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Levy Lee Simon

LEVY LEE SIMON

  
Nationality:    African American
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Joan Scott  

As a playwright Levy Lee is the author of over twenty plays which have received productions and staged readings in the US and Caribbean. He is the recipient of the 2007 AUDELCO 'Best Playwright Award' for his play the Guest at Central Park, produced by the H.A.D.L.E.Y. Players. the play also garnered awards for 'Best Lead Actor,' (John Marshall Jones) and 'Dramatic Production of the Year.' the Workshop Theatre remounted the play, in 2008. His Dramatic spoken word play with music Same Train had its world premiere at the Algonquin Theater in February 2008. Levy Lee's, the Bow Wow Club made its World Premiere at the StElla Adler Theatre/LA in the fall of 2006. the Bow-Wow Club was selected to feature in the 2007 North Carolina Black Theatre Festival and is the winner of the 1998/9 Lorraine Hansberry Award for, 'Best Full Length Play' awarded by ACTF and the Kennedy Center. He is the author of the For the Love of Freedom trilogy co-produced by Danny Glover's Robey Theatre and the Greenway Arts Alliance in Los Angeles. the trilogy, Toussaint - the Soul - Rise and Revolution, Dessalines - the Heart - Blood and Liberation, Christophe - the Spirit - Passion and Glory was nominated for several NAACP and Ovation Awards. All three plays were directed by Ben Guillory. In the spring of 2006 his hilarious comedy, the Stuttering Preacher was produced by Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre and his intense Drama CASELOAD was produced by the Workshop Theatre. Other notable plays and works in progress by Simon include, the Smoke King, God the Crackhouse and the Devil, Pitbulls and Daffodils, A Ride With my Father, Letters from the Pen, the Real Roxanne, Wolves Over Hollywood, A Pedestrian in LA, the Dog Play, the Drama That Was Us, the Trial of Super Fly, HOT, and more. As an actor Levy Lee has performed On Broadway, Off Broadway, in regional Theatres across the country, England and the Caribbean. He co-starred in, the Stuttering Preacher and recently performed in Same Train produced by Algonquin Productions in NYC.

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

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below is a list of Levy Lee Simon's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Bow-Wow Club, The         Caseload         For the Love of Freedom         God the Crackhouse and the Devil         Guest at Central Park West         Mama Still Sings         Same Train         Smoke Club         Stuttering Preacher, The

Bow-Wow Club, The

Synopsis:
the infamous Bow Wow Club achieved their reputation with girls as teenagers growing up in Harlem in the late seventies and early eighties. It is twenty years later, and the five members of the group have not been together in the same place at the same in that long. Fun loving, gregarious, Kirk Bright and his wife Dee invite the Bow Wow Club to their new home for a Fourth of July reunion. Kirk, who still lives in the past, thinks that the weekend will be filled with reminiscing about the good old days. What he has not contemplated is that, all of the members of the club have changed, including himself. Outspoken, volatile, Sal Anderson is married to Bev, and they are still grieving over the death of their son just eighteen months earlier to a policemen's bullet. To further the pain, only one member of the club, Kirk, attended the funeral. Alex Earle, the former fat kid, is now a re-invented Afro-centric professor who attends the reunion with his dreadlocked, bohemian white wife, Freida. the charismatic Lester McMichael is now a super star entertainer and flies in from France with his twenty - year old supermodel girlfriend, Loita. Chuck Hooter has not been seen in years. His secret is unveiled when he comes to the reunion with his white male lover, Perry. Chuck's lifestyle choice, and the fact that only one member of the club attended Julius' funeral, creates the major tidal waves that test their friendships. Though questions about all their lives are brought to the forefront, it's more than fireworks that explode, before these friends realize just how much they still need each other for survival in today's world.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatic Publishing Company & Algonquin Anthology, 1999/2005   -

Music:
-

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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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Caseload

Synopsis:
Set in the cold sterile halls of a treatment center somewhere outside New York City, Caseload follows eight patients from all walks of life who share one goal: to pull themselves out of their various addictions. there's Maggie, a young black woman from Harlem; Vinnie, a Harvard graduate from Bay Ridge; Sonia, a Puerto Rican secretary from the Lower East Side; Eddie, a small time drug dealer from the South Bronx; Fran, a white ex-streetwalker from East New York; Chaz, an African-American Julliard graduate; Emily, a former socialite from the Hamptons; and Tyrone, a thug from Bedford-Stuyvesant. All are challenged by their primary counselor, Adonis Collins, a former drug addict whose tough-love methods encourage recovery through spirituality. Treatment director Emma Thompson takes the by-the-books approach of recovery through bureaucratic standards. This intense Drama delves into the deepest and often most uncomfortable places in the human spirit and provides an honest look at one of the only alternatives available for addicts in recovery. em>Caseloadattempts to answer questions of what methods work and whether or not the bureaucratic protocol is effective or harmful in treating addicts.
Press Release

