Michael Wells Oakes
With a bit of fantastic luck, I was introduced to The 29th Street Playwrights when I was just returning to writing full time and struggling with a new play. I joined the Collective in October of 2015 and heard my play, A COLD DECEMBER, read for the first time at the Dramatist Guild Fund Studios shortly thereafter. The careful, excited, knowledgable and thoughtful feedback was invaluable to me--and continues to energize me. I have re-worked A COLD DECEMBER and completed two short plays, GRACE, and CHRISTMAS--selected to be a part of the 4th Annual New Moon Short Play Festival at Luna Stage, West Orange NJ in May.
I am currently working with composer, Natalie Mack, on a Song Cycle. It will be performed by rock musicians and actors and tells the story of a thirteen year old girl, who is mourning the death of her mother, and of Subway Boy, and every person living in New York City. I am also working on a short play about Semele, mother of Dionysus, and a scandal at an archeological sight in Greece.
My career in theatre has touched on management, production, producing and performing--throughout it all I wrote.
Most productive was my collaboration with Jennifer Wells: starting with INTO A POINT, an O'Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist, produced at Westbeth Theater Center in NYC; FURNACE PARK IS CLOSING DOWN produced in NYC at the Harold Clurman Theater by Manhattan Class Company, directed By Brian Mertes, as well as at the White Fire Theater Sherman Oaks,CA directed by Jill Mitwell, MIGRATIONS performed at the Samuel Beckett, NYC. Jennifer and I also ran the DRAMA WORKSHOP, a theater program for teenagers sponsored by the Greenwich Village Youth Council. We wrote and produced 14 plays with teenagers for teenage audiences--two of the plays REMEMBER ME ALWAYS and GREENFIELD BLOMS are published by Samuel French.
For the Fay Simpson Dance Company I wrote TAKE ME HOME produced by MCC in NYC and KURT’S WIFE performed at KO Theater Festival, Amherst College, MA.
My screen plays include, Metamorphized, Nuns And War, and Miraculous Turnaround with Jennifer Wells which received the NYFA Fellowship for screenwriting.
The themes I have dealt with in my work have remained fairly consistent; family love-- the unexpected, sometimes frightening paths that love takes; the deep human need for home and what we will do to achieve it; the balance between what we know and the unknown-- the sparring of the mystical and the scientific. I also love to write about creation-- the magic of it; and the sly comedy that pops up in the most dire circumstances. I have always written characters of all ages and characters that reflect the whole world, particularly the population of NYC. In my recent plays, I am trying to actively include the audience. I hope they will complete the story through the lens of their lives. This connection between my play, the actors, director, designers and the audience is a great motivator in my writing. I love writing for the theater. I love the picking up a pencil, often with nothing in my mind but a trust that if I just put words on paper something will result. I am gratefully amazed that my trust is often rewarded. I love that people see my plays--and love watching other writer’s plays. I feel lucky to have been able to pursue a life in the theater.
Michael Wells-Oakes, April 2016
I am currently working with composer, Natalie Mack, on a Song Cycle. It will be performed by rock musicians and actors and tells the story of a thirteen year old girl, who is mourning the death of her mother, and of Subway Boy, and every person living in New York City. I am also working on a short play about Semele, mother of Dionysus, and a scandal at an archeological sight in Greece.
My career in theatre has touched on management, production, producing and performing--throughout it all I wrote.
Most productive was my collaboration with Jennifer Wells: starting with INTO A POINT, an O'Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist, produced at Westbeth Theater Center in NYC; FURNACE PARK IS CLOSING DOWN produced in NYC at the Harold Clurman Theater by Manhattan Class Company, directed By Brian Mertes, as well as at the White Fire Theater Sherman Oaks,CA directed by Jill Mitwell, MIGRATIONS performed at the Samuel Beckett, NYC. Jennifer and I also ran the DRAMA WORKSHOP, a theater program for teenagers sponsored by the Greenwich Village Youth Council. We wrote and produced 14 plays with teenagers for teenage audiences--two of the plays REMEMBER ME ALWAYS and GREENFIELD BLOMS are published by Samuel French.
For the Fay Simpson Dance Company I wrote TAKE ME HOME produced by MCC in NYC and KURT’S WIFE performed at KO Theater Festival, Amherst College, MA.
My screen plays include, Metamorphized, Nuns And War, and Miraculous Turnaround with Jennifer Wells which received the NYFA Fellowship for screenwriting.
The themes I have dealt with in my work have remained fairly consistent; family love-- the unexpected, sometimes frightening paths that love takes; the deep human need for home and what we will do to achieve it; the balance between what we know and the unknown-- the sparring of the mystical and the scientific. I also love to write about creation-- the magic of it; and the sly comedy that pops up in the most dire circumstances. I have always written characters of all ages and characters that reflect the whole world, particularly the population of NYC. In my recent plays, I am trying to actively include the audience. I hope they will complete the story through the lens of their lives. This connection between my play, the actors, director, designers and the audience is a great motivator in my writing. I love writing for the theater. I love the picking up a pencil, often with nothing in my mind but a trust that if I just put words on paper something will result. I am gratefully amazed that my trust is often rewarded. I love that people see my plays--and love watching other writer’s plays. I feel lucky to have been able to pursue a life in the theater.
Michael Wells-Oakes, April 2016
