The Playwright
Marcus Gardley
The powerful, unexplainable beauty about the sacred story is that
it doesn’t overwhelm you with facts, but rather it highlights human truths so
vital to our existence that it beckons the presence of God.
–Marcus Gardley
Marcus Gardley is one of America's most promising young playwrights; he is a poet with
a deep understanding of language and storytelling.
–Molly Smith, Artistic Director of Arena Stage
Considered a "prophet of the past" by some in the theatre community, influences from poet-playwright Marcus Gardley's childhood seep into his work. Gardley grew up during the 1980s in West Oakland, California where he spent Sundays listening to his father preach. Gardley's experiences with the Black Church not only inform, but also inspire some of his finest work, especially every tongue confess.
His penchant for music and poetry immerse his dialogue, which carry his rich stories. In fact, Gardley has written both plays and musicals that had workshop productions and/or fully mounted productions nationwide. Some of his commissioning theaters include Arena Stage, South Coast Repertory, Playwrights Horizons, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Yale Rep, Shotgun Players, Traveling Jewish Theatre, Harlem Stage, Denver Theater Center, The Foundry Theater and Hartford Stage.
In addition, Gardley is the recipient of several honors and awards, which include: the 2011 PEN Laura Pels Award for Mid-Career Playwright, the prestigious 2008 Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, 2007 Kesselring Honoree, the San Francisco Bay Area’s Gerbode Emerging Playwright Award, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre Award, a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation
Grant, an NEA/TCG Playwriting Participant Residency, the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Scholarship, and the ASCAP Cole Porter Prize. He is also a member of Lark Play Development Center and of the Dramatist's Guild, which in 2007 listed him as one of 50 playwrights to watch in Dramatists Magazine. He has taught creative writing at Columbia University and African-American Theater and Playwriting at UMass Amherst. Gardley is currently a Visiting Lecturer in Playwriting at Brown University.
To find out more about Gardley as a playwright, visit Prophet of the Past.
it doesn’t overwhelm you with facts, but rather it highlights human truths so
vital to our existence that it beckons the presence of God.
–Marcus Gardley
Marcus Gardley is one of America's most promising young playwrights; he is a poet with
a deep understanding of language and storytelling.
–Molly Smith, Artistic Director of Arena Stage
Considered a "prophet of the past" by some in the theatre community, influences from poet-playwright Marcus Gardley's childhood seep into his work. Gardley grew up during the 1980s in West Oakland, California where he spent Sundays listening to his father preach. Gardley's experiences with the Black Church not only inform, but also inspire some of his finest work, especially every tongue confess.
His penchant for music and poetry immerse his dialogue, which carry his rich stories. In fact, Gardley has written both plays and musicals that had workshop productions and/or fully mounted productions nationwide. Some of his commissioning theaters include Arena Stage, South Coast Repertory, Playwrights Horizons, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Yale Rep, Shotgun Players, Traveling Jewish Theatre, Harlem Stage, Denver Theater Center, The Foundry Theater and Hartford Stage.
In addition, Gardley is the recipient of several honors and awards, which include: the 2011 PEN Laura Pels Award for Mid-Career Playwright, the prestigious 2008 Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, 2007 Kesselring Honoree, the San Francisco Bay Area’s Gerbode Emerging Playwright Award, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre Award, a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation
Grant, an NEA/TCG Playwriting Participant Residency, the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Scholarship, and the ASCAP Cole Porter Prize. He is also a member of Lark Play Development Center and of the Dramatist's Guild, which in 2007 listed him as one of 50 playwrights to watch in Dramatists Magazine. He has taught creative writing at Columbia University and African-American Theater and Playwriting at UMass Amherst. Gardley is currently a Visiting Lecturer in Playwriting at Brown University.
To find out more about Gardley as a playwright, visit Prophet of the Past.
More Works by Gardley
The House that Will not Stand (Spring 2014)
Hell in High Water, formerly known as On the Levee (2011)
On the Levee (2010)
This World in a Woman's Hands (2009)
the road weeps, the well runs dry (2008)
Love is a Dream House in Lorin (2006)
dance of the holy ghost (2006)
(L)imitations of Life (2005)
…and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi (2004)
like sun fallin' in the mouth (2003)
To learn more about Gardley's work, visit Theatrical Poetry.
Hell in High Water, formerly known as On the Levee (2011)
On the Levee (2010)
This World in a Woman's Hands (2009)
the road weeps, the well runs dry (2008)
Love is a Dream House in Lorin (2006)
dance of the holy ghost (2006)
(L)imitations of Life (2005)
…and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi (2004)
like sun fallin' in the mouth (2003)
To learn more about Gardley's work, visit Theatrical Poetry.