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Yale Udoff

YALE UDOFF

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

Literary Agent:    Shapiro-Lichtman Inc  

Mr. Udoff is a playwright and screenwriter. the NY Times said of his A GUN PLAY, which premiered at the Hartford Stage Company, directed by Paul Weidner, "Mr. Udoff is a discovery. It is clear he has a comic vision, verbal facility and a contemporary consciousness." A new production followed @ New York's Cherry Lane Theatre with Tony Musante and Gene Troobnick, directed by Gene Frankel. He has twice been selected to participate in the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and honored with the Stanley Drama Award for his first play, the LITTLE GENTLEMAN; he is also the recipient of a Charles MacArthur Playwrighting Award. Additionally, his work has been seen in New York @ Playwrights Horizons, the Circle Repertory, as well as at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre, Los Angeles' Melrose Theatre and Theatres in Paris and London. Most recently, a pair of his one-acts (the LITTLE GENTLEMAN and NEBRASKA) was produced under the umbrElla title STATES OF MIND at Hollywood's Laurelgrove Theatre to high critical acclaim. A partial listing of his plays would include the oft-published the LITTLE GENTLEMAN, as well as the full-lengths, BRING BACK DORIS DAY, MAGRITTE SKIES and FIRST DRAFT. SHADE, a one-act play, so impressed Samuel Beckett when it was produced in Paris that he thought of translating it into French (alas, this never happened); it also prompted a letter from Michelangelo Antonioni, who lauded the work for "its bitter abstract desperation." He currently has two new full-length plays ready for production: FAVORITE PHOTOS and the INVITATION. Among his screen credits are EVE OF DESTRUCTION with Gregory Hines and the renowned Dutch actress, Renee Soutdenijk, THIRD DEGREE BURN for HBO with Virginia Madsen and Treat Williams directed by Roger Spottiswoode. His wrote the screenplay for Nicolas Roeg's greatly admired BAD TIMING/A SENSUAL OBSSESSON, starring Harvey Keitel, theresa Russell and Art Garfunkel. He is a member of the WGA, the Dramatists Guild and the Playwrights Unit of the Actors Studio. Additional credits include his adaptation VERA, based on a Chekhov story, which starred Peter Weller and Madeline Stowe and received the short film fiction prize @ the Huston Film Festival. He wrote HITCHHIKE for ABC MOW, starring Cloris Leachman. His many episodic credits include TALES FROM the CRYPT and AGAINST the LAW. Mr. Udoff is a graduate of Michigan State University, attended Georgetown Law School and served as an officer in the United States Infantry. the playwright lives with his wife, Shula and their Siberian husky, Dmitri, in the sweltering desert known as "the Valley." Dmitri is as bad as possible, hoping to be banished to that 'white desert' known as SiberiA. He's sure his lost love Sonya is waiting for him somewhere in a snowy forest.

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

         Academy Of Desire, The         Bring Back Doris Day         Club, The         Example, The         Fault Line         Favorite Photos         First Draft         Gun Play, A         Invitation, The         Little Gentleman, The         Magritte Skies         Nebraska         New Life, Aan absurdist comedy had its first full-length reading @ the Actors Studio West in Hollywood.         Shade

Academy Of Desire, The

Synopsis:
Two men battle for the attention of a woman

Notes:
Circle repertory, NYC, 1980

1st Produced:
ACT, San Francisco    1973

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:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bring Back Doris Day

Synopsis:
A group of friends who have made a Hollywood coffee bar their second home find the routine of their lives in chaos when the bar is threatened with destruction. the threat, and how it is handled by the group, reveals the personal and societal tensions which each character deals with in terms of their own needs, strengths and shortcomings. A modern day "Lower Depths," with a lot of humour.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
workshop reading    -

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/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  3 Bits to BF doubled

Further Reference:
-

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Club, The

Synopsis:
In a steamroom, a group of Jewish men in their sixties nervously wait for their secret agreement to take place. An old Italian joins them, threatening their stability, and bringing their agreement to fruition

Notes:
Stanley Drama Award

1st Produced:
workshop reading    -

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/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Example, The

