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Oren Safdie

OREN SAFDIE

  
Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    The Susan Gurman Agency, LLC  

Oren Safdie is a playwright-in-residence at La MaMa E.T.C. and the Interim Artistic Director of the Malibu Stage Company where his off-Broadway plays PRIVATE JOKES, PUBLIC PLACES and the LAST WORD. . . first debuted. Other plays produced in New York include: JEWS & JESUS, FIDDLER SUB-TERRAIN, sMOtheR, BROKEN PLACES and LA COMPAGNIE, which he developed into a 1/2 hour pilot for Castle Rock/CBS. His next play WEST BANK, UK (a musical comedy) will open at La MaMa in December 2007. As a screenwriter, he scripted the film YOU CAN THANK ME LATER starring Ellen Burstyn, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Newport Film Festival; co-wrote the script to the Israeli film SWEET & SOUR; wrote the English translation for GIBRAN, the PROPHET; and is presently developing a film project with Ben Stiller's company, 'Red Hour Films'. Oren is also a columnist for METROPOLIS Magazine and has contributed to DWELL.

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

         Bilbao Effect, The         Broken Places         False Solution         Fiddler Sub-Terrain         Jews & Jesus         La Compagnie         Last Word, The         Private Jokes, Public Places         West Bank, UK

Bilbao Effect, The

Synopsis:
"the Bilbao Effect" became a popular term after Frank Gehry built the Guggenheim Museum in Spain, transforming the poor industrial port city of Bilbao into a must-see tourist destination. Its success spurred other cities into hiring famous architects and giving them carte blanche to design even more spectacular buildings in hopes that the formula could be repeated. In Oren Safdie's play the Bilbao Effect, Erhardt Shlaminger is a world famous architect who faces censure by the American Institute of Architects, following accusations that his urban redevelopment project for Staten Island has led to a woman's suicide. the play tackles controversial urban design issues that New Yorkers have recently encountered in Brooklyn as a result of the hotly-debated plans to redevelop the Atlantic Yards into an architecture-star mega-development. the Bilbao Effect explores whether architecture has become more of an art than a profession, and at what point the ethics of one field violate the principles of the other.
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Center For Architecture, 536 Laguardia Place, NY     16 May 2010

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, (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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Broken Places

Synopsis:
A dark comedy about the effects that parents can have on their children's future relationships.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Tribeca Lab, NY     1995

Organisations:
Tribeca Lab NY; Le Bijou, Montreal

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

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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False Solution

Synopsis:
False Solution is the third play by Oren Safdie set in the world of architecture. It tells the story of a famous architect who's just won a competition to design a Holocaust museum, and his encounter with a young intern that throws everything into question.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
La MaMa First Floor theatre
74A East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003     13 Jun 2013

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:
play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Fiddler Sub-Terrain

Synopsis:
A contemporary satire on Fiddler On the Roof, set in the backdrop of Quebec politics.

Notes:
Composer: Ronnie Cohen. Fiddler Sub-Terrain was featured on Bravo's Arts & Minds.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
La MaMa E.T.C.

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:
musical comedy Musical

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Jews & Jesus

Synopsis:
Jews & Jesus satirizes the naivete of twenty- and thirty something Jews, half-Jews, Christians who date Jews, and Jews who date Christians, while still asking the question of what place religion has in this unfettered age. the story follows two young couples from North America to Jerusalem as they come to grips with their religion, in the face of their rather secular upbringing.

Notes:
written by Oren Safdie And Ronnie Cohen

1st Produced:

Organisations:
La MaMa ETC, Malibu Stage Co

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:
musical comedy Musical

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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La Compagnie

Synopsis:
La Compagnie is a character driven comedy, set in the garment district of Montreal. A full spectrum of charcters coming from different classes and ethnic backgrounds are bound together at a small, family run, towel manufacturer that supply mid-level stores in Canada. In this environment of minimum wage workers, slimy salesman, and penny-pinching bosses, everyone is dependent on each other. the hinge between these two worlds in Frank Casselli, a hard working company foreman who has to keep the whole thing from falling apart.

Notes:
La Compagnie was optioned by Castle Rock & CBS, And written into A half-hour comedy pilot script.

1st Produced:
Alma Shapiro Centre, NY     1996

Organisations:
La MaMa E.T.C.

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 Drama Comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Last Word, The

Synopsis:
It tells the story of Henry Grunwald, a Viennese Jew who fled the Nazis and became a successful advertising executive in New York. Now retired and determined to fulfill his dream of becoming a playwright, Henry engages the assistance of a young, opinionated NYU student who shares his passion for writing and headstrong spirit.
nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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, full length Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Private Jokes, Public Places

Synopsis:
Capturing the full character of architectural discourse, PRIVATE JOKES, PUBLIC PLACES offers a disturbing and humorous glimpse inside the contemporary world of architecture. Margaret, a young Korean-American student, presents her thesis for a public swimming pool to an all-male jury of famous architects. This simple premise is a jumping-off point for a facile examination of academia, intellectual pretension and the failure of postmodernist culture. the play asks compelling questions about the state of the male-female power struggle, fears of disrupting the status quo and ultimately the importance of challenging tradition.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Sdaart     2005

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press & Dramatists Play Service,    -

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/Drama, full length Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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West Bank, UK

Synopsis:
about a Palestinian and an Israeli who must share a rent-controlled apartment in London's West Bank

Notes:
written And directed by Oren Safdie, music And lyrics by Ronnie Cohen

1st Produced:

Organisations:
La MaMa ETC, in association with Malibu Stage 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:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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