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Robert Patrick (playwright)
Encyclopedia
Robert Patrick is a gay
American
playwright
, poet
, lyricist
, and short-story
writer
and novelist. He was born Robert Patrick O'Connor in Kilgore
, Texas
, USA.
His first play, The Haunted Host, was produced in 1964 and premiered at the Caffe Cino in the Greenwich Village
neighborhood of New York City
, New York
. Because Patrick refused the offer of Neil Flanagan, the Caffe Cino's star performer, to play the title role (because Flanagan had recently played Lanford Wilson
's gay character, Lady Bright) Patrick himself wound up appearing in the play with fellow playwright William M. Hoffman
.
During the 1960s Patrick was a pioneer in Off-Off-Broadway
theatre and the gay-theatre movement with over 300 productions of his plays during this decade in New York City alone. In 1972, the play publishing and licensing company Samuel French called Patrick "New York's Most-Produced Playwright."
In 1969, he won the "Show Business" Award for Joyce Dynel, Salvation Army, and Fog. That same year his play, Camera Obscura was produced on PBS starring Marge Champion
and was also chosen to be in the all-star-playwright revue, "Collision Course."
A 1974 production of The Haunted Host marked the first time Harvey Fierstein
appeared on the legitimate stage as a male (having previously only acted as a drag performer). Years later, Fierstein included a recording of Patrick's monologue, Pouf Positive on his compact disc
, This Is Not Going to Be Pretty. Pouf Positive was also filmed by Dov Hechtman in 1989.
1974 was also the first season of gay theatre in the United Kingdom
, to which Patrick contributed three plays.
The Broadway-theatre
production of his Kennedy's Children (1975) earned Shirley Knight
a 1976 Tony Award
for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
. She repeated her role in the 1979 CBS-Cable TV production of the play.
Patrick traveled widely, from Anchorage to Cape Town
, seeing productions of "Kennedy's Children." For ten years, he visited high schools and high-school-theatre conventions nationwide on behalf of the The International Thespian Society
.
My Cup Ranneth Over (1976) was commissioned by Marlo Thomas
as a vehicle for her and Lily Tomlin
. Although a production with them never happened, the play went on to become Patrick's most produced.
T-Shirts, first produced in 1979 and starring Jack Wrangler
, was later chosen as the opening piece for Hoffman's anthology
Gay Plays: A First Collection.
Blue Is For Boys was the first play about gay teenagers, and "Blue is for Boys Weekends" in honor of the play were declared by Manhattan
Borough President
s in 1983 and 1986.
The Trial of Socrates was the first gay play presented by New York City.
Hello Bob, an account of Patrick's experiences with the production of Kennedy's Children, was the last play he directed before leaving New York City.
Other works by Patrick include Untold Decades (1988), a history of gay-male life in the United States, told in a humorous vein; and Temple Slave, a "totally romanticized" novel about the early days of Off-Off Broadway and gay theatre.
several screenplay
s for film
and television
; contributed poems and review
s to Playbill
, FirstHand, and Adult Video News magazines; and had his short stories included in numerous anthologies.
Additionally, Patrick has appeared in the documentaries
, Resident Alien (1990) (with Quentin Crisp
) and Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon
(2008); and in the videos: O is for Orgy: The Sequel and O Boys: Parties, Porn, and Politics, both produced by the O Boys Network.
Most recently, he has written his memoir
s,
Film Moi or Narcissus in the Dark, and the plays: Hollywood at Sunset and Michelangelo's Models.
He reviews adult gay-male videos for several publications and maintains 70 pages of photographs at Caffe Cino Pictures.
He retired from theatre in 1990, and has lived in Los Angeles since 1993.
In 2010 he published a DVD of his lecture, Caffe Cino: Birthplace of Gay Theatre. and two books of poems, "A Strain of Laughter" and "Bitter with the Sweet" with Lulu.Com.
Plus numerous ghost-written works
Personal websites and blogs
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
American
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...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
, and 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...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and novelist. He was born Robert Patrick O'Connor in Kilgore
Kilgore, Texas
Kilgore is a city in Gregg and Rusk Counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the home of Kilgore College, and was also the childhood home of famous classical pianist Van Cliburn...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, USA.
