Adam Bock
Canadian playwright
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Adam Bock (born November 5, 1961) is a Canadian playwright currently living in the United States. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In the fall of 1984, Bock studied at the National Theater Institute at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. He is an artistic associate of the Shotgun Players, an award-winning San Francisco theater group. His play Medea Eats was produced in 2000 by Clubbed Thumb,[1] which subsequently premiered his play The Typographer's Dream in 2002.[2] Five Flights was produced in New York City by the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in 2004.[3]
BornNovember 5, 1961
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
EducationBrown University (MFA)
OccupationPlaywright
Height1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Adam Bock | |
|---|---|
Bock at the 2019 Pacific Playwrights Festival | |
| Born | November 5, 1961 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Education | Brown University (MFA) |
| Occupation | Playwright |
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Parents |
|
| Awards | Obie Award for Playwriting "The Thugs" and Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, US & Canada |
The Thugs opened Off-Off-Broadway in a production by SoHo Rep in October 2006, directed by Anne Kauffman.[4] He won a 2006–2007 Obie award, Playwriting, for The Thugs.[5]
During the 2007–2008 New York theatrical season, two plays by Bock were produced Off Broadway: The Receptionist at Manhattan Theatre Club in 2007[6] and The Drunken City, originally commissioned by the Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca, New York, at Playwrights Horizons.
Bock is openly gay and often writes about homosexuality. He is quoted as saying "I'm a gay playwright. I like being called a gay playwright. It's who I am. It's how I write. I have a very specific take on the world because I'm gay."[7]
Bock has been nominated for two 2007–2008 Outer Critics Circle Awards. Both The Receptionist and The Drunken City were nominated for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play. In 2012, he won a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for his work.[8]
Bock's play A Small Fire ran December 16, 2010 – January 23, 2011 Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, under the direction of Trip Cullman.[9] A Life premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on September 30, 2016 (previews), starring David Hyde Pierce and directed by Anne Kauffman.[10] A Life was nominated for the 2017 Drama Desk Awards: Outstanding Play; David Hyde Pierce as Outstanding Actor in a Play; Anne Kauffman for Outstanding Director of a Play; Laura Jellinek for Outstanding Set Design for a Play; and Mikhail Fiksel for Outstanding Sound Design in a Play.[11]
Awards and honours
| Year | Association | Category or Award | Project | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | A Life | Nominated | [12] |
| 2012 | John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation | Guggenheim Fellowship - Creative Arts | Awarded | [13] | |
| 2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | A Small Fire | Nominated | [14] |
| 2008 | Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards | Favorite New Off-Broadway Play | The Receptionist | Won | [15] |
| 2008 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play | The Drunken City | Nominated | [16] |
| 2008 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play | The Receptionist | Nominated | [16] |
| 2008 | William Inge Center for the Arts | Otis Guernsey New Voices in the American Theatre Award | Won | [17] | |
| 2007 | Obie Award | Playwriting | The Thugs | Won | [18] |
| 2006 | GLAAD Media Awards | Outstanding New York Theatre: Broadway & Off-Broadway | Swimming in the Shallows | Nominated | [19] |
| 2006 | National Ten-Minute Play Contest | Heideman Award | Three Guys and a Brenda | Won | [20][21] |
| 2005 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Musical | The Audience | Nominated | [22] |
