Victor Bumbalo
Encyclopedia
Victor Bumbalo is an American
actor
and playwright
.
family in Utica, New York
, where he attended public high school. Bumbalo went away to college
at age seventeen to Plattsburgh State University, the first member of his immediate family to get beyond twelfth grade.
He graduated from the Masters Program in Theater at Bennington College
in June 1967, after studying writing under Bernard Malamud
. Coming to New York City
, Bumbalo became immersed in the newly born Off- and Off-Off Broadway
theater movement. He managed to get Joseph Papp
to provide costumes for an independent production of Oedipus Rex. He directed the American premiere of Mrozek's The Enchanted Night. As artistic director of the Soul and Latin Theater, one of the first successful street theaters, his productions toured the streets of New York for three consecutive summers (1968–1970).
He went on to work as a guest director for Bennington College and Adelphi University
. In the mid-1970s Bumbalo wrote with a partner, Judy Engles. They completed a screenplay, material for comedy groups, and a play, Class Act
, which had a successful run at the Cubiculo Theater. He played the part of Hugo in The Cross and the Switchblade
(1970), the movie of David Wilkerson
's book by the same name.
But as a gay
man, by 1979 he felt the need to put the lives of gay men and lesbians on the stage. He wrote Kitchen Duty, produced by John Glines
. This play dealt with being outwardly gay, unable to "pass" and being in a relationship that fell apart because one partner was "too gay."
In the winter of 1982 he received his first of two MacDowell Fellowships. Next he wrote After Eleven which examines a successful long-term gay relationship. Then came Niagara Falls, a comedy about a working class family's reaction to their gay son and his lover arriving unexpectedly for his sister's wedding. This play has enjoyed a long life, playing in both mainstream and alternative theaters.
Then the era of AIDS
began. Almost everyone involved with Kitchen Duty died of the disease. Bumbalo volunteered with GMHC, supported Lambda Legal Defense, worked for the Anti-Violence Project and tried to avoid writing. Finally, confronting his demons, in 1987 an award from the Ingram Merrill Foundation allowed him to complete Adam and the Experts, his first play dealing with AIDS. It was about his friend the novelist and journalist George Whitmore
and Bumbalo, and their search for a way out of the nightmare. After the successful off-broadway run the play has had numerous productions in the United States and Canada
.
From 1980 to 1995, Bumbalo supported his writing by coaching actors in his own studio. He also taught at The Cooper Union as an adjunct professor in the Engineering School. During this period he received fellowships at Yaddo
and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation.
In 1991 he served on the playwriting committee for the Massachusetts State Arts Council. "What are Tuesdays Like?" was an outgrowth of his work with the People With AIDS Theater. Following a set of strangers in the waiting room of an AIDS clinic overseveral months, Bumbalo was able to expand the world of HIV beyond the usual cast of gay white men and include a woman of color, exploring class, gender, and race. In the summer of 1993 the play was selected for the Carnegie Mellon Showcase of New Plays. The actor/producer Dan Phatcunts Luria introduced "What are Tuesdays Like?" in Los Angeles in the winter of 1994 at a staged-reading at the Westwood Playhouse. The Contemporary American Theater Festival chose the work for its 1994 summer season. The play has had productions throughout the United States and in Germany, Japan, England, and Sweden.Bumbalo wrote other plays during this period: SHOW, which was included in the collection Best American Short Plays of 1992-1993, "Tell", and "And Then". All these one-acts deal either directly or indirectly with the epidemic and continue to find productions and audiences in both the straight and gay communities. In 1995, David Milch, executive producer of NYPD BLUE, having seen the reading of "What are Tuesdays Like?", invited Bumbalo to write an episode for his series. He moved from New York to Los Angeles.
The success of his "NYPD Blue" episode led to a staff writing position on "American Gothic's" 1995-1996 season. Since then he has written several movies of the week and a number of episodes for network television series. In addition, Bumbalo wrote for HBO's animated series "Spawn". In April 2005, "Questa" opened at the Court Theatre in Los Angeles. The play was produced by David Milch and starred Wendie Malick, Dan Lauria, and Dorian Harewood. The wide canvas he began to explore in "Tuesdays" became even wider as he wrote about gay, straight, male, female, white, black, the homed and the homeless. “The rehearsals and run of this show provided some of the best times I have ever spent in the theater. It is amazing how stagework can surprise and inspire and rejuvenate one.”said Bumbalo. Bumbalo is a 2007 finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for his play QUESTA.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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 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...
.
Biography
Bumbalo grew up in a working-class ItalianItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
family in Utica, New York
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
, where he attended public high school. Bumbalo went away to college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
at age seventeen to Plattsburgh State University, the first member of his immediate family to get beyond twelfth grade.
He graduated from the Masters Program in Theater at Bennington College
Bennington College
Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
in June 1967, after studying writing under Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud was an author of novels and short stories. Along with Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, he was one of the great American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, The Natural, was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford...
. Coming to 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...
, Bumbalo became immersed in the newly born Off- and Off-Off Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
theater movement. He managed to get Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
to provide costumes for an independent production of Oedipus Rex. He directed the American premiere of Mrozek's The Enchanted Night. As artistic director of the Soul and Latin Theater, one of the first successful street theaters, his productions toured the streets of New York for three consecutive summers (1968–1970).
