E. M. Lewis Explained

E. M. Lewis
Birth Place:Silverton, Oregon
Occupation:Playwright
Language:English
Education:Silverton High School
Alma Mater:Willamette University
University of Southern California
Princeton University
Period:2004–
Genres:drama, opera
Subjects:climate change, war and gun control
Notablework:-->
Spouses:-->
Partners:-->
Awards:Steinberg Award
Primus Prize
Edgerton Award
Hodder Fellowship
Portaldisp:yes

Ellen M. Lewis (professionally known as E. M. Lewis) is an American playwright, teacher, and opera librettist based in Oregon.

Career

Lewis pursued degrees in literature (BA English, MFA Writing) before moving to Baltimore in 2013 to train with the American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program.[1]

Her work has gone on to receive critical success.[2] Edward Albee, in his award citation for Heads, remarked it was ″provocative and wonderfully threatening.″ The LA Weekly observed of the play that “the question of who we are beneath our posturing lands with such force, it jangles the nerves long after the play has ended.” Of Magellanica The New Yorker wrote ″part drawing-room comedy, part locked-room mystery, Magellanica de-abstracts the larger threats surrounding the characters and their relationships, gradually immersing the audience in possibilities usually too complex—or too disturbing—to face.″[3] Her one-man The Gun Show, which went on tour across the U.S. and to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, has been called a “compact yet high-caliber theatrical, a short one-hour blast of personal recollection, rhetoric and genuinely conflicted questioning.”[4]

Her plays have been workshopped, developed, and produced by a range of organizations, including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, American Lyric Theatre, The Lark, Page 73, Project Y, Ashland New Plays Festival, Arkansas New Play Festival, PlayFest Santa Barbara, EcoDrama Festival, the HotCity Greenhouse Festival, Great Plains Theater Conference, Last Frontier Theater Conference, William Inge Center for the Arts, Artists Repertory Theater, TimeLine Theater, Guthrie Theatre, Playwrights Theater of New Jersey, New Voices for the Theater Program, Theatre Latte Da, Moving Arts, Passage Theater, 16th Street Theater, and University of Maryland Opera Studio, among others.

Originally from rural Oregon, Lewis has taught at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Lewis & Clark College, Independence Community College, and Hostos Community College. She returned to the Pacific northwest in 2014, where she writes and frequently gives workshops through the ArtsHub at Artists Repertory Theatre.[5] She is a member of the LineStorm Playwrights writing collective, International Center for Women Playwrights, the National Opera Center, and the Dramatists Guild.

Awards

In addition to this positive critical reception, Lewis has been a finalist for the Sundance Theater Lab, Oregon Book Award, the Shakespeare's Sisters fellowship, and Arizona Opera’s “Arizona Bold!” program, and a semi-finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference.

Works

Full-Length Plays

One-Acts

Operas

Published works

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. . Focus on a Playwright: E.M. Lewis . Breaking Character Magazine . Samuel French . 2010-04-01 . 2019-05-27 .
  2. Bermea . Bobby . 2018-01-19 . Spotlight on: E.M. Lewis and 'Magellanica' . Oregon ArtsWatch . 2019-05-27 .
  3. Nijhuis . Michelle . 2018-01-25 . A Six-Hour Theatrical Epic About the Hole in the Ozone Layer . The New Yorker . 2019-05-27 .
  4. Hughley . Marty . 2016-09-13 . The great American (gun) divide . Oregon ArtsWatch . 2019-05-27 .
  5. News: Lewis . E.M. . Stolowitz . Andrea . New Plays at Artists Repertory Theatre . 11 May 2020 . Dramatists Guild . 16 March 2020.
  6. Web site: The Hodder Fellowship . . Lewis Center for the Arts . Princeton University . 2019-05-27.
  7. Hirschman . Bill . U.S. theatre critics honor E.M. Lewis' Song of Extinction . American Theatre Critics Association . 2019-05-27.
  8. Web site: EMPS New Play Competition . . Earth Matters On Stage . 2019-05-27 .
  9. Web site: ACTA Awards: 2008 . . About The Artists . 2019-05-27 .
  10. Web site: 2008 Awards . . LA Drama Critics Circle . 2019-05-27 .
  11. Web site: Past Winners . . Ashland New Plays Festival . 2019-05-27 .
  12. Web site: BWW News Desk . Oregon Shakespeare Festival Announces 6 New Commissions For Acclaimed American Revolutions Cycle . Broadway World . Wisdom Digital Media . 2019-08-15 . English . 2019-08-15.
  13. Web site: E.M. Lewis, The Great Divide . Table / Room / Stage . Artists Repertory Theatre . 18 August 2019.
  14. Lane . Nicole . Artists Rep takes on Climate Science in Epic Play set in South Pole . Artists Repertory Theatre . 2019-05-27.
  15. News: Carlsson . Jae . Fertile Ground 2: 'Dorothy's Dictionary,' etc. . 11 May 2020 . Oregon Arts Watch . 26 February 2020.

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