Luke Yankee
American Playwright
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Luke Yankee (born February 7, 1960)[1] is an American writer, playwright, and director.[2][3][4][5][6] He has also taught playwriting at California State University, Fullerton and Chapman University.
Luke Yankee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | February 7, 1960 Stamford, CT |
| Education | Juilliard School New York University (BA) University of California, Riverside (MFA) |
| Occupations | Playwright, director, writer |
| Employer(s) | California State University, Fullerton and Chapman University |
| Website | yankeehillproductions.com |
Early life and education
Yankee is the son of actress Eileen Heckart.[7] His father, Jack Yankee, was an insurance broker.[8][9] He studied at the University of California, Riverside, New York University, and at the Juilliard Drama School in New York. He has an MFA[10] in Playwriting and Screenwriting.[11] He is married to Don Hill, the Chair of Drama at the University of California, Irvine.
Career
Yankee worked as producing artistic director of the Long Beach Civic Light Opera.[12] He assistant directed six Broadway plays for such directors as Harold Prince, Ellis Rabb, Brian Murray, and Gerald Freedman.[2] His play, The Last Lifeboat, has had 55 productions in North America.[13] His memoir Just Outside the Spotlight: Growing Up with Eileen Heckart was published in 2006 by Backstage Books. Michael Musto described it as "one of the most compassionate and illuminating showbiz books ever written."[14]
In 2010, his play The Jesus Hickey was staged and produced by the Katselas Theatre Company, starring Harry Hamlin.[15] The same play received both the TRU Voices Award, and the Joel and Phyllis Ehrlich Award.[16][17]
Yankee’s latest work is Marilyn, Mom & Me; a play about his mother’s intense friendship with Marilyn Monroe while shooting the film Bus Stop.[18] It was the recipient of the 2022 Stanley Award for Drama.[13]
He is the Head of Playwriting at California State University, Fullerton[19] and an adjunct professor at Chapman University.[11]
Bibliography
Plays
- A Place at Forest Lawn, co-authored with James Bontempo, (Dramatists Play Service, 2007) ISBN 9780822222002
- The Last Lifeboat, (Dramatists Play Service, 2014) ISBN 9780822230243
- The Jesus Hickey, (Independently Published, 2017) ISBN 9781521359792
- The Man Who Killed the Cure (Independently Published, 2017) ISBN 9781521356654
- Marilyn, Mom & Me (2019)
Nonfiction
- Just Outside the Spotlight: Growing Up with Eileen Heckart (Back Stage Books, 2006) ISBN 9780823078882
- The Art of Writing for the Theatre: An Introduction to Script Analysis, Criticism, and Playwriting (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022) ISBN 9781350155602