He went on to work as a guest director for Bennington College and Adelphi University
Adelphi University
Adelphi University is a private, nonsectarian university located in Garden City, in Nassau County, New York, United States. It is the oldest institution of higher education on Long Island. For the sixth year, Adelphi University has been named a “Best Buy” in higher education by the Fiske Guide to...
. In the mid-1970s Bumbalo wrote with a partner, Judy Engles. They completed a screenplay, material for comedy groups, and a play, Class Act
Class Act
Class Act is a 1992 comedy film, directed by Randall Miller and starring hip-hop duo Kid 'n Play. An urban retelling of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, the screenplay is by Cynthia Friedlob and John Semper from a story by Michael Swerdlick, Richard Brenne and Wayne Allan Rice...
, which had a successful run at the Cubiculo Theater. He played the part of Hugo in The Cross and the Switchblade
The Cross and the Switchblade
The Cross and the Switchblade is a book written in 1963 by pastor David Wilkerson with John and Elizabeth Sherrill. It tells the true story of Wilkerson's first five years in New York City, where he ministered to disillusioned youth, encouraging them to turn away from the drugs and gang violence...
(1970), the movie of David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson
David Ray Wilkerson was an American Christian evangelist, best known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade...
's book by the same name.
But as a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
man, by 1979 he felt the need to put the lives of gay men and lesbians on the stage. He wrote Kitchen Duty, produced by John Glines
John Glines
John Glines is an American playwright and producer.-Playwright and producer:Glines graduated from Yale in 1955 with a BA in drama. As a writer in children’s television, he worked for seven years on Captain Kangaroo and for four years on Sesame Street...
. This play dealt with being outwardly gay, unable to "pass" and being in a relationship that fell apart because one partner was "too gay."
In the winter of 1982 he received his first of two MacDowell Fellowships. Next he wrote After Eleven which examines a successful long-term gay relationship. Then came Niagara Falls, a comedy about a working class family's reaction to their gay son and his lover arriving unexpectedly for his sister's wedding. This play has enjoyed a long life, playing in both mainstream and alternative theaters.
Then the era of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
began. Almost everyone involved with Kitchen Duty died of the disease. Bumbalo volunteered with GMHC, supported Lambda Legal Defense, worked for the Anti-Violence Project and tried to avoid writing. Finally, confronting his demons, in 1987 an award from the Ingram Merrill Foundation allowed him to complete Adam and the Experts, his first play dealing with AIDS. It was about his friend the novelist and journalist George Whitmore
George Whitmore
- Biography :George Whitmore lived in Manhattan.He was a member of The Violet Quill, the Gay Academic Union and the Gay Men's Health Crisis.Alongside his novels and non-fiction work, he wrote for the New York Times Magazine,the Advocate, the New York Native, and Christopher Street.- Bibliography...
and Bumbalo, and their search for a way out of the nightmare. After the successful off-broadway run the play has had numerous productions in the United States and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
From 1980 to 1995, Bumbalo supported his writing by coaching actors in his own studio. He also taught at The Cooper Union as an adjunct professor in the Engineering School. During this period he received fellowships at Yaddo
Yaddo
Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400 acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment."...
and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation.
In 1991 he served on the playwriting committee for the Massachusetts State Arts Council. "What are Tuesdays Like?" was an outgrowth of his work with the People With AIDS Theater. Following a set of strangers in the waiting room of an AIDS clinic overseveral months, Bumbalo was able to expand the world of HIV beyond the usual cast of gay white men and include a woman of color, exploring class, gender, and race. In the summer of 1993 the play was selected for the Carnegie Mellon Showcase of New Plays. The actor/producer Dan Phatcunts Luria introduced "What are Tuesdays Like?" in Los Angeles in the winter of 1994 at a staged-reading at the Westwood Playhouse. The Contemporary American Theater Festival chose the work for its 1994 summer season. The play has had productions throughout the United States and in Germany, Japan, England, and Sweden.Bumbalo wrote other plays during this period: SHOW, which was included in the collection Best American Short Plays of 1992-1993, "Tell", and "And Then". All these one-acts deal either directly or indirectly with the epidemic and continue to find productions and audiences in both the straight and gay communities. In 1995, David Milch, executive producer of NYPD BLUE, having seen the reading of "What are Tuesdays Like?", invited Bumbalo to write an episode for his series. He moved from New York to Los Angeles.
The success of his "NYPD Blue" episode led to a staff writing position on "American Gothic's" 1995-1996 season. Since then he has written several movies of the week and a number of episodes for network television series. In addition, Bumbalo wrote for HBO's animated series "Spawn". In April 2005, "Questa" opened at the Court Theatre in Los Angeles. The play was produced by David Milch and starred Wendie Malick, Dan Lauria, and Dorian Harewood. The wide canvas he began to explore in "Tuesdays" became even wider as he wrote about gay, straight, male, female, white, black, the homed and the homeless. “The rehearsals and run of this show provided some of the best times I have ever spent in the theater. It is amazing how stagework can surprise and inspire and rejuvenate one.”said Bumbalo. Bumbalo is a 2007 finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for his play QUESTA.