Michael Weller (born September 26, 1942) is a Brooklyn-based playwright and

screen writer A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. T ...

. His plays include '' Moonchildren'', ''Loose Ends'', ''Spoils of War'' and ''Fifty Words''. His screenplays include ''

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

'', for which he was nominated for an Oscar, and '' Hair'', both directed by Miloš Forman.

Early life and studies

Weller was born in New York City, and has lived in Nevada, Massachusetts, London and New York. He attended Stockbridge School and studied music composition at

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , ...

in Massachusetts. In the late 1960s at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, he studied playwriting with

Stephen Joseph Stephen Joseph (13 June 1921 – 4 October 1967)Colin Chambers (ed.) ''The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre,'' London: Continuum, 2002, p.410 was an English stage director and pioneer of "theatre in the round." Life Stephen J ...

(the child of actress

Hermione Gingold Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold (; 9 December 189724 May 1987) was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric character. Her signature drawling, deep voice was a result of nodules on her vocal cords she developed in the 1920s and e ...

and the publisher Michael Joseph) and received a Diploma in Drama. He then moved to London to write plays.

Career

The director Alan Schneider, who was an early collaborator with the playwrights Samuel Beckett and Edward Albee, saw a London run-through of Weller's play ''Moonchildren'', and brought it to the Arena Stage in Washington then to Broadway. ''Moonchildren'' subsequently had an acclaimed run off-Broadway at the

Theatre de Lys The Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse at 121 Christopher Street in Manhattan's West Village. It was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse. The interior is largely unch ...

in 1973 and 1974. Schneider also staged Weller's play ''Loose Ends'' at the Arena Stage then on Broadway at Circle in the Square Theatre.Gerard, Jeremy. “Michael Weller's Landscape of the Heart”. New York Times. May 15, 1988. His play ''Spoils of War'' was adapted as a screenplay and became the TV film ''In Spite of Love.''

Kate Nelligan Patricia Colleen Nelligan (born March 16, 1950), known professionally as Kate Nelligan, is a Canadian stage, film and television actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tide ...

played the part of Elise in both.Gerard, Jeremy
“Michael Weller On Milos Forman, ‘Hair’ & Broadway’s ‘Doctor Zhivago’: Conversations With Jeremy Gerard”
''Deadline Hollywood''. December 29, 2014. In 2017 Brandeis University honored Weller with the university's Brandeis Creative Arts Award. The university invited him to write a new play and suggested it might explore issues regarding freedom of speech. The university had recently received the papers of the social-satirist and stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce. Weller researched the library's collection of the Bruce papers, and began to write his play ''Buyer Beware'', a play that poses the question: If Lenny Bruce were to come back, and book a gig on a campus of today, what would happen? He is described as writing with insight and objectivity about characters who came of age in the time of the war in Vietnam, and he has also written plays that are more personal and deal with matters of the heart. Weller has been active in the Dramatists Guild of America, battling for the rights of playwrights. He has served as President of the Writers Guild Initiative from 2011 to 2018.

Teaching and mentoring

Weller is one of the founders of the Cherry Lane Theatre's acclaimed Mentor Project, which pairs pre-eminent playwrights with emerging playwrights for a season-long mentorship.McElroy, Steven. “Theatre”. ''New York Times''. September 11, 2008 In 2005, the Broken Watch Theatre Company in New York named its performance space the Michael Weller Theatre "in honor of his tremendous accomplishments". The theater closed in 2008. Weller was a faculty member at The New School for Drama in New York City until 2020. He now teaches theatre adaptation at

HB Studio The HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering professional training in the performing arts through classes, workshops, free lectures, theater productions, theater rentals, a theater artist residency progra ...

Plays

*'' The Bodybuilders'' (1969) Open Space, London *'' Tira Tells Everything There is to Know About Herself'' (1969) Open Space, London *'' Moonchildren'' (1971) *'' More Than You Deserve'' (musical with

Jim Steinman James Richard Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, mus ...

- 1973) *''Fishing'' (1974) *''Split'' (1979) *''Loose Ends'' (1979) *''Dwarfman, Master of a Million Shapes'' (1982) *''The Ballad of Soapy Smith'' (1984) About infamous con man

Soapy Smith Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II (November 2, 1860 – July 8, 1898) was an American con artist and gangster in the American frontier. Smith operated confidence schemes across the Western United States, and had a large hand in organized cri ...

*''Ghost on Fire'' (1986) *''Spoils of War'' (1988) *''Lake No Bottom'' (1989) *''Buying Time'' (1991) *''Help'' (1992/2006) *''Dogbrain'' (play for children - 1993) *''Mistresses'' (1997)Marksmay, Peter. “Adultery and Regrets, in One-Acts”. ''New York Times''. May 28, 1997 *''What the Night is For'' / Do Not Disturb (2002) *''Approaching Moomtaj'' (2005) *'' Doctor Zhivago (musical)'' (with Lucy Simon - 2006/2011/2015) *''50 Words'' (2007/2007) *''Side Effects'' (2011) *''Beast'' (2008) *''How to Write Play So Not Getting Fingers Broken'' (2011, Broken Watch Theatre Company) - part of double bill ''Sex Good, Money Bad'' - with ''Now There's Just the Three of Us'' *''The Full Catastrophe'' CATF (2015) *''Abel Finley'' (2014) *''Jericho'' (from Liliom by Ferenc Molnár) (2014 / produced 2018 Attic Theatre Company) *''Summer'' (2016) LP *''All That Remains'' (2017) *''A Late Morning (in America) with Ronald Reagan'' (2018 - Contemporary American Theatre Festival - CATF) *''A Welcome Guest'' ("Toppledon") (2019 - CATF *''Buyer Beware''(2017-2019) - Vicious Circle Productions/Tony Speciale *''Loving, Longing, Leaving'' (2021/22) *''Daisy-Rae's Almost Halfway Motor Lodge & Campgrounds" (2022)''

Screenplays

*''Once and Again'' (1999) (Television) *''Spoils of War'' (1994) – play/teleplay *'' Lost Angels'' (1989) *''

'' (1981) *'' Hair'' (1979)

External links

The New School for Drama

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weller, Michael 1942 births Living people American male screenwriters 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers