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William Bivins

WILLIAM BIVINS

  (1961 - )
Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

William Bivins is an award-winning playwright, recovering screenwriter and erstwhile pecan farmer. His psychological Drama "Ransom, Texas" won Pacific Repertory's 2009/2010 Hyperion Project Original Play Competition. His Biblical comedy "Pulp Scripture" (Original Sin/PianoFight) won the 2009 Bay area Theatre Critics Circle award for Original Script and grabbed eight 2009 SF Fringe awards, including Best New Comedy. Other works include: "the Position," a paranoid thriller commissioned and produced by PianoFight after William won the company's play writing competition; "the afterlife of the Mind," a brain transplantation comedy that premiered in Berkeley and San Francisco in 2009 (Virago Theatre Co.) and ran in anchorage in 2010 (Out North); "the apotheosis of Pig Husbandry," a noir dramedy that had its world premiere in San Francisco in 2010 (SF Playhouse). William was one of twelve Bay area playwrights chosen in 2008 for Theatre Bay area/TheatreWorks Playwrights Showcase and has been a finalist for the Heideman award in the National Ten-minute Play Contest. His screenplays have been optioned more than half-a-dozen times. William has won awards from the Bay area Theatre Critics Circle, the San Francisco Fringe Festival, Pacific Repertory Theatre, the Nantucket Short Play Competition, the Rochester International Film Festival and the Palo alto Film Festival. He has participated in the Will Dunne Dramatic Writing Workshop since 2001, is a member of the Monday Night Playwrights Group and the Dramatists Guild. He grew up in New Mexico, went to college in New York and lives in San Francisco. His friends call him "Bill."

Research:    Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)

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below is a list of William Bivins's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Afterlife Of the Mind, The         Altered Landscape         Apotheosis Of Pig Husbandry, The         Feast Of the Newborn Child, The         Grunion Run         Position, The         Pulp Scripture         Ransom, Texas         Sep 12

Afterlife Of the Mind, The

Synopsis:
Can Lydia find a body for Harry's brain? Can she use her body to get Todd to donate his body? Is there such thing as sex without a body?. . . Lydia's husband, noted philosopher Harry Pengrove, is dying of a rare illness. Unwilling to accept his fate, Lydia enlists the help of Ulrich Hoffsteadler, a brilliant but illegal neurosurgeon who operates out of the back of a bar and who, medical legend has it, once transplanted a human brain. after a botched transplant, Lydia embarks on a journey pushing the limits of love, the human body and medical science to save Harry's extraordinary mind.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Ashby Stage, Berkeley, Ca     2009

Organisations:
Virago Theatre Company

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Full Length Dark Comedy

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  1 person in ape suit

Further Reference:
-

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Altered Landscape

Synopsis:
Frank and Lena canoe out to the river island where they spent their honeymoon. When they wake to find the river choked with logs, they are forced to confront their entrapment--both on the island and in their lives.

Notes:
Part of the 9th Annual bay One Acts Festival.

1st Produced:
Boxcar Theatre, San Francisco, Ca     2010

Organisations:
Three Wise Monkeys

1st Published:
Three Wise Monkeys (in anthology), 2010   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Apotheosis Of Pig Husbandry, The

Synopsis:
a woman in a slip handcuffed to a bed. a bar that only serves one drink. Windows that are duck-taped to keep out the smell. Welcome to the Lazy eight Motel, where sex, revenge, social theory and pig farming mix in an explosive cocktail. . .. Philosopher and social theorist asuncion "assy" Boyle drifts into town, buys the derelict motel downwind of the biggest pig farm in the state, and seduces the pig farmer's wife Lola. His plan? To put Charles, the farmer, out of business and clean up the pig shit that's destroying the community and polluting the groundwater. But since assy blames Charles for his mother's death is this really social justice. . . or naked revenge? By the startling end of the play, assy learns what happens when you take justice into your own hands.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Sf Playhouse, San Francisco, Ca     2010

Organisations:
SF Playhouse

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Full Length Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Feast Of the Newborn Child, The

Synopsis:
Why is Jonathan trying to dissuade his wife abigail from going to the natives' Christmas Feast? Could it have something to do with their disturbing rituals? Could it be because they have confused Christmas with the Last Supper? Does it have anything to do with the "glazed monkey"?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Off-Market Theaters, San Francisco, Ca     2010

Organisations:
PianoFight

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
comedy One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Grunion Run

Synopsis:
a man, a woman, the full moon and thousands of spawning fish. . ..

Notes:
Winner of PianoFight's ShortLived 2.0 playwriting competition.

1st Produced:
Off-Market Theaters, San Francisco, Ca     2009

Organisations:
PianoFight

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Romantic Comedy One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Position, The

Synopsis:
WaNTeD: Six finalists for the Position. Must be willing to relinquish clothing and identity, be recorded around the clock, and engage in dangerous psychological games. Survival not guaranteed. . .. the Position is not just a job; in a world ravaged by 80% unemployment and mass social chaos, the Position represents security and fulfillment. the Concern has selected six finalists from more than half-a-million job applicants, flown them to a remote compound, and provided them with every luxury and diversion--including golf, paragliding and skeet shooting. When they arrive, the six candidates are stripped of their clothing and identities, informed that the laws of the Nation have been suspended and that they will be recorded around the clock while they compete for the one job that they believe can give them hope in a hopeless world.

Notes:
Commissioned by PianoFight As A result of winning PianoFight's playwriting competition, ShortLived 2.0.

1st Produced:
Off-Market Theaters, San Francisco     2010

Organisations:
PianoFight

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Full Length Psychological Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Pulp Scripture

Synopsis:
Sisters get Dad Drunk, have Sex with him!. . . Human Sacrifice at Father-son Camping Trip!. . . Widow Becomes Hooker, Tricks Father-in-law into Getting her Pregnant!. . . Strongman Sold to Rival Gang by Girlfriend, eyes Gouged Out!. . . Crowd of Horny Sodomites Demand Sex with House Guests!. . . Ripped from the tabloids? Try the Good Book. these are Bible stories they didn't teach you in Sunday school.

Notes:
Winner of the 2009 Bay Area theatre Critics Circle Award for Original Script. Winner of eight 2009 San Francisco Fringe Festival Awards: Best New Comedy, Best Box Office, six Sold Out Awards.

1st Produced:
San Francisco Fringe Festival (Phoenix Theatre)     2009

Organisations:
Original Sin Productions

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Full Length Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ransom, Texas

Synopsis:
Bruce and Vern--Father and son--get together after work in Vern's office to toast the sale of the family's West Texas business; but what starts out as a celebration descends into a long evening of psychic warfare. When Bruce makes a remark that triggers Vern's suspicions, Vern shreds the sale contract. Determined to get his Father to sign a fresh copy, Bruce locks them both in. Bruce gradually pieces together a pattern of monstrous paternal betrayal going back two generations. Can Bruce break the cycle, or is he doomed to play out the family "curse"?

Notes:
Winner of Pacific Repertory's 2009/2010 Hyperion Project Original Play Competition.

1st Produced:
Pacific Repertory's Circle Theatre, Carmel, Ca     2010

Organisations:
Pacific Repertory Theatre

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Full Length Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sep 12

Synopsis:
Did Sarge's dreams predict the terrorist attacks? Did they also reveal how to make a killing on the tragedy?. . .

Notes:
Finalist for the Heideman Award in the National Ten Minute play contest (2003).

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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