Madeleine Olnek is an American independent film director, producer, screenwriter, and playwright. She has written 24 plays and three feature films, including ''

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same ''Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same'' is an American independent 2011 comedy film written and directed by Madeleine Olnek. It parodies lesbian culture and low-budget American 1950s science-fiction films in the style of Ed Wood. Plot Th ...

, The Foxy Merkins,'' and '' Wild Nights with Emily''. Her feature films have been described as "madcap comedies with absurdist leanings" and are all centered around LGBT characters.

Biography

Olnek was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. She studied drama at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

and graduated in 1987, she received fellowships for an MFA in creative writing from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, and the William Goldman Screenwriting Fellowship for an MFA in film from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. She became a member of the advocacy group

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

in the early 90's. During her time at NYU, Olnek directed a comedy show called "The Follies" in which cast member and NYU classmate Molly Shannon created the basis for her Catholic schoolgirl persona, Mary Katherine Gallagher. Shannon credits Olnek with being "the midwife" to her signature sketch comedy character. After graduating from NYU, Olnek was a downtown New York City playwright and director. She belonged to the Emerging Writers Group at New York's

Public Theater The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: A ...

and worked with the WOW Café theater in New York where she wrote and directed many plays including, ''Wild Nights with Emily (1999)'' and ''Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (1992)''. Olnek began to realize that technological advances in the film industry were making it "the place of immediacy", so she began to focus on filmmaking. She made her first short film ''Hold Up'' in 2006 and another ''Countertransference'' in 2009, both of which screened at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. ''Countertransference'' was awarded "Best Short Film Directed by a woman at Sundance" by Women in Film Los Angeles. In 2011, Olnek adapted one of her plays into her first feature film ''

'', which played at Sundance,

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, and The Viennale, and was nominated for the 2011 Gotham Independent Film Awards. Her second feature film '' The Foxy Merkins,'' which also included some of the actors from ''Codependent'', played at Sundance, The Moscow International Film Festival, and BAMcinemaFest. It was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Olnek received research grants from

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

and the Guggenheim Foundation to adapt another of her plays into her third feature, '' Wild Nights with Emily.'' The film was the first ever on-screen portrayal of a queer Emily Dickinson. It starred

Molly Shannon Molly Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for playing Joanne ...

, premiered in 2018 at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

, and was nominated for the

John Cassavetes John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American filmmaker and actor. He began as an actor in film and television before helping to pioneer modern American independent cinema as a writer and director, often self- ...

Independent Spirit Award. The Rotten Tomatoes editorial staff ranked it in the top ten of "The Best Comedies of 2019."

Personal life

Madeleine Olnek considers herself a "lady homosexual" and lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She likes to tell jokes.

Filmography

Bibliography

Selected plays

*''Fan Mail'' (1987), co-written with Nancy Swartz *''Case Studies'' (1988), co-written with Dominique Dibbell and Nancy Swartz *''Double Awareness, Double Awareness'' (1991) *''Spookyworld'' (1992) *''Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same'' (1992) *''The I'm Not Welcome Anywhere Christmas Special'' *''The Jewish Nun'' (1992) *''It's Not the Shoes'' (1992), an adaptation of ''The Twelve Dancing Princesses'' by Hans Christian Andersen for the Alternate Visions Theater Troupe of Youth Enrichment Services at the LGBT Center *''Disaster Area Nurse'' (1993) *''Destiny of Mimi'' (1994) *''How To Write While You Sleep'' (1998) *''Wild Nights with Emily'' (1999) *''Gay! Gay! Gay!'' (1999)

Textbooks

*''A Practical Handbook for the Actor'' by Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Nathaniel Pollack, Robert Previtio, Scott Zigler, and

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, author, and filmmaker. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony Award, Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and ''Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first ...

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olnek, Madeleine Living people 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American writers American women dramatists and playwrights American women film directors American women screenwriters American lesbian artists American LGBTQ film directors American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights American LGBTQ screenwriters Film directors from Connecticut LGBTQ people from Connecticut Screenwriters from Connecticut LGBTQ people from New York (state) Screenwriters from New York (state) Film directors from New York City Year of birth missing (living people)