Notes:
music And lyrics by Mark Bruckner

1st Produced:

Organisations:
WorkShop 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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For the Love of Freedom

Synopsis:
For the Love of Freedom is a historical Drama about the Haitian Revolution and Independence 1791 - 1820. It is the story of the first and only slave revolt that resulted in the liberation of a people and the creation of the first independent free Black country on the western hemisphere. the trilogy follows the rise of the revolution under Toussaint L'Overture, Haitian independence and the defeat of Napoleon's army under Jean Jacque Dessalines and Haiti's rise to a world power under Henri Christophe. the play is written in three parts, Toussaint - the Soul - Rise and Revolution. Dessalines - the Heart - Blood and Liberation. Christophe the Spirit - Passion and Glory

Notes:
For the Love of Freedom is the recipient of 17 Award nominations by the NAACP And Ovation Award Committees in LA. Levy Lee Simon was nominated for two NAACP Awards And An Ovation Award for Best Playwright.

1st Produced:
Greenway Court Theatre    2001

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:
Historical Drama

Parts:
Male:  20            Female:  15            Other:  3 African Drummers

Further Reference:
-

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God the Crackhouse and the Devil

Synopsis:
An upper middle class African American man ventures into a crackhouse in the South Bronx where he meets and a born again prostitute addict. She not only changes his life but the lives of all of those around her due to her connection and faith in God as she can save everyone but herself.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Circle Repertory LAB

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:  6            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Guest at Central Park West

Synopsis:
A dinner party is in progress when Terrence Barlow, a homeless drifter, shows up at the Central Park West apartment of African American Professor Charles Watts and his wife, Professor Nina Odood Watts. the dinner party in honor of Charles winning a Pulitzer Prize for his book "the Eyes of Peace", and is attended by white professors Eric Engles and his wife, Professor Jennifer Engles, who are having marital problems. But the bigger issue is that Charles has received death threats because of the accUSAtory tone of his book and treating phones call are being made. When Terrence shows up only Charles Watts knows who he is, which causes the already nervous guest a bit of paranoia. Terrence Barlow has a brilliant, scintillating mind and had attended Harvard with Dr. Watts. He also has lived a life of danger and is now homeless. How he became homeless and why he is at the apartment of the Watts on this night becomes the mystery behind the Drama in "the Guest at Central Park West." the debates and tension are high and is only heightened at the arrival of Nina's bi-racial daughter Lisa and her boyfriend, the white dread-locked thug rapper Seth. In the end, the "guest" Terrence has a lot to say about what will happen with their lives as this Drama reaches life and death proportions and a surprise ending.

Notes:
Dramatic Production of the Year. - AUDELCO Awards 2007

1st Produced:
St. Phillips Theatre, New York City    2007

Organisations:
the H.A.D.L.E.Y. Players

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:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mama Still Sings

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
With music by Mark Bruckner

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Same Train

Synopsis:
Same Train is a non-traditional play, which fuses original music and song with spoken word monologues to tell different stories in the African-American experience. the stories are connected through the remembrances of an ageless blues storyteller, and performed by three actors accompanied by two female singers, who are the embodiment of the women in the stories. Each of the pieces are complete unto themselves, but at the end of the play, fragments, themes and images are woven together to unveil a statement about the same train of life that we all are riding on.

Notes:
a collaborative venture between Playwright Levy Lee Simon, Composer/Lyricist Mark Bruckner

1st Produced:
Algonquin Theater, NY    2008

Organisations:
Algonquin 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:
Dramatic Play with Music Musical

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  2

Further Reference:
-

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Smoke Club

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    2006

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Stuttering Preacher, The

Synopsis:
about a handsome, speech-challenged ladies man, and a proud Black woman tired of deceitful, game-playing men and bad relationships.
nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Henry Street Settlement    2006

Organisations:
New Federal Theatre & Black Spectrum 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:
Short play One Act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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