The Playwrights Database
JOHN OLIVE
(1949 - )
Nationality:
USA
email:
n/a
Website:
Click here
Literary Agent:
Susan Schulman Literary Agency
Born in Fukuoka, Japan on December 12, 1949. B.A. and M.A. in Theatre Arts, U. of MinnesotA. Has written radio plays: Pentecost for Earplay; the Long Corridor for BBC; and Satori in Dayton's; opera, the Silver Fox, done at the Min-nesota Opera Workshop and Opera OmahA. Also a professional actor. Founding member of the Playwrights' Lab. Recently appointed Play-wright-in-Residence at the Actors Theatre of St. Paul. Recipient: Minnesota State Arts Board Grant, 1978.
Address (in 1981): 2212 Glenwood Ave. N., Minneapolis, MN 55405 (612) 377-5273
Agent (in 1981): Susan Schulman, 165 West End Ave., New York, NY 10023 (212) 877-2216/7
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And With the Echoes It Begins to Rise
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Art Dog
Synopsis:
By day Arthur is a mild mannered museum guard. By night he is Art Dog the artist who uses the whole town as his canvas. When Leonardo Dog Vinci's "Mona Woofa" goes missing from the museum Art Dog is the prime suspect
Notes:
Based on the book "Art Dog" by Thacher Hurd
1st Produced:
Seattle Children's Theatre 10 Apr 2014
Organisations:
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1st Published:
Plays For Young Audiences -
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Genre:
Childrens play
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Back Story
Synopsis:
When Ethan is born in the worst blizzard of the century, two-year-old sister Ainsley nearly sacrifices a toe trying to clear a path for the baby's arrival. That initial gesture of devotion blossoms into a tale of sibling loyalty, rivalry and love that spans two decades. Inspired by Joan Ackermann's narrative "Back Story," each of the eighteen playwrights in this collective creation puts a distinctive spin on Ainsley's and Ethan?s amusing and poignant struggles with life, with each other, and with the phantom dad who abandoned them for the wilds of Alaska
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by Joan Ackermann Courtney Baron Neena Beber Constance Congdon Jon Klein Shirley Lauro Craig Lucas Eduardo Machado Donald Margulies Jane Martin Susan Miller John Olive Tanya Palmer David Rambo Edwin Sanchez Adele Edling Shank Mayo Simon Val Smith. Based
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1st Published:
Dramatic Publishing, -
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Genre:
Dramatic Anthology 1 Act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: 2 characters
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Careless Love
Synopsis:
the problems of an unforeseen pregnancy cause rapid reappraisal by young lovers
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1st Published:
Samuel French, NY, 1988 -
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
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Clara's Play
Synopsis:
summer 1915 an ageing spinster living in isolated farm house is saved from developer by immigrant worker
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Samuel French, London, 1984 -
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 1 Other: -
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Class Musical
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1st Published:
Samuel French, NY, -
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Deflowering Of Young Father Trimleigh
Synopsis:
Playwright Anthony Crossley has escaped from a mental institution and is searching for papers that were stolen from him which when found will lead to exposing a murderer
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Genre:
Thriller
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa
Synopsis:
World War II Italy. An American woman and an artist recreate the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa
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Genre:
Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Evelyn And the Polka King
Synopsis:
Bad times are the best times for polka--and things could not be worse for a dethroned "polka king" who's coming off a 25-year Bender. When Evelyn appears, claiming she's his daughter, his blurred life slowly comes back into focus. Together they search for her birth mother, revive his band (the Vibra-Tones!), and rediscover the outrageous joys of polkamania
Notes:
Music by Carl Finch & Bob Lucas. Lyrics by Bob Lucas
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1st Published:
Samuel French, Inc. and by TCG in Plays in Process., -
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Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 2 Other: polka band
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Fierce Clockwork Of Destiny, The
Synopsis:
Foppish dime novelist August C Appler recreates the James Gang's botched robbery in Northfield
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Gift Of the Magi
Synopsis:
loosely adapted from the short story by 0. Henry. A young, very poor couple, Jim and Della, live on New York's Lower East Side at the turn of the century. they long to buy each other Christmas presents. Jim sells his watch to buy DElla gold combs for her beautiful hair and DElla sells her hair to buy a chain for Jim's watch. Music by Libby Larsen, piano score only.
Notes:
music by Libby Larsen
1st Produced:
Story-Talers, Minneapolis, Mn -
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Genre:
holiday musical, 75 min
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: extras
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God Fire
Synopsis:
Saint Joan's angels turn out to be two devils - Catherine and Michael
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I Clap My Hands
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Iddle Minglish
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Genre:
Ten minute play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Jason and the Golden Fleece
Synopsis:
Jason wants to avenge the deaths of his parents and reclaim his throne. He agrees to go in search of the legendary Golden Fleece
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Parts:
Male: 12 Female: 5 Other: -
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Johnny Tremain
Synopsis:
A young man in the American Revolutionary War
Notes:
Based on A novel by Esther Forbes
1st Produced:
Seattle Childrens Theatre -
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Genre:
Youth play
Parts:
Male: 9 Female: 3 Other: -
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Killers
Synopsis:
the place is a rundown boarding house in the slums of a large American city, the time the 1950s. Charles Blackwell, a writer of popular fiction, is having difficulty in finding an ending for his latest work, "the Killer Inside Me," a task made more difficult by the constant intrusions of his fellow roomers. these include his love-starved, slatternly landlady, Wanda; an aged and mentally impaired war veteran, Earl, who is driven to distraction by the sound of Blackwell's typewriter; and Lou, a psychotic young misfit given to violent fantasies and to sleepwalking in his jockey shorts. they are all people filled with angst and desperation and all, in one way or another, seem to be trying to use Blackwell, the outsider, as a means of finding relief from their crabbed circumstances. then Wanda's violent and hateful husband, an ex-con, suddenly returns after an absence of several years, flashing a roll of bills and vowing to reclaim his wife's "love" despite her loathing for him. Inexorably the action of the play m
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1st Produced:
- 1988
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1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1990 -
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 1 Other: -
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Magic Bicycle
Synopsis:
Willy finds a bicycle that can take him back in time
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Genre:
Childrens play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Minnesota Moon
Synopsis:
Two high school buddies, Alan and Larry, are sitting in the moonlit yard of an abandoned farmhouse in southern Minnesota, drinking beer, laughing, sharing stories and saying good-bye: Alan leaves the next day for college. It's 1968 and Vietnam looms in their futures.
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1st Produced:
Playwrights' Lab, Mn 1979
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1st Published:
Playsmith, 1990 -
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Genre:
60 min One Act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: - Other: -
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Our Only May Amelia
Synopsis:
In 1899, life on the Nasel River in Washington was hard for anyone, but especially for 13 year-old May Amelia Jackson, the only girl in all of the Nasel settlement. May Amelia's Pappa thinks that hunting, fishing, and working at the logging camp are all too rough for a little girl, but that doesn't stop May. When her Grandmother Patience comes to stay with the family, May Amelia must learn to bite her tongue or suffer the consequence her Grandmother's cane. Once May's mother gives birth to a baby girl, it seems as though all of May's prayers have been answered. After tragedy strikes and Grandmother Patience blames her, May runs off to Astoria to stay with her aunt. But living in the big city, despite the new and exciting things it has to offer, means that May has to act like a proper young lady. Life on the Nasel might be hard for a girl, but at least it is full of adventure and family.
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1st Produced:
Seattle Children's Theatre 2002
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1st Published:
http://www.playsforyoungaudiences.org -
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Genre:
85 min
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 5 Other: -
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Pharaoh Serket and the Lost Stone of Fire
Synopsis:
the mysterious Zalira and sneeze-afflicted palace scribe, Bakneb, must aid the young and spoiled Pharaoh Serket if he is to escape death at the hands of his ever present enemies. Together they journey deep into the desert to find the Lost Stone of Fire, a gem so mystical it is believed to grant its owner immortality. However, Serke's quest brings him a treasure even greater.
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Plays for Young Audiences -
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Genre:
Youth Audience
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 2 Other: -
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Sideways Stories From Wayside School
Synopsis:
Wayside School was supposed to be one story high, with 30 classrooms side by side; instead, it was built sideways, with 30 one-classroom stories. Who wouldn't expect a collection of unusual stories from such a strange school? Wayside School is jam packed with students like Jason, Kathy and Bebe, and each one has a weird and wonderful story to share.
Notes:
Based on the book by Louis Sachar
1st Produced:
Lexington Children's Theatre, Kentucky 2004
Organisations:
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- -
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Genre:
Youth musical play Youth Audience
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 6 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Slaying Song Tonight, A
Synopsis:
A Swedish mail order bride, a hermit and a bear called Ol' One Nut
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1st Produced:
Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Mccall, Idaho 2008
Organisations:
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- -
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Genre:
Play/Drama (reading)
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Standing On My Knees
Synopsis:
Catherine, a young and promising poet affected with schizophrenia, returns home to her cluttered apartment after a stay in the hospital. Urged on by her publisher she struggles to pursue her art, but the very intensity of thought which this demands brings on her attacks, and the imaginary voices which bedevil her. At a party she meets Robert, a young stockbroker, and as their relationship deepens she relies ever more heavily on Thorazine pills to control her illness and maintain a semblance of normalcy. Ironically, while the pills block her "voices" they also stifle her creative impulses and the talent which has brought her the most joy. Trying to handle both her relationship with Robert and her needs as an artist she cuts down on the Thorazine doses, but as her illness again becomes apparent Robert backs away. In the end Catherine, in a shattering scene, scatters the pills on the floor, and facing the inevitable truth that she can be only one person and not two, slips inexorably back into madness.
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1st Produced:
Playwrights' Lab, Minneapolis, Mn 1981
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1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1983 -
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Genre:
Drama, full length
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Summer Moon, The
Synopsis:
Naotake Fukashima is sent to the USA to sell Japanese trucks in the very early days of Japan exporting goods there. He meets a Japanese-American woman who tries to help him as he cannot speak very much English
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1st Published:
Playscripts Inc -
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Texas Dry
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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That Day
Synopsis:
Three scorned women unite to revenge themselves on a sexual con-man, Sticky Ricky, who has taken advantage of them all -- physically, emotionally, and financially. Who is this man, how did he seduce three such different women, and what will they do with him, now that he's bound and gagged?
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1st Produced:
Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, Mn, United States) 2004
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1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York -
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Genre:
30-40 min Comedy
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 3 Other: 1 male, 3 females
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Thin Lady Fat Man
Synopsis:
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1st Produced:
Theatre-In-The-Round, Minneapolis, Mn -
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- -
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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True Confessions Of Charlotte Doyle, The
Synopsis:
Based on the Newbery Honor book by Avi, the TRUE CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE DOYLE is a rousing seafaring adventure story set in the 1830s. A cargo ship bound for the States is no place for a young lady from England--but that is just where Charlotte Doyle finds herself. Surrounded by a weathered crew, she is soon swept up in a mutiny against the deceptively charming Captain Jaggery. While defending her new, kind-hearted friend Zachariah, Charlotte challenges the Captain, who then denounces her. Unafraid to test her own strength, she chooses to live among the sailors learning how to climb the main mast and trim a sail. During a hurricane, the first mate is found slain and Charlotte is sentenced to hang for the crime. Who will defend her and what will become of her? Full of surprises and intrigue, CHARLOTTE DOYLE takes you on a high-seas escapade.
Notes:
Based on the book by Avi
1st Produced:
Seattle Children's Theatre 2003
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1st Published:
- -
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Genre:
Adaptation
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Voice Of the Prairie, The
Synopsis:
A radio star's success has been built on relating his childhood adventure with a blind friend in 1895, now they are reunited 28 years later
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1st Produced:
- 1987
Organisations:
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1st Published:
Samuel French, NY, 1989 -
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Genre:
Comedy/Drama Comedy
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Water Babies, The
Synopsis:
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Notes:
Based on the book by Charles Kingsley
1st Produced:
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1st Published:
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Genre:
Adaptation
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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