Personal life
Robert Patrick was born to migrant workers in Texas. Because his parents moved around the southwest constantly, looking for work, he never went to one school for an entire year until his senior year of high school in Roswell, New Mexico. The only cultural constants in his life were books, movies, and radio. His mother made sure he learned to read, and arranged that he start school a year early. Unsocialized due to constant displacement, he always made poor grades, and dropped out of college after two years. Having experienced no live theatre but a few school shows, he fell in love with stage work while washing dishes at the Kennebunkport Playhouse one summer. Stopping off in New York on his way back to Roswell, he stumbled into the Caffe Cino, the first underground or Off-Off Broadway theatre, on September 14, 1961. He remained there working for free in any required capacity, supporting himself with temporary typing jobs while observing and participating in the production of dozens of plays. Having long been a poet, in 1964 he got an idea for a play, "The Haunted Host," and because of the casualness of the Cino, was allowed to mount it almost at once. It was something of a success, and playwrighting became his main focus.1960s
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
neighborhood of 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...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Because Patrick refused the offer of Neil Flanagan, the Caffe Cino's star performer, to play the title role (because Flanagan had recently played Lanford Wilson
Lanford Wilson
Lanford Wilson was an American playwright who helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980, was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2004 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
's gay character, Lady Bright) Patrick himself wound up appearing in the play with fellow playwright William M. Hoffman
William M. Hoffman
William Moses Hoffman is an American playwright, editor and educator.- Biography :Born in New York City, New York, United States, Hoffman's earliest works either were mounted in small, experimental off-off-Broadway theaters in New York City or remain unproduced.It was not until 1985 that he...
.
During the 1960s Patrick was a pioneer in Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway theatrical productions in New York City are those in theatres that are smaller than Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Off-Off-Broadway theaters are often defined as theaters that have fewer than 100 seats, though the term can be used for any show in the New York City area that...
theatre and the gay-theatre movement with over 300 productions of his plays during this decade in New York City alone. In 1972, the play publishing and licensing company Samuel French called Patrick "New York's Most-Produced Playwright."
In 1969, he won the "Show Business" Award for Joyce Dynel, Salvation Army, and Fog. That same year his play, Camera Obscura was produced on PBS starring Marge Champion
Marge Champion
Marge Champion is an American dancer, choreographer, and pedagogue. In addition, she also worked in film and appeared in a number of television variety shows.-Early years:...
and was also chosen to be in the all-star-playwright revue, "Collision Course."
1970s
In 1973, Patrick's Kennedy's Children opened obscurely in London in the back room of a pub, and instantly was signed for the West End and productions worldwide.A 1974 production of The Haunted Host marked the first time Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Forbes Fierstein is a U.S. actor and playwright, noted for the early distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and originating the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family, as well as writing the...
appeared on the legitimate stage as a male (having previously only acted as a drag performer). Years later, Fierstein included a recording of Patrick's monologue, Pouf Positive on his compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, This Is Not Going to Be Pretty. Pouf Positive was also filmed by Dov Hechtman in 1989.
1974 was also the first season of gay theatre in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, to which Patrick contributed three plays.
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production of his Kennedy's Children (1975) earned Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight
Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
a 1976 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...
for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
This is a list of winners and nomination of the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress. The award was first presented in 1947.-1940s:* 1947: Patricia Neal – Another Part of the Forest* 1949: Shirley Booth – Goodbye, My Fancy-1950s:...
. She repeated her role in the 1979 CBS-Cable TV production of the play.
Patrick traveled widely, from Anchorage to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, seeing productions of "Kennedy's Children." For ten years, he visited high schools and high-school-theatre conventions nationwide on behalf of the The International Thespian Society
International Thespian Society
The International Thespian Society is an honorary organization for high-school and middle-school theatre students located at more than 3,600 affiliated secondary schools across the United States, Canada, and abroad. The International Thespian Society was founded in Fairmont, West Virginia...
.
My Cup Ranneth Over (1976) was commissioned by Marlo Thomas
Marlo Thomas
Margaret Julia “Marlo” Thomas is an American actress, producer, and social activist known for her starring role on the TV series That Girl . She also serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
as a vehicle for her and Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
. Although a production with them never happened, the play went on to become Patrick's most produced.
T-Shirts, first produced in 1979 and starring Jack Wrangler
Jack Wrangler
Jack Wrangler was an American actor of gay and straight adult film, theatrical producer, and director. Open about his homosexuality and adult film work throughout his career, Wrangler was considered an icon of the gay-liberation movement.In 2008, a feature-length documentary film, Wrangler:...
, was later chosen as the opening piece for Hoffman's anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
Gay Plays: A First Collection.
1980s
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
Borough President
Borough president
Borough President is an elective office in each of the five boroughs of New York City.-Reasons for establishment:...
s in 1983 and 1986.
The Trial of Socrates was the first gay play presented by New York City.
Hello Bob, an account of Patrick's experiences with the production of Kennedy's Children, was the last play he directed before leaving New York City.
Other works by Patrick include Untold Decades (1988), a history of gay-male life in the United States, told in a humorous vein; and Temple Slave, a "totally romanticized" novel about the early days of Off-Off Broadway and gay theatre.
Later
Robert Patrick has also ghostwrittenGhostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
several screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
s for film
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...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
; contributed poems and review
Review
A review is an evaluation of a publication, a product or a service, such as a movie , video game, musical composition , book ; a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live music concert, a play, musical theater show or dance show...
s to Playbill
Playbill
Playbill is a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most Playbills are printed for particular shows to be distributed at the door...
, FirstHand, and Adult Video News magazines; and had his short stories included in numerous anthologies.
Additionally, Patrick has appeared in the documentaries
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, Resident Alien (1990) (with Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp , was an English writer and raconteur. He became a gay icon in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant.- Early life :...
) and Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon
Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon
Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon is a 2008 feature documentary film about the life of Jack Wrangler, produced and directed by Jeffrey Schwarz of Automat Pictures...
(2008); and in the videos: O is for Orgy: The Sequel and O Boys: Parties, Porn, and Politics, both produced by the O Boys Network.
Most recently, he has written his memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s,
Film Moi or Narcissus in the Dark, and the plays: Hollywood at Sunset and Michelangelo's Models.
He reviews adult gay-male videos for several publications and maintains 70 pages of photographs at Caffe Cino Pictures.
He retired from theatre in 1990, and has lived in Los Angeles since 1993.
In 2010 he published a DVD of his lecture, Caffe Cino: Birthplace of Gay Theatre. and two books of poems, "A Strain of Laughter" and "Bitter with the Sweet" with Lulu.Com.
Plays
- The Haunted Host (1964)
- Joyce Dynel (1969)
- Salvation Army (1969)
- Fog (1969)
- Camera Obscura (1969)
- Pouf Positive
- Kennedy's Children (1974)
- One Man, One Woman
- Play-By-Play
- The Golden Circle
- Tools Not Rules
- My Cup Ranneth Over (1976)
- T-Shirts (1979)
- Mutual Benefit Life
- Mercy Drop
- Blue Is For Boys (1983)
- Untold Decades (1988)
- Michelangelo's Models
- Bread Alone
- The Trial of Socrates
- Judas"
- "The Trojan Women" (after Euripides)
- The Last Stroke
- Hello, Bob
- Evan on Earth
- All at Sea (book and score)
- Hollywood at Sunset
- "The Trojan Women" (after Euripides)
Collections and anthologies
- Robert Patrick's Cheap Theatricks
- Mercy Drop and Other Plays
- Gay Plays: A First Collection (edited by Hoffman), includes T-Shirts
- Contra/Dictions
- The Mammoth Book of Gay Short Stories
- Flesh & the Word 2 & 3
- Best Gay Erotica 2009 & 2010
Screenplays
- Ghost Story (TV) (1972)
- High-Tide (TV) (1990)
- Robin's Hoods (TV) (1994)
Plus numerous ghost-written works
Film and video roles
- Resident Alien (1990)
- O Is for Orgy: The Sequel
- O Boys: Parties, Porn, and Politics
- Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon (2008)
Awards
- Show Business Magazine Best Play Award, 1969
- Glasgow Citizens Theatre Best World Playwrighting Award, 1973
- The International Thespian Society Founders Award for Services to Theatre and to Youth, 1980 (first openly gay recipient)
- Blue is for Boys Weekends in the Borough of Manhattan, 1983 and 1986
- Robert ChesleyRobert ChesleyRobert Chesley was a playwright, theater critic and musical composer....
Foundation Award For Lifetime Achievement In Gay Playwrighting, 1996 - West Hollywood Gay and Lesbian Advisory Board's Rainbow Key Award for having been instrumental in the creation of gay theatre and the off-off-Broadway movement, 2008
- New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, Artistic Achievement Award, 2011
External links
- Harvey Fierstein performs Robert Patrick's "Pouf Positive." track #8 on audio CD for sale at Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
Personal websites and blogs
- Robert Patrick's resume with links to many online scripts, show photos, poems, and songs, 22 Decemmber 2009
- Videos of several interviews and tributes to other writers, 21 March 2011
- 1986 Proclamation of "Blue Is for Boys" Weekend in Manhattan
- Robert Patrick's article on ghostwriting for TV from EMMY magazine, October, 2001]
- Robert Patrick's Credo
- Robert Patrick's Military Experience
- Robert Patrick's Life in Pictures, Quit, a weblog, July 2009
- 76 pages of photographs and some plays from the Caffe Cino
- Robert Patrick's 2009 Village Voice interview about the Caffe Cino April 8, 2009, by Roy Edroso
- "The Caffe Cino:" Video Interviews With Robert Patrick and Other Cino Playwrights, YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Robert Patrick sings about the Caffe Cino, YouTube
- Robert Patrick sings about La Mama, YouTube
- Robert Patrick reads 48 of his poems, YouTube
- Robert Patrick sings many of his songs, YouTube
- Scenes from several Robert Patrick plays, YouTube
- Complete play on video "Hello, Bob", 3 October 2010
- Script and slideshow of "Michelangelo's Models", 17 July 2010
- Script and slideshow of "The Beaux Arts Ball", 3 July 2009
- Script and slideshow of "The Haunted Host"