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Murray Mednick
Murray Mednick (born 1939) is an American playwright and poet. He is best known as founder of the Padua Hills Playwrights Workshop/Festival, where he served as artistic director from 1978 to 1995. He has received numerous awards for his plays, including two Rockefeller Grants and an OBIE. Life and career Born in 1939 to a family with Jewish roots, Mednick attended Brooklyn College and became involved with New York's off-off-Broadway company Theatre Genesis, where much of his early work was staged. He was eventually appointed to the post of artistic co-director in 1970. In 1974, Mednick moved to Los Angeles after being evicted from his apartment while on a trip to the Yucatán on a Guggenheim grant. Mednick founded the long-running summer workshop Padua Hills Playwrights Workshop/Festival in 1978 with funding from LaVerne University, where he was teaching at the time. The workshop was meant to be an extension of his collaborations with Ralph Cook, his mentor and founder of Thea ...
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Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelve original counties established under English rule in 1683 in what was then the Province of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the population stood at 2,736,074, making it the most populous of the five boroughs of New York City, and the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the state.Table 2: Population, Land Area, and Population Density by County, New York State - 2020
New York State Department of Health. Accessed January 2, 2024.

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Kelly Stuart
Kelly Stuart is an American playwright. Life She lived in Los Angeles. She has been a New Dramatists writer in residence at The Royal National Theatre’s Studio in London. She lives in New York, and teaches in the Theatre Department at Columbia University. Awards * 2000 Whiting Award * Guthrie New Play grant * NYFA Fellowship * Lark Artists Delegation to Romania Works * ''Ball and Chain'', produced at the Padua Hills Playwrights Festival (1990) * ''The Interpreter of Horror'', produced at the Padua Hills Playwrights Festival (1991) * ''Demonology'', produced at the Padua Hills Playwrights Festival (1995) and at Playwrights Horizons (1996) * ''The Square Root of Terrible'', produced at The Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles (1998) (theater for young audiences) * ''Furious Blood'', produced at Sledgehammer Theatre, San Diego (2001) * ''The New New'', Guthrie Theater The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and profes ...
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Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated distinguished accomplishment in the past and potential for future achievement. The recipients exhibit outstanding aptitude for prolific scholarship or exceptional talent in the arts. The foundation holds two separate competitions each year: * One open to citizens and permanent residents of the United States and Canada. * The other to citizens and permanent residents of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Latin America and Caribbean competition is currently suspended "while we examine the workings and efficacy of the program. The U.S. and Canadian competition is unaffected by this suspension." The performing arts are excluded from these fellowships, but composers, film directors, and choreographers are still ...
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Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller ("Senior") and son " Junior", and their primary business advisor, Frederick Taylor Gates, on May 14, 1913, when its charter was granted by New York. It is the second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America (after the Carnegie Corporation) and ranks as the 30th largest foundation globally by endowment, with assets of over $6.3 billion in 2022. The Rockefeller Foundation is legally independent from other Rockefeller entities, including the Rockefeller University and Rockefeller Center, and operates under the oversight of its own independent board of trustees, with its own resources and distinct mission. Since its inception, the foundation has donated billions of dollars to various causes, becoming the largest philanthropic enter ...
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Spider Grandmother
Spider Grandmother (Hopi ''Kokyangwuti'', Navajo ''Na'ashjé'ii Asdzáá'') is an important figure in the mythology, oral traditions and folklore of many Native American cultures, especially in the Southwestern United States. Southwest Hopi mythology In Hopi mythology, "Spider Grandmother" (Hopi ''Kokyangwuti'')Spider Woman Stories, published by The University of Arizona Press, 1979. also called "Gogyeng Sowuhti" among many other names can take the shape of an old, or timeless woman or the shape of a common spider in many Hopi stories. When she is in her spider shape, she lives underground in a hole that is like a Kiva. When she is called upon, she will help people in many ways, such as giving advice or providing medicinal cures. "Spider Grandmother" is seen as a leader, a wise individual who represents good things. Creation stories = First tale = This story begins with Tawa (the Sun god) and Spider Woman (Spider Grandmother) who is identified with the Earth Goddess. T ...
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Skirball Cultural Center
The Skirball Cultural Center, founded in 1996, is a Jewish educational institution in Los Angeles, California. The center, named after philanthropist couple Jack H. Skirball and Audrey Skirball-Kenis, has a museum with regularly changing exhibitions, film events, music and theater performances, comedy, family, literary, and cultural programs. The campus includes a museum, a performing arts center, conference halls, classrooms, libraries, courtyards, gardens, and a café. Although the center has its roots in Jewish culture, it is open to individuals of all ages and cultures. Skirball Museum The Skirball Museum predates the Skirball Cultural Center, having been established in 1972 at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. The museum moved into the Skirball Cultural Center after the center's completion. The Skirball's core exhibition, ''Visions and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America'', traces the history, experiences, and values of Jews ...
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John Diehl
John Henry Diehl (born May 1, 1950) is an American character actor. Noted for his work in avant-garde theater, Diehl has performed in more than 140 films and television shows, including '' Land of Plenty'', '' Stripes'', ''City Limits'', '' Nixon'', ''Jurassic Park III'', and the TV series ''Miami Vice'', '' The Shield'', and '' Point Pleasant''. Diehl has "largely avoided the typecasting that is an accepted part of most character actors' careers." He has been a member of The Actors Studio since 2004. Early life Diehl was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1950. His father, John A. Diehl, was a civil engineer, and his mother, Mary, was a social worker. Raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family, he was educated at parochial schools, and graduated from St. Xavier High School in 1968. Career In 1970, Diehl moved to New York, encouraged by his sister, who had just graduated from the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. He spent 1971 squatting in Amsterdam and returned to New ...
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Ed Harris
Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in '' Apollo 13'' (1995), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), '' Pollock'' (2000), and '' The Hours'' (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Award nominations. Harris has appeared in numerous leading and supporting roles, including in '' Creepshow'' (1982), '' The Right Stuff'' (1983), '' Under Fire'' (1983), '' Places in the Heart'' (1984), '' The Abyss'' (1989), '' Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1992), '' The Firm'' (1993), '' Nixon'' (1995), '' The Rock'' (1996), '' Stepmom'' (1998), '' A Beautiful Mind'' (2001), '' Enemy at the Gates'' (2001), ''Radio'' (2003), '' A History of Violence'' (2005), '' Gone Baby Gone'' (2007), '' National Treasure: Book of Secrets'' (2007), '' Snowpiercer'' (2013), '' Mother!'' (2017), '' The Lost Daughter'' (2021), and '' Top Gun: Maverick'' (2022). In addition to directing ''Pollock'', Harris directed the Western film '' Appaloosa'' (2008). In televis ...
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François Villon
François Villon (; Modern French: ; ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these experiences in his poems. Biography Birth Villon was born in Paris in 1431. One source gives the date as .Charpier 1958, "1er avril 1431 (vieux style) ou 19 avril 1432 (nouveau style) : naissance à Paris, de ''François de Montcorbier'', alias ''des Loges'', qui deviendra François Villon [April 1, 1431 (old style) or April 19, 1432 (new style): birth in Paris of ''François de Montcorbier'', alias ''des Loges'', who would become François Villon]" Early life Villon's real name may have been François de Montcorbier or François des Loges: both of these names appear in official documents drawn up in Villon's lifetime. In his own work, however, Villon is the only name the poet used, and he mentions it frequently in his work. His two ...
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Cherry Lane Theatre
The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. The Cherry Lane Theatre contains a 179-seat main stage and a 60-seat studio.Lee, Felicia R. (December 21, 2010"Cherry Lane Theater Artistic Director to Leave and Sell Building" ''The New York Times''. Retrieved December 24, 2010WebCitation archive History The building was constructed as a farm silo in 1817, and also served as a brewery, tobacco warehouse and box factory before Evelyn Vaughn, William S. Rainey, Reginald Travers & Edna St. Vincent Millay converted the structure into a theater they christened the Cherry Lane Playhouse. It opened in 1923. Its first reviewed show was ''Saturday Night'' by Robert Presnell, which opened on February 9, 1924.
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Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1952 and as the fourth Premier of the Soviet Union, premier from 1941 until his death. He initially governed as part of a Collective leadership in the Soviet Union, collective leadership, but Joseph Stalin's rise to power, consolidated power to become an absolute dictator by the 1930s. Stalin codified the party's official interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, while the totalitarian political system he created is known as Stalinism. Born into a poor Georgian family in Gori, Georgia, Gori, Russian Empire, Stalin attended the Tiflis Theological Seminary before joining the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He raised f ...
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Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( – 14 April 1930) was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, Russian Revolution, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Russian Futurist movement. He co-signed the Futurist manifesto, ''A Slap in the Face of Public Taste'' (1913), and wrote such poems as ''A Cloud in Trousers'' (1915) and ''Backbone Flute'' (1916). Mayakovsky produced a large and diverse body of work during the course of his career: he wrote poems, wrote and directed plays, appeared in films, edited the art journal LEF (journal), ''LEF'', and produced agitprop posters in support of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Communist Party during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. Though Mayakovsky's work regularly demonstrated ideological and patriotic support for the ideology of the Bolsheviks and a strong admiration of Vladimir Lenin, his relationship with the Soviet state was always comp ...
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