“THE MAN IN THE IRONY MASK”
Write me HERE. Buy DVD lecture “Birthplace of Gay Theatre”
(photo by Andrew Caldwell)
ROBERT PATRICK (Born Kilgore, Texas, September 27, 1937), a pioneer in Off-Off Broadway and gay theatre, has published over 60 plays. His first, “THE HAUNTED HOST,” premiered at the legendary Caffe Cino in 1964 and has been the first production of gay theatres from Toronto to Sydney. Samuel French called Patrick “New York’s most-produced playwright of the 1960′s,” climaxing in the 1969 “Show Business” Award for “JOYCE DYNEL,” “SALVATION ARMY, and “FOG,” as well as Rockefeller and N.Y.S.C.A.P. grants.
His directors include Marshall Mason, Lanford Wilson, Clive Donner, and Norman Rene. Marge Champion starred on PBS in his “CAMERA OBSCURA” in 1969. His first collection, “ROBERT PATRICK’S CHEEP THEATRICKS,” was published in 1972. In 1974, “THE HAUNTED HOST” introduced Harvey Fierstein, who also recorded Patrick’s “POUF POSITIVE” and toured Europe with it. In 1974, the international success “KENNEDY’S CHILDREN” won the Glasgow Citizens World Playwrighting Award and productions with Shelley Winters, Sally Kirkland, Kelsey Grammer, Julie Kavner, Julie Hagerty, and Anne Wedgewood. Shirley Knight won a “Tony” in it on Broadway and starred in it on CBS Cable with Jane Alexander, Lindsay Crouse, and Brad Dourif.
In 1974 Patrick contributed three plays in the U.K.’s first season of gay theatre, “Homosexual Acts.” In 1975 Samuel French published his “ONE MAN, ONE WOMAN,” “PLAY-BY-PLAY,” and “THE GOLDEN CIRCLE.” From 1975 he promoted high-school theatre for the International Thespians Society, receiving their 1980 Founders Award “for services to theatre and to youth.” He wrote their playwrighting textbook, “TOOLS, NOT RULES.” In 1976, Marlo Thomas commissioned “MY CUP RANNETH OVER” for herself and Lily Tomlin. It became Patrick’s most-produced play and was included in “The Best Short Plays of 1979.” In 1979 “T SHIRTS” opened New York’s Glines Gay/Lesbian Plays festival and was chosen by editor William M. Hoffman as the first play in “Gay Plays: A First Anthology.” In 1980 Dramatists Play Service published “MY CUP RANNETH OVER” and “MUTUAL BENEFIT LIFE.” In 1981, Calamus Press published “MERCY DROP AND OTHER PLAYS.” From 1979 to 1982 Patrick wrote the only column about Off-Off Broadway, “STATE OF THE ART,” for the paper, “Other Stages.” In 1983 and 1986, two consecutive Manhattan Borough Presidents declared “BLUE IS FOR BOYS” weekends in Manhattan (an unprecedented honor) in recognition of the first play about gay teenagers.
In 1988 he published “UNTOLD DECADES,” a comic history of American gay male life. “BREAD ALONE” opened New York’s Wings Theatre. “THE TRIAL OF SOCRATES” was the first gay play produced by the city of New York. “JUDAS,” with Kelly McGillis and Mark Harelik, was the first original play mounted by the Pacific Conservatory Of The Performing Arts. “THE LAST STROKE” won the “Pick of the Fringe” Award at the Edinburgh Festival.
In 1989 “POUF POSITIVE” was filmed by Dov Hechtman.
In 1990 at La Mama E.T.C. Patrick directed his last play in New York, “HELLO, BOB,” about his worldwide experiences with “Kennedy’s Children.” For three years he did original plays at schools and theatres cross-country. In 1993 he settled in Los Angeles, published “EVAN ON EARTH,” and began ghostwriting for television and films.
In 1994 he published “TEMPLE SLAVE,” a novel about the origins of Off-Off Broadway, which has gone into a second printing and been optioned for film. In 1996, he published “MICHELANGELO’S MODELS,” “BREAD ALONE,” and “THE TRIAL OF SOCRATES.” In 1997, he received the Robert Chesley Award for Lifetime Achievement In Gay Theatre.
The Denver Center Theatre Company commissioned Patrick to write book and score for a full-length musical, “ALL AT SEA.” He has written for TV’s “Ghost Story,” “High Tide,” and “Robin’s Hoods,” and ghosted many TV- and screen-plays. Five anthologies feature his short stories. He published many comic poems about theatre in “Playbill” Magazine, and erotic ones in “FirstHand” Magazine, as well as adult movie reviews for “Adult Video News,” “RADVideo,” and “SINema.” Mister Patrick appears in the movies, “Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon,” “Resident Alien,” with Quentin Crisp, “O Is For Orgy: The Sequel,” and “The O-Boys: Porn, Parties, and Politics.” His first work of non-fiction is “FILM MOI,” memoirs entwined with film criticism.
AVAILABLE TO WRITE, GHOST, TEACH
contact: rbrtptrck@aol.com
- AWARDS
- Show Business Magazine Best Play Award, 1969
- Glasgow Citizens Theatre Best World Playwrighting Award, 1973
- The International Thespian Society Founders Award for Services to Theatre and to Youth, 1980 (first openly gay recipient)
- Blue is for Boys Weekends in the Borough of Manhattan, 1983 and 1986
- Robert ChesleyFoundation Award For Lifetime Achievement In Gay Playwrighting, 1996
- West Hollywood Gay and Lesbian Advisory Board’s Rainbow Key Award for having been instrumental in the creation of gay theatre and the off-off-Broadway movement, 2008.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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- ROBERT PATRICK ONLINE:
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- RESUME:
- http://robertpatrickpersonal.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/resumelinks-to-online-works/
- WIKIPEDIA PAGE:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Patrick_(playwright)
- WEBPAGE:
- http://robertpatrick.wordpress.com/
- ROBERT PATRICK by Wendell Stone:
- http://pointlessplea.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/robert-patrick-by-wendell-stone/
- POEMS:
- http://robertpatrick.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/a-strain-of-laughter/
- GHOSTWRITNG ARTICLE:
- http://robertpatrick.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/ghostwriting-article-ghost-on-the-coast/
- MILITARY EXPERIENCE:
- http://robertpatrickpersonal.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/my-military-experience-by-robert-patrick-from-film-moi-or-a-spectacle-of-myself/
- CAFFE CINO PICTURE PAGES:
- http://caffecino.wordpress.com/
- FILM MOI, an Autobiography in the Form of Film Criticism
- http://robertpatrickpersonal.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/film-moi-or-narcissus-in-teh-dark-foreword-by-robert-patrick/?preview=true&preview_id=179&preview_nonce=05c7250df6
- TEMPLE SLAVE, a Novel of Off-Off Broadway
- http://robertpatrickpersonal.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/temple-slave-chapter-1/
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- DVD FOR SALE:
- “CAFFE CINO: Birthplace of Gay Theatre”
- http://robertpatrickpersonal.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/lecture-on-dvd-caffe-cino-the-birthplace-of-gay-theatre/
- VIDEO: CAFFE CINO PIONEERS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKS3f5zxdys&feature=PlayList&p=77E2742E01926B81&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1
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- 2 BOOKS FOR SALE ON CD:
SLIDESHOWS OF SHOW PHOTOS
http://pointlessplea.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/notes-on-producing-kennedys-children/
THE TROJAN WOMEN (5 women, 2 men)http://robertpatrickpersonal.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/the-trojan-women-play-by-robert-patrick/
JUDAS (from Pilate’s point of view, 1973. 7 men, 1 woman)http://robertpatrickpersonal.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/judas-play-by-robert-patrick/
SOUND (has been called “a prequel to ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ ” 1988. Characters are Gloria Swanson, Erich Von Stroheim, Mary Pickford, Bill Hart, Mae Murray, Rudolph Valentino, Pola Negri, Ramon Novarro, Jack Warner, butler, chauffeur, and Dorothy Parker and Noel Coward!):http://robertpatrickpersonal.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/sound-play-by-robert-patrick/
THE HOLY HOOKER (Comic Monologue for Mary Magdalene)http://robertpatrickpersonal.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/play-theholy-hooker-by-robert-patrick/>
TENNESSEE (Monologue for Mister Williams)http://robertpatrickpersonal.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/scene-tennessee-by-robert-patrick/>
INDECENT EXPOSURE (produced at Caffe Cino 1966)http://caffecino.wordpress.com/1915/09/28/indecent-exposure-by-robert-patrick-a-caffe-cino-play-1966/
ROBERT PATRICK SCENE “HELLO BOB” 5 SOPHISTICATE
August 13, 2012 at 5:37 pm |
[...] play” that raises the age-old question: what IS a “gay” play? According to Robert Patrick, it’s a “play that sleeps with other [...]
April 11, 2013 at 6:38 am |
Did you do “Big Sweet” a 2nd time ? I see on a lot of pages it says Richmond, Va March 1 1984… If so way cool…if not they are way off… (Nov. 13th 1983 2pm) Mills E. Godwin H.S. ( I printed the Play programs & was on the Lighting Crew) and to this day am looking for pics from the play for you….
L.R. Schell
April 11, 2013 at 10:43 am |
Hello, there! There were three productions of “Big Sweet.” The third was at Arroyo Grande High School in Arroyo Grande, California. Another was at a Play Festival, but I genuinely cannot remember where. Was your production the one where the cast, after a movie, had a car breakdown and had to hole up in a motel where I and the teacher went to rescue them? And where to Xerox extra copies of the script, I as the authot had to sign a permit and a guard had to accompany us to the Xerox machine and count the number of copies we made, because the school had been sued by some author whose work had been Xeroxed illicitly? Or was yours indeed at the aforesaid Play Festival where the play was done for one performance only? (Please forgive an old man’s memory)