Mac Wellman papers, Additions

1979-2008 [bulk 2000-2008]

Playwright and poet Mac Wellman was born John McDowell Wellman on March 7, 1945 in Cleveland, Ohio. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from American University in 1967, Wellman studied poetry at the University of Wisconsin. After earning his Master's degree in English in 1968 he began teaching at colleges and universities in 1969.

Wellman's work is a merging of poetry and theatre, and he has written fiction, drama, and poetry throughout his career that blurs the lines between these genres. His first produced work was Nobody, a 1972 radio play that grew out of his poetry, and was the result of a collaboration with Dutch theatre director Annemarie Prins. In 1977, his first collection of poetry, In Praise of Secrecy, was published, and his first New York City theatrical production, Starluster, was staged in 1979. After experiencing a creative block in the early 1980s, Wellman started to explore more experimental forms of theatre, focusing on the rhythms and expressiveness of language rather than traditional narratives. He re-emerged and began writing under his nickname, Mac, and by the mid-1980s, his reputation as a "downtown" playwright in New York City was established. Wellman gained national exposure with productions like Soho Repertory's Energumen (1985) and BACA Downtown's Cleveland (1986), Cellophane (1988) and Sincerity Forever (1990). In addition to authoring over 60 plays, Wellman has published the play collection Cellophane (2001); poetry in Strange Elegies (2005); the novel Q's Q: An Arboreal Narrative (2006); short stories in A Chronicle of the Madness of Small Worlds (2008); and the play collection The Difficulty of Crossing a Field (2008).

Wellman has received three Obie awards: a Best New American Play award in 1990 (a three-way tie between his plays Terminal Hip, Bad Penny, and Crowbar); a Best Playwriting award in 1991 for Sincerity Forever; and a Lifetime Achievement award in 2003 (citing Antigone, Jennie Richee, and Bitter Bierce). Among his honors are two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in playwriting in 1990 and 1995, a Guggenheim fellowship in 1990, and over a dozen residencies at Yaddo artists' colony and the MacDowell Colony. Wellman was Playwright-in-Residence at New York University from 1981 to 1982, an associate professor of play writing at Brown University from 1999 to 2000, and has taught at the City University of New York's Brooklyn College since 1998. He was named Distinguished Professor of Play Writing at Brooklyn College in 2010.