| 2003 | Theatre Bay Area | Will Glickman Award | Five Flights | Won | [23] |
| 2000 | San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle | Best Original Production | Swimming in the Shallows | Won | [24] |
| 2000 | San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle | Best Original Script | Swimming in the Shallows | Won | [24] |
Theatrical works (produced premieres)
Full-length plays
| Year | Title | Theatre | Director | Cast | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | The Receptionist | Second Stage Theater | Sarah Benson | Off-Broadway Revival | [25] | |
| 2009 | Evidence Room and Odyssey Theater | Bart DeLorenzo | Jennifer Finnigan, Chris L. McKenna, Megan Mullally, Jeff Perry | West Coast premiere | [26] | |
| 2007 | Manhattan Theatre Club | Joe Mantello | Josh Charles, Robert Foxworth, Jayne Houdyshell, Kendra Kassebaum | World premiere | [27][28][29][30] | |
| 2019 | Before the Meeting | Williamstown Theater Festival | Trip Cullman | Cassie Beck, Kyle Beltran, Arnie Burton, Midori Francis, Deirdre O’Connell | World premiere | [31] |
| 2019 | The Canadians | South Coast Repertory | Jaime Castañeda | Corey Brill, Daniel Chung, Corey Dorris, Linda Gehringer, Kyle T. Hester | World premiere | [32][33][34] |
| 2016 | A Life | Playwrights Horizons | Anne Kauffman | Marinda Anderson, Brad Heberlee, David Hyde Pierce, Lynne McCollough, Nedra McClyde | World premiere | [35][36] |
| 2016 | I Wasn't Going to Tell Anybody and then I Told Everybody | NYU Tisch School of the Arts | Lisa Peterson | World premiere | [37] | |
| 2014 | The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Tricycle Theatre, now Kiln Theatre | Trip Cullman | Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo, Isabella Calthorpe, Claire Forlani, Charlotte Parry, Patricia Potter, Alice Sanders | World premiere | [38][39] |
| 2011 | A Small Fire | Playwrights Horizons | Trip Cullman | Reed Birney, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Michele Pawk, Victor Williams | World premiere | [40][41] |
| 2011 | Phaedra | Shotgun Players | Rose Riordan | Patrick Alparone, Keith Burkland, Catherine Castellanos, Cindy Im, Trish Mulholland | World premiere | [42] |
| 2010 | We Have Always Lived in the Castle | Yale Repertory Theater | Anne Kauffman | Jenn Gambatese, Alexandra Socha | Musical adaptation of the novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Music by Todd Almond. Lyrics by Adam Bock and Todd Almond. | [43][44] |
| 2009 | The Flowers | About Face Theatre | Trip Cullman | Caron Buinis, Brian-Mark Conover, Kieran Kredell, Merrina Millsapp, Bruch Reed, Ben Sprunger | World premiere | [45][46][47] |
| 2008 | The Drunken City | Playwrights Horizons | Trip Cullman | Cassie Beck, Mike Colter, Maria Dizzia, Barrett Foa, Sue Jean Kim, Alfredo Narciso | New York City premiere | [48][49][50] |
| 2005 | Kitchen Theatre Company | Jesse Bush, Rachel Lampert | Alison Bacewicz, Brendan Farley, Karl Gregory, Kevin Rockower, Lauren Walsh Singerman, Erica Steinhagen | World premiere | [51][52] | |
| 2007 | The Shaker Chair | Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville | Marc Masterson | Kathleen Butler, Brie Eley, Geraldine Librandi, Larry John Meyers, Sarah Peterson, Andy Prosky | World premiere | [53][54][55][56] |
| 2006 | The Thugs | SoHo Rep | Anne Kauffman | Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Brad Heberlee, Carmen M. Herlihy, Chris Heuisler, Keira Keeley, Lynne McCullough, Maria Elena Ramirez, Mary Shultz | World premiere | [57][58][59][60] |
| 2005 | The Audience | Transport Group Theatre Company | Jack Cummings III | World premiere. Musical. Conceived by Jack Cummings III and developed with Adam Bock. | [61][62][63] | |
| 2005 | Swimming in the Shallows | Second Stage Theater | Trip Cullman | Michael Arden, Rosemarie DeWitt, Murphy Guyer, Logan Marshall-Green, Susan Pourfar, Mary Shultz | New York City premiere | [64][65][66][67] |
| 1999 | Shotgun Players | Kent Nicholson | Katie Bales, Mary Eaton Fairfield, John Flanagan, Dawn-Elin Fraser, Gene Thompson, Liam Vincent | West Coast premiere | [68] | |
| 2005 | The Typographer's Dream | Encore Theatre Company | Anne Kauffman | Aimee Guillot, Jamie Jones, Michael Shipley | West Coast premiere | [69][70] |
| 2003 | Bright Choice Productions, Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Owen Lewis | Kathryn Akin, Kenneth Avery-Clark, Nicola Redmond | European premiere | [71] | |
| 2002 | Clubbed Thumb | Drew Barr | Kate Hampton, Meg MacCary, Dan Snook | World premiere | [72][71] | |
| 2004 | Five Flights | Rattlestick Theater, Encore Theatre Company | Kent Nicholson | Jason Butler Harner, Kevin Karrick, Matthew Montelongo, Alice Ripley, Lisa Steindler, Sara Surrey | Off-Broadway premiere | [73][74][75] |
| 2002 | Encore Theatre Company | Kent Nicholson | Dawn-Elin Fraser, Kevin Karrick, Alexis Lezin, Craig Neibaur, Lisa Steindler, Liam Vincent | World premiere | [76][75] | |
| 2003 | Thursday | Encore Theatre Company | Kent Nicholson | Cassie Beck, Chloe Broznan, Jibz Cameron, Jason Frazier, Robert Martinez, Craig Neibaur, David Ryan Smith, Lisa Steindler | World premiere | [77] |
| 2002 | A Fairy's Tale | Shotgun Players | Patrick Dooley | World premiere | [78] | |
| 2000 | Medea Eats | Clubbed Thumb | Pam MacKinnon | Gary Brownlee, Lars Hanson, Seth Herzog, Gretchen Lee Krich, Meg MacCary, Rizwan Manji, Kimberly Ross, Maria Striar, John Wellmann, Mather Zickel | World premiere | [79][80] |
| 1995 | A Roadside Garden | Nora Theater | Eric Engel | Mimi Huntington, Faith Justice, Jim O’Brien, Jacqui Parker, Liam Sullivan | [81] | |
| 1990 | Percy Stripped Down | Miranda Theatre Company | Diego Taborda | Peggy Flood, Martha MaCallum, Matthew Mutrie | [82][83] |
Short Plays
| Year | Title | Theatre | Director | Cast | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Love is a Many Splendored Thing | The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway | Andy Fickman | Jason Biggs, Rachel Dratch, America Ferrera, Eddie Kaye Thomas | World premiere | [84] |
| 2008 | The Song of the Falling Man | The 24 Hour Musicals | Jonathan Butterell | Victoria Clark, John Ellison Conlee, Cheyenne Jackson, Claudia Shear | Musical. Music by Todd Almond. Lyrics by Todd Almond and Adam Bock. Book by Adam Bock. | [85][86] |
| 2008 | Why I Love Camping | The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway | Ari Edelson | Rachel Dratch, Jennifer Esposito, Matthew Settle, Ben Shenkman | World premiere | [87][88] |
| 2006 | Three Girls and a Bob | The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway | Elinor Renfield | Jennifer Aniston, David Cross, Rosie Perez, Lynn Whitfield | World premiere | [89][90] |
| 2006 | Three Guys and a Brenda | The 24 Hour Company at Atlantic Theater Company | Garrett Savage | Julie Shavers, Carla Rzeszewski, Jama Williamson, Tami Dixon | New York City premiere | [91][92] |
| 2004 | Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville | Steven Rahe | Suzanna Hay, Keira Keeley, Cheryl Lynn Bowers, Sarah Augusta | World premiere | ||
| 2005 | The Windows | The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway | Hal Brooks | Anthony Mackie, Andre Royo, Ben Shenkman, Alan Tudyk | World premiere | [93][94] |
| 2004 | Three Movers | The 24 Hour Company at Atlantic Theater Company | Carl Forsman | Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Matthew Dawson, Dan O’Brian | World premiere | [95][96] |
Bibliography
- A Life. New York: Concord Theatricals. 2017. ISBN 978-0-5737-0612-7.
- The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. 2014. ISBN 978-1-4725-9847-9.
- A Small Fire. New York: Samuel French. 2012. ISBN 978-0-5737-0003-3.
- The Office Plays: The Receptionist & The Thugs. New York: Samuel French. 2008. ISBN 978-0-5736-6027-6.
- The Drunken City. New York: Samuel French. 2008. ISBN 978-0-5736-6288-1.
- Five Flights. New York: Playscripts. 2006. ISBN 978-1-6238-4180-5.
- Swimming in the Shallows. New York: Playscripts. 2005. ISBN 978-1-6238-4067-9.
- “The Typographer’s Dream.” Funny, Strange, and Provocative: seven plays from Clubbed Thumb, edited by Maria Striar and Erin Detrick. New York: Playscripts, Inc. 2008. ISBN 978-0-9709-0462-1.