Synopsis:
A family deals with a son's rebellion against his materialist Father [a builder of real estate projects whom his son labels a "destroyer"]. In the background festers the rebellious son's affair with his dead brother's wife which occurred before the older brother died

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Melrose Theatre, LA    1979

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/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Fault Line

Synopsis:
On an island somewhere off the coast of California, a large family goes about its life - fighting, loving, attempting to go on - while the world around them erupts in flame, the ground shaking, things falling apart. Mozart hovers somewhere above. . .and perhaps the heavens are talking to them, and us.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Squaw VAlley Writers Conference, CA    1976

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/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Favorite Photos

Synopsis:
A man on the verge of turning fifty fumes and rants that due to his age he has become "invisible" to the industry he works in, a useless relic to be filed away and forgotten. His feelings of irrelevance are a powder keg of unconfronted personal betrayal. His wife brings home a strange and at times eloquent homeless man whom she has been kind to, a man who lights the match that ignites all the hidden lies of this marriage

Notes:
-

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:
Drama, 2acts

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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First Draft

Synopsis:
A well-known playwright is forced by a group of actors and a director, to deal with the play he hasn't been able to write: a play about his father. In essence, a father-son play that at the same time explores the theatrical process while also exploring the possibility that through his "art" this writer can placate the demons that stalk his complex relationship with his dead father

Notes:
-

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Gun Play, A

Synopsis:
A man with a baby blue machine gun sits in a chic nightclub, but no one pays him any attention or recognizes the gun for what it is, a killing machine. All see it, with one exception, in terms of their own professions, i.e., the sculptor as a piece of free form sculpture, the fashion designer as something she can use in her next "shoot", etc

Notes:
Rockefeller Grant

1st Produced:
Hartford Stage Company    1971

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, 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:
Absurdist Drama Absurd

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Invitation, The

Synopsis:
At a lodge in the snow covered mountains of California, a group of old friends are brought together by a letter - an invitation - from the owner of the lodge, a man who none have seen since their youth but all are aware of though his fame as a titan of international business. the weekend together re-ignites old rivalries and loves, brings to light hidden secrets from their shared past as each seeks to understand where they are and where they might be going. Nature itself seems to be watching closely as the lodge suffers an attack from an animal that is barely seen but whose presence is felt by all, an animal that watches and waits its moment

Notes:
-

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Little Gentleman, The

Synopsis:
centers on a Jewish family with a baby who speaks with a British accent. Ronald, the baby, wants desperately for his mother to fulfill his perfectly articulated desires. His mother, who torments his grandmother for not fulfilling her needs, claims to be giving him everything when, truly, her attention is focused squarely on herself. the play examines how a warped interaction between child and parent can have a domino effect, ultimately getting passed from generation to generation.

Notes:
Part of States of Mind. Stanley Drama Award

1st Produced:
Various    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Best Short Plays 1971, Chilton Book Co, 1971   -

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:
Absurdist Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Magritte Skies

Synopsis:
A Father sleeps in a coffin in his living room while his family numbers the days toward his inevitable suicide which has been carefully selected to maximize family benefits. His son then understands the inevitable future that awaits him

Notes:
McArthur Award

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:
Absurdist Drama Absurd

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Nebraska

Synopsis:
revolves around a top secret meeting in D.C. of anointed American leaders - military, religious, presidential advisors - the whole rotten crew - who plot a way to secure our interests in the Middle East at the expense of Nebraska, California and the State of Israel. It is a look at the true motives of all parties involved in the struggle for peace in the Middle East, and how as life continues, man keeps committing the same sins against his fellow man

Notes:
Part of States of Mind

1st Produced:
Hollywood Court Theatre, LA, CA    2005

Organisations:
Laurelgrove 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:
Absurdist Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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New Life, Aan absurdist comedy had its first full-length reading @ the Actors Studio West in Hollywood.

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
reading @ the Actors Studio West in Hollywood    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:
absurdist comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Shade

Synopsis:
Two men, one young, the second much older, battle with the landscape being hope for the young man's hopes for the future and the older man's knowledge of the reality of failure

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theatre du Centre Culturel Americain, Paris    1973

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Mademoiselle, 1972   -

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 One Act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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