for dramatic production of the year and best playwright, at the 17th annual AUDELCO
Recognition Awards which were established by the Audience Development Committee to honor excellence in New York African American Theatre.
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
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...
, and 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:...
for television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
. He is an associate professor at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
where he is presently the chair of the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing.
Wesley was born in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
to George & Gertrude Wesley, and grew up in that city's Ironbound
Ironbound
The Ironbound is a large working-class neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey. This close-knit, multi-ethnic community covers approximately four square miles . Historically, the area was called "Dutch Neck," "Down Neck," or simply "the Neck," because of the way the Passaic River curved to form what...
section. Following high school he studied playwriting and dramatic literature at Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
and earned a Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
degree there in 1967.
He is married to author Valerie Wilson Wesley
Valerie Wilson Wesley
Valerie Wilson Wesley is an African-American author of mysteries, adult-theme novels, and children's books, and a former executive editor of Essence magazine. She is the author of the Tamara Hayle mystery series...
. , he was a resident of Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,977 people, 15,020 households, and 9,687 families residing in the township. The population density was 6,183.6 people per square mile . There were 15,531 housing units at an average density of 2,464.0 per square mile...
.
Works
He first achieved renown with the production by the New York Shakespeare FestivalNew York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...
of his 1971 play Black Terror, which portrayed the story of a black revolution that was to take place in "the very near future". Clive Barnes
Clive Barnes (critic)
Clive Alexander Barnes, CBE was a British-born American writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977 he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times, the most powerful position he had held, since its theater critics' reviews historically have had great influence on the success or failure of...
in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described the play as a "winner" that "makes the case for black revolution and against black revolution." Wesley was recognized with the Drama Desk Award
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...
for the 1971–72 season as most promising playwright for Black Terror, which earned him a $100 check from the president of Ticketron
Ticketron
Ticketron was a computerized event ticketing technology that was in operation from the 1960s until it was purchased by Ticketmaster in 1991.Ticketron was the name of a service created by Ticket Reservations Systems, Inc. The company changed its name to Ticketron in July, 1969...
.
In 1975, Wesley created The Past Is the Past, a drama about a black man who meets the father who had abandoned him many years before. The play was revived in 1989 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Bedford-Stuyvesant is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Formed in 1930, the neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 3, Brooklyn Community Board 8 and Brooklyn Community Board 16. The neighborhood is patrolled by the NYPD's 79th and 81st...
's Billie Holiday Theatre, starring John Amos
John Amos
John Amos is an American actor and former football player. His television work includes roles in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times, the miniseries Roots, and a recurring role in The West Wing. He has also appeared on Broadway and in numerous motion pictures in a career that spans four decades...
and Ralph Carter
Ralph Carter
Ralph Carter is an American actor, and singerCarter is best known for his work as a child and teenager, both in the Broadway musical Raisin and as the character Michael Evans, the youngest member of the Evans family, on the 1970s sitcom Good Times...
.
Wesley earned a substantial amount of money writing the screenplays for the 1974 film Uptown Saturday Night
Uptown Saturday Night
Uptown Saturday Night is a 1974 comedy film written by Richard Wesley, and directed by Sidney Poitier. Poitier also stars in this film, along with Bill Cosby and Harry Belafonte. Cosby and Poitier teamed up again for Let's Do It Again and A Piece of the Action...
and the following year's Let's Do It Again
Let's Do It Again (1975 film)
Let's Do It Again is a 1975 film starring Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby and Jimmie Walker. Poitier also directed. The film is about blue-collar workers who decide to rig a boxing match to raise money for their fraternal lodge...
, both of which starred Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
and Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
.
His 1978 play The Mighty Gents tells the story of the members of a gang that had ruled the Central Ward
Central Ward, Newark, New Jersey
Central Ward is the heart of Newark. It was initially populated by Connecticut Puritans, became for a time primarily Jewish, and is currently primarily African-American....
of Newark having conquered their rivals the Zombies, who are now in their 30s and left only with the recollections of their past successes.
Wesley's 1989 play The Talented Tenth takes its name from W. E. B. Du Bois's seminal 1903 article, The Talented Tenth
The Talented Tenth
The Talented Tenth is a term that designated a leadership class of African-Americans in the early twentieth century. The term was publicized by W. E. B. Du Bois in an influential essay of the same name, which he published in September 1903...
, that described the likelihood of one in ten black men becoming leaders of their race in the world, through methods such as continuing their education, writing books, or becoming directly involved in social change. The play features six successful graduates of Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
— among them a realtor, advertising agent, a middle manager at a Fortune 500 firm and a Republican — who have reaped the benefits of their success, but feel the guilt of betraying their origins. Wesley had originally considered including the character of Essex Braxton from The Mighty Gents, who had achieved financial success in loan sharking and prostitution after leaving the gang, but dropped the idea as too artificial. The play was recognized with six awards, including for dramatic production of the year and best playwright, at the 17th annual AUDELCO
AUDELCO
AUDELCO, the Audience Development Committee, Inc., was established in 1973 by the late Vivian Robinson to honor excellence in New York African American Theatre through presentation of Vivan Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Awards...
Recognition Awards which were established by the Audience Development Committee to honor excellence in New York African American Theatre.
Plays
- The Black Terror (1971)
- The Mighty Gents (1978)
- The Talented Tenth (1989)
Screenplays
- Uptown Saturday NightUptown Saturday NightUptown Saturday Night is a 1974 comedy film written by Richard Wesley, and directed by Sidney Poitier. Poitier also stars in this film, along with Bill Cosby and Harry Belafonte. Cosby and Poitier teamed up again for Let's Do It Again and A Piece of the Action...
(Warner Brothers, 1974) - Let's Do It Again (Warner Brothers, 1975)
- Native Son (American Playhouse, Cinecom, 1984)
- Fast Forward (Columbia Pictures, 1985)
Teleplays
- Murder Without Motive (NBC, 1991)
- Mandela and De Klerk (Showtime, 1997)
- Bojangles (Showtime, 2000)
Television series contributions
- Fallen AngelsFallen Angels (TV series)Fallen Angels was an American neo-noir anthology television series that ran from 1993 to 1995 on the Showtime pay cable station and was produced by Propaganda Films. No first-run episodes were shown in 1994....
(Showtime) - 100 Centre Street100 Centre Street100 Centre Street is an American legal drama created by Sidney Lumet and starring Alan Arkin.-Premise:The show takes its name for the street address of the criminal division of the New York Supreme Court for New York County. The show aired in the United States on the A&E Network cable television...
(A&E)
Awards and honors
- 1971 Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe 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...
for The Black Terror - 1978 AUDELCOAUDELCOAUDELCO, the Audience Development Committee, Inc., was established in 1973 by the late Vivian Robinson to honor excellence in New York African American Theatre through presentation of Vivan Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Awards...
Award for The Mighty Gents
External links
- "Biography for Richard Wesley (I)", Internet Movie Database (Retrieved October 24, 2006).
- "Richard Wesley, Associate Professor" Faculty Directory of Dramatic Writing, New York University. (Retrieved October 24, 2006).