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Jeff Helgeson

JEFF HELGESON

  (1949 - )
Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

Jeff Helgeson is the author of over fifteen plays that have been produced in Chicago, Milwaukee, St Louis, and New York. He has served as the Drama chairman for the Society of Midland authors and is a member of the Dramatists Guild, as well as a co-founder of the Chicago alliance of Playwrights. His plays include: ITHaCa, produced at the Chicago Playwrights Center (where Grease was developed), a "romantic triangle trilogy" (STaLeMaTe,SeLF-PORTRaIT, and SOLITaIRe) developed through readings at the Goodman Theatre and Scriptlab at the Briar Street, IN HIS OWN IMaGe, SINS OF the FatheR, and FaLL FROM GRaCe, produced at the Victory Gardens Theatre, GLaSS HOUSeS, produced at the Victory Gardens Theatre, GRaCeS, produced by Workhouse Theatre in New York City, TIMe aND TIDe, produced at the Chopin Theatre in Chicago, LIBeRTY aND JUSTICe, commissioned by Workhouse Theater in New York City, ULTeRIOR MOTIVeS, produced by Backstage Theatre, SIGN OF the TIMeS, produced at the Side Project Theatre in Chicago and published by Puddin'head Press, and W.M.D., produced as part of the Wonderland Theatre Festival at the Row Theatre Complex in Mid-Town New York. a graduate of the University of Chicago, he is also the author of a novel titled THReSHOLDS, as well as a frequent lecturer on Dramatic theory who has taught at Roosevelt University, Columbia College, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of architecture, and the School of the art Institute of Chicago.

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

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

         Ithaca         Self-Portrait         Sins Of the Father

Ithaca

Synopsis:
Twenty-one years following his return from the war at Troy, an aging Ulysses is burdened by the weight of time spent in idleness, beset by memories of his past, and ultimately forced to choose between domestic tranquility with Penelope and a return to his past identity "to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Notes:
employing A versatile chorus, the play both retells sections of the Odyssey of Homer And presents the inner conflicts of A man roped to the mast of daily tasks And his strong wife who is not Afraid to speak her mind.

1st Produced:
The Chicago Playwright Center    1982

Organisations:
atrium 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:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Self-Portrait

Synopsis:
Self-Portrait has been described as a "biography, cut up and hurled into a tornado of creative processes," as well as "erotic" and "poignant." On his 31st birthday, Tom Murphy is confronted by the series of failed relationships which have defined his life and forced to choose between self-destruction and self-assertion as an individual who is capable of creating his own identity.

Notes:
Mired in A lifetime of failed relationships, A university professor wages A battle for identity Against A desire for suicide. On his thirty-third birthday, Tom Murphy's intention to kill himself After completing A self-portrait is interrupted by his ex-lover: forced to confront his demons, he must overcome A lifetime of failed relationships that threaten to define him.

1st Produced:
Beacon Street Theatre, Chicago    1984

Organisations:
Zebra Crossing 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:
90 minutes Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sins Of the Father

Synopsis:
In Sins of the Father, after an extended period of estrangement, two life-long friends and "reformed" ex-drug dealers explore their common histories and eventually come to address the secret that both divides and unites them.
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Where Eagles Dare, NY    15 Oct 2009

Organisations:
Collage 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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