The Playwrights Database
JEWELLE GOMEZ
(1948 - )Nationality: USA
email: Click here to contact Website: Click here
Literary Agent: Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc
Jewelle Gomez is the author of seven books including the double Lambda Literary award-winning novel, the GILDa STORIeS (Firebrand Books). Her essays, poetry and fiction have appeared in over 100 anthologies and she's written for the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Village Voice, Black Scholar, the advocate and MS Magazine. Her first play, "Bones & ash," was commissioned by the Urban Bush Woman Dance Company (NYC) and is based on her novel. It was performed at 13 US venues including Jacob's Pillow, the Walker art Center and the Joyce Theatre. Originally from Boston, Ma, she is Cape Verdean, Wampanoag and Ioway. She lived in New York City for 20 years and was a member of the Frank Silvera Playwrights Workshop and the American Theater experiment. She also worked in the Theatre production at a number of Off and Off Off Broadway houses such as American Place Theatre, Perry Street Theatre and Henry Street Settlement. She's taught creative writing (including playwriting, poetry and fiction) at several educational institutions including San Francisco State University and Hunter College.
Research: Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)
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below is a list of Jewelle Gomez's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Bones & Ash: A Gilda Story Character Leaving The Blues Waiting For GiovanniBones & Ash: A Gilda Story
Synopsis:
Based on the speculative fiction novel, the Gilda Stories, which has become a cult favorite this musical adaptation is a coming of age story. It follows the life of a girl who escapes from slavery in the 1800s and is rescued by two women who run a bordello in New Orleans. the women, who can live forever, help the girl learn the responsibilities of power and the power of family. the girl fights the destructive legacy of slavery, embodied in another escaped slave, from the Louisiana swamps to Harlem in the 1950s. Only her embrace of the full ramifications of her ability to live forever allow her to find the love and life she needs.
Notes:
the production included historical slides As well As original music by Toshi Reagon.
1st Produced:
Bates College Dance Festival, Lewiston, Me
2006
Organisations:
Urban Bush Woman Company
1st Published:
Quality Paperback Book Club (2001)
Music:
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To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play musical. - - Lesbian, theme/character, full length
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 6 Other: 1 drummer
Further Reference:
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Top of PageCharacter
Synopsis:
a wealthy misanthropic philanthropist, and her socially conscious best friend (both white) share a secret about their past and a splendid flat in Pacific Heights. they each have always based their lives on the idea of who others think they are. . .bitter versus nuturing, stingy versus thoughtlessly magnanimous. In a burst of generosity they rent a room to a late-blooming, African American medical student who's been abandoned by her boyfriend, feels insecure about her new career path, and is afraid her religious mother won't approve of anything in her life. Her new housemates and a neighbor who isn't what she appears to be either, struggle with who they each are---someone she knows herself to be inside or the person the public perceives her to be. Will these struggles be untangled before the med student's old-fashioned mother comes to visit?
Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
-
Music:
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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:
Play/ comedy. - - Lesbian, theme/character, full length
Parts:
Male: - Female: 6 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageLeaving The Blues
Synopsis:
The story of blues singer and song writer Alberta Hunter a black woman making a success in show business at the beginning of the twentieth century
Notes:
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1st Produced:
New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco
03 Mar 2017
Organisations:
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1st Published:
-
Music:
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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
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageWaiting For Giovanni
Synopsis:
Based on a split second of indecision in the life of author James Baldwin, this play imagines a man's dilEmma about publishing a controversial book (which portrays love between two men) that he's been told will ruin his political and literary careers. Harboring the insecurities engendered by an intolerant father, a racist society, and Puritanical nationalist movement the writer's personal desires are inextricably entangled with his professional sense of himself. escaping the image of himself as ugly & unlovable can't be accomplished simply with cleverness. His decision about the book will have a profound impact on his life, the life of his reluctant lover and on the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1950s. This is a dream play that questions how we live out our lives as artists, activists, and lovers.
Notes:
written by Jewelle Gomez And Harry Waters, Jr. http://waiting4giovanni.blogspot.com/
1st Produced:
New Conservatory Theatre Center In San Francisco
01 Aug 2011
Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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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:
Gay historical character
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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