Gary Garrison

From 2007-2017, Gary Garrison was the Executive Director of the Dramatist Guild of America – the national organization of playwrights, lyricists and composers headed by our nation’s most honored dramatists.

Up to the spring of 2020, he was also the Director of the Dramatist Guild Institute – a premier educational institution dedicated to the continued education of dramatists throughout the country.

Prior to his work at the Guild, Garrison filled the posts of Associate Chair, Artistic Director and Master Teacher of Playwriting in the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he produced over forty-five different festivals of new work, collaborating with hundreds of playwrights, directors and actors.

As a playwright, Garrison’s plays include The Mayworkers, The Unexpected Light On Azadeh Medusa, Too Quick to Pick, Ties That Bind, Skirting the Issue, Caught Without Candy, Game On, The Sweep, Verticals and Horizontals, Storm on Storm, Crater, Old Soles, Padding The Wagon, Rug Store Cowboy, Cherry Reds, Gawk, Oh Messiah Me, We Make A Wall, The Big Fat Naked Truth, Scream With Laughter, Smoothness With Cool, Empty Rooms, Does Anybody Want A Miss Cow Bayou? and When A Diva Dreams.

This work has been commissioned by or featured at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, City Theatre of Miami, Boston Theatre Marathon, Primary Stages, The Directors Company, The Theresa Rebeck Writers Residency (through The Lark), Manhattan Theatre Source, StageWorks, Open Door Theatre, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, Expanded Arts and New York Rep.

His recent work as guest artist or master teacher of playwriting involve such institutions as the Marfa Intensives, Convivio Writer’s Conference (Postignano, Italy) Sewanee Writer’s Conference, The Kennedy Center Summer Playwriting Intensive, CityWrights of Miami, The Inkwell, Source Theatre in D.C., Baltimore Playwrights Festival, New Hampshire Playwrights Festival, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Southeast Theatre Conference, Northwest Theatre Conference, Alaska World Arts Festival, Boston Playwrights and has taught at New York University, Boston University, University of Oklahoma, The University of Texas, Hollins University, Goddard College, Texas State University, Texas Tech, University of Southern Mississippi, West Georgia College and the Dramatists Guild Institute.

He is the author of the critically acclaimed, The Playwright’s Survival Guide: Keeping the Drama in Your Work and Out of Your Life, Perfect Ten: Writing and Producing the Ten‑Minute Play, A More Perfect Ten and two volumes of Monologues for Men by Men.

In April of 2014, The Kennedy Center instituted the National Gary Garrison Ten-Minute Play Award given to the best ten-minute play written by a university dramatist and in the spring of 2016 awarded him the Milan Stitt Outstanding Teacher of Playwriting in the country. In July of this year, he was featured in American Theatre magazine’s The Subtext podcast with Brian James Polk under the title, More Than Ten Minutes with Gary Garrison. www.garygarrison.com

Truro Playwrights Collective

Dramatists Guild

Board of Directors, Spectrum Theatre Company

Board of Advisors, Playwrights Local 4181, Ohio

Board of Advisors, Last Frontier Theatre Conference,

Board of Advisors, Inkwell Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.

Editorial Board, Creative Screenwriters, (national quarterly publication)

Ambassador, Association in Theatre for Higher Education

Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival

Manhattan Theatre Source - Board of Directors

Metropolitan Playhouse, New York City - Advisory Board

Circle Repertory Theatre Company - Playwrights Unit

STORM ON STORM (comic-drama)

In Verticals and Horizontals, Truro Playwrights Collective, February 2023

Eclectic Shorts, City Theatre, Miami, January-February 2017

In The Best Short Plays of 2015, editor Lawrence Harbison, Smith & Kraus

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, December 2015

Little Black Box Play Festival, McLennan University, April 2014

Short Attention Span Festival, The Barn Theatre, Key West Florida, April 2010

City Summer Shorts, City Theatre, Miami, Florida, May-June 2009

Finalist, Heideman Award, Actors Theatre of Louisville, July 2009

An Eclectic Evening of Shorts, Artistic New Directions, New York, March 2008

Boston Theatre Marathon IX, Virginia Wimberly Theatre, May 2007

StageWorks, Hudson, New York, Play By Play, Festival of Short Plays, 2006

GAWK (drama)

In Verticals and Horizontals, Truro Playwrights Collective, February 2023

In The Tusculum Review, March 2021

Actors Theatre, Quickies New Works Festival, Honorable Mention, 2003

Don’t Blink Festival, Directors Company, New York City

StageWorks, Hudson, New York, The Black & White Festival, 2000

Published in A Grand Entrance: Scenes for Mature Audiences,

Dramatic Publishing Company, 1999

Turnip Theatre Company, Festival of Short Plays, New York City, 1998

Pulse Ensemble Theatre, Theatre Row, New York City, 1997

DUMP (drama)

In Verticals and Horizontals, Truro Playwrights Collective, February 2023

New Jersey School of Dramatic Arts, October, 2016

Boston Theatre Marathon XII, May 2010

Published in The A Train Anthologies, Play Scripts, Inc. Fall, 2008

The A Train Plays, Neighborhood Playhouse, New York City, 2004

CLEAN, BRUSH, SWEEP, DUST (comic-drama)

Boston Theatre Marathon, May, 2022

GAME ON (comic-drama)

Radio Theatre Project, St. Petersburg, Florida, May 2015

Shorts Gone Wild Festival, City theatre, Miami, 2014

Muhlenberg College, September, 2014

10 x 10 2012 Series, The Byre Theatre, St. Andrews, Ireland, 2012

TOO QUICK TO PICK (ten-minute play, comic-drama)

Warner International Theatre Festival, October 2016

Boston Theatre Marathon XVIII, May 2016

A WHOLE LOTTA EMPTY (short play, drama)

In 30 SHORT PLAYS FOR PASSIONATE ACTORS, All Original Play Publishing, September 2016

Boston Theatre Marathon XVII, 2015

VERTICALS AND HORIZONTALS, an anthology of ten-minute plays by Gary Garrison

Original Play Publishers, Spring 2014

Boston Theatre Marathon XIII, Virginia Wimberly Theatre, May, 2011

TIES THAT BIND (drama)

Boston Theatre Marathon XVI, Virginia Wimberly Theatre, May 2014

RUG STORE COWBOY (comedy)

Original Recipe Short Play Festival, Rogers State University, 2014

Manhattan Theatre Source, HOMOgenius Festival, 2003

Stage Works, Hudson New York, Play By Play Festival, 2003

4th Unity Theatre Company, New York City, Unity Fest, 2001

Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival, 2001

StageWorks, Hudson, New York, The Body Plays Festival, 2001

SKIRTING THE ISSUES (comic-drama)

Warner International Theatre Festival, October 2014

Emerson College, October, 2014

Boston Theatre Marathon XV, May, 2013

CAUGHT, WITHOUT CANDY (comic-drama)

Boston Theatre Marathon XIV, 2012

THE SWEEP (comic-drama)

Boston Theatre Marathon XI, Virginia Wimberly Theatre, May 2009

AN ANGEL IN THE EARLY BIRD SPECIