Oliver Mayer

I am a playwright. My research includes screenwriting, journalism and scholarly writing. Born in Hollywood, CA, I am Mexican American. I attended Cornell, Oxford, and Columbia Universities. Returning to Los Angeles, I worked for eight years as literary manager at The Mark Taper Forum, the premiere regional theatre on the West Coast. We developed many important American plays, including Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Terrence McNally’s Master Class, and my own Blade to the Heat.

In 1997, I left to write full-time. Soon thereafter, I began teaching playwriting, first at UC Riverside and Art Center College of Design. In 2003, I came to the USC School of Theatre to teach both MFAs and undergraduates. I am now an Associate Professor of Dramatic Writing, with tenure.

I am also Resident Faculty Master at the Parkside International Residential College at USC. My plays have been produced nationwide at such venues as the Joseph Papp Public Theater, The Mark Taper Forum, and INTAR, and internationally at the Royal Court Theatre, London and the Teatro Lirico, Mexico City. My literary archive is available through Stanford University Libraries.

The subject of my writing is history. I use historical research as a way of seeing ourselves now – who we really are, what we really feel, what our biggest questions are – by bringing to life characters and events of the past. My method is to unearth rich, violent, even taboo, stories of marginal Americans, and to force the characters to actively reclaim their identities during moments of intense conflict. In so doing, audience members must reassess their own expectations of history, genre and stereotype. Many of these stories are about people of color; the intended audience is universal. The goal is to create a new definition of ourselves based on seeing and feeling lost parts of our history.

Playwright and Oscar nominee Jose Rivera honored me with these remarks about my work: “These courageous plays vibrate with deep emotional authenticity and subterranean political consciousness.... Oliver Mayer is one of the few American playwrights showing us today what the theatre of tomorrow can be like.” Fellow playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis writes: “A great writer with firebrand dialogue, Oliver Mayer contributes not just as a playwright, but as an educator and a Latino who has kept his roots.”

My career goal is to forge new ground as an American playwright, not simply for myself but for new generations of new American writers searching to find their reflection onstage.

//Upcoming Works

MEMBERS ONLY

• Read an excerpt from MEMBERS ONLY
• Staged reading at INTAR, NYC, July 2012

//Produced Works

FORTUNE IS A WOMAN

• Read an excerpt from FORTUNE IS A WOMAN
• USC MFA 3 REPERTORY, February 2012

DARK MATTERS

• Read an excerpt from DARK MATTERS
• LAByrinth Intensive, NYC, July 2012
• Staged Reading, October 17, 2011. The Rosemary Branch Theater.
• Winner of the Alfred P Sloan Initiative Award for Plays about Science

WALLOWA: THE VANISHING OF MAUDE LERAY

• Son of Semele Ensemble, April 2011

FILO AL FUEGO (BLADE TO THE HEAT)

• Read an excerpt from BLADE TO THE HEAT
• The Joseph Papp Public Theater - World Premiere, NYC (1994)
• The Mark Taper Forum - (Revised Version), Main Stage (1996)
• The Apple Tree - (Revised Version), Chicago(1997)
• Thick Description - (Revised Version), SF (1997);
• El Teatro Lirico - (Revised Version), Mexico City (100 performances) (1997)
• Prometeo Theater- Miami (2010)
  College Forum Article | Miami Hearld Article | Miami Hearld Review

 

THE WIGGLE ROOM

• Company of Angels - World Premiere, Los Angeles, CA (2010)
  Production Photos | KUSC Radio Interview

DIAS y FLORES

• Read an excerpt from DIAS y FLORES
• Company of Angels - World Premiere, Los Angeles, CA (2008)
  LA Times Article

ROCIO! IN SPITE OF IT ALL

• The King King Nightclub - World Premiere, Hollywood, CA (2006)

JOY OF THE DESOLATE

• Read an excerpt from JOY OF THE DESOLATE
• The Apple Tree Theatre - World Premiere, Chicago, IL (2000)
• CalArts University, California (2003)

RAGGED TIME

• The Black Dahlia - World Premiere (2002)
• The Royal Court Theatre London - (Developed)
  

JOE LOUIS BLUES

• Los Angeles Theater Center - World Premiere, Los Angeles (1992)
  
• Thick Description - (Revised Version), San Francisco, CA (2000)
• Tiffany Theatres, Los Angeles, CA (2001)

CONJUNTO

• Teatro Vision - World Premiere, San Jose, CA (2003)
• Borderlands Theatre - (Revised Version), Tucson, AZ (2006)
• Playwrights Arena, Los Angeles, CA (2006)

YOUNG VALIANT

• INTAR - World Premiere, NY (2002)
• Casa 0101, Los Angeles, CA (2005)

THE LAWS OF SYMPATHY

• Playwrights Arena - World Premiere, Los Angeles, CA (2009)

//Works in Development

BOLD AS LOVE
THE RIGHTING MOMENT
THE CERVANTES INTERLUDES

//Short Plays

BANANAS AND PEACHFUZZ
OKI DOG
THE CHESS MACHINE

• Associate Professor of Dramatic Writing
  USC School of Theatre
• Faculty Master
  Parkside International Residential College

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