Meet the Playwright: Artistic Associate Philip Dawkins
Get to know Artistic Associate Philip Dawkins, whose play CAST OF CHARACTERS premieres as part of this year’s XYZ Series of New Works.
Philip Dawkins’ critically-acclaimed play The Homosexuals received a Joseph Jefferson Nomination for New Work after its world premiere with About Face Theatre in the summer of 2011, under the direction of Bonnie Metzgar. Further productions are planned for ManBites Dog Theater in North Carolina, and GayFest! 2013 in Philadelphia. His play Failure: A Love Story premiered in the fall of 2012 at Victory Gardens Theater under the direction of Seth Bockley, and will be produced at Azuka Theatre in Philadelphia and Illinois Shakespeare Festival in Bloomington-Normal this summer. His new play, Stutter, was commissioned by the Goodman Theater and received a staged reading in December, 2012. In the fall of 2011, his play Miss Marx or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living received a staged reading as part of Steppenwolf’s First Look Series.
Other credits: Dead Letter Office (Dog and Pony Theatre); Yes to Everything! (Chicago, NY,CA, DC); Perfect (The Side Project); Ugly Baby (Chicago Opera Vanguard/Strawdog Theatre Company); A Still Life in Color (T.U.T.A. Company); Saguaro (Estrogen Fest; Estrogenius Festival, NY; 16th Street Theatre, Berwyn; Painted Filly, Ireland.). His plays for young folks have been performed all over the world and are published through Playscripts, Inc.
A graduate of Loyola University, Chicago, Philip is an Artistic Associate of About Face Theatre, an Ensemble Playwright at Victory Gardens, and a founding member, with artistic partner Eric C. Reda, of Chicago Opera Vanguard. Philip teaches playwriting at Northwestern University and through the Victory Gardens ACCESS Program for writers with disabilities. He also teaches Kung Fu to little, tiny, children through Rising Phoenix Kung Fu. Hi-Yah!
About CAST OF CHARACTERS
In CAST OF CHARACTERS, playwright Philip Dawkins creates a detailed, rich portrait of a family in stagnation through a simple recitation of the character list for a play we never see. Through the descriptions of each character, we become immersed and engaged in the lives of the “three and a half sisters.” An aging mother is confused, a brother feels isolated, sisters criticize and harp on each other, there’s water aerobics, infertility and a partner named Rod. Despite each of the characters’ determination to “do nothing,” they find themselves deeply intertwined in each others’ lives.