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Doric Wilson was one of the first playwrights at NYC's legendary Caffe
Cino, his comedy And He Made A Her opening there in 1961, with
Jane Lowry and Paxton Whitehead in the leads. Other Cino productions
followed, including Now She Dances! (one-act version),
Babel Babel Little Tower and Pretty People (with Nancy
Wilder and the celebrated mime Tom Lawrence).
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Wilson was raised on his
grandfather's ranch at Plymouth on the Columbia River of Washington
State. He wrote his first play for his English Lit class at Kennewick
High School, but was accused of plagiarism when his teacher Miss Shrives
informed him that no student she taught would ever be able to write a
play. He failed the course.
He received his early theater training under Lorraine Larson,
apprenticed with Dorothy Seeburger and the Richland Players (WA), and
studied briefly at the Drama Department of the University of Washington
until he was asked to leave after he initiated a one person protest
against anti-gay shootings at a nearby park.
Wilson moved to NYC in 1958 where, under the mentorship of producer
Richard Barr, he became a pioneer of the Off-Off-Broadway movement,
writing, directing, producing and/or designing over a hundred productions
and becoming a founding member of Circle Repertory Theater and the
Barr/Wilder/Albee Playwright's Unit.
A participant in all three nights of the Stonewall Riot, he became
active in the early days of the New York Gay Liberation movement as a
member of GAA (Gay Activist Alliance) and as a "star" bartender and manager
of the post-Stonewall gay bar scene, opening such landmark institutions
as the Spike, TY's and Brothers & Sisters Cabaret.
In 1974, Doric Wilson (with Billy Blackwell, Peter del Valle and John
McSpadden) formed TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), the first professional
theatre company to deal openly and honestly with the gay experience. The
company featured new plays and revivals by such writers as Brendan Behan,
Noël Coward, Christopher Hampton, Charles Jurrist, Joe Orton, Terrence
McNally, Robert Patrick, Sandra Scoppettone, Martin Sherman, Doric Wilson
and Lanford Wilson. In June, 2001, Wilson, Mark Finley and Barry Childs
resurrected the company as TOSOS II (
http://www.tosos2.org ).
Doric Wilson's plays Street Theater (titled Stonewall 69
outside the US), The West Street Gang, Forever After and
A Perfect Relationship became staples of the emerging Gay Theater
circuit, widely performed here and abroad and winning numerous honors,
including The Villager and Chambers-Blackwell best play citations. In 1994
Wilson received the first Robert Chesley Award for Lifetime Achievement in
Gay Theatre. He is a member of The Dramatist Guild and the Evette Society.
He is currently working on two new plays, An Object of Affection
and Saints on a Secret Mission.
Pending and recent productions: In the fall of 2000 the new version of
Now She Dances! opened in Glasgow, directed by Stephen Bottoms. In
the spring of 2002 Mark Finley directing the revised script of Street
Theater for a successful run at The Eagle NYC, produced by TOSOS II. A
revival is planned in May of 2003. April 1 A Perfect Relationship
will open in NYC at the new Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex. His major plays
have been translated into Italian by Paolo Casiddu
(paolocasiddu@hotmail.com) and
can be obtained by emailing the playwright.
Earlier versions of Street Theater and A Perfect
Relationship are published by TNT Press (Box 1243 Ansonia Station, New
York, NY 10023); Street Theater is also included in the Don Shewey
edited anthology Out Front (Grove Press), and are available at Drama Bookshop
(http://www.dramabookshop.com).
Doric Wilson dedicates this web site to Richard Barr, Billy Blackwell,
Jane Chambers, Tommy Chapis, Robert Chesley, Joe Cino, Harry Grier, Bruce
Hopkins, Jack Logan, Michael O'Brien, Lance Taylor, Pat Tolson, Walter Torgerson,
Wally Wallace, Jerry West, Marjorie Wilson, Alex Yancy and all the many other
ghosts who made his past possible, to Richard Andersen, Mark Blasius, Ed Bodey,
Dan Doyle, Dr. Ronald Grossman, Rick Hinkson, Bill Kaiser, Michael Lynch, Gary
Marder, Robert Patrick, Bruce Shenton, Teri Sheridan, Richard Taddei, Karen Tate,
Susi Thiss, Eileen T'Kaye, Francine Trevens, Patricia Nell Warren, Gail Wilcox
and Wendy Zilka who bring the best of the past into the present, to Paul
Batchelor, Steve and Paula Bottoms, Morry Campbell, David Crespy, Bob Cruz,
Kevin Held, Larry Johnson, Tom Krupa, Amelie Littell and the Editorial Production
Department of St. Martin's Press (Terrence Bailey, David Burr, Meg Drislane,
Mara Lurie, Geraldine VanDusen et al), Robert Locke, Mikeboy, James Orange,
Arnold Rodriguez, Michael Roselli, David Stren and Chris Weikel who convinced
him to look to the future.
A special thanks to classy Vicki Lawless who designed this site, to diffident
juvenile Chuck Blasius, and to the tall, dark and very handsome Rick Hinkson,
who proofread these scripts so they could go forth into the ether of the Internet
to pester posterity, and finally to guitar fan Barry Childs and "stray" dog lover
Mark Finley who made it all happen one more time, and finally to his beloved Jane
Lowry, figuratively and factually the sight of his eyes.
You can contact Doric Wilson in the following ways:
Via Regular Postal Mail:
Doric Wilson
506 Ninth Avenue
Apt 3FN
New York, NY 10018-2822
Via Email: doricw@nyc.rr.com
For gay theater information contact:
The Purple Circuit (http://www.buddybuddy.com/pc.html)
Attn: Bill Kaiser
921 N. Naomi St.
Burbank, CA 91505
Via Email: Purplecir@aol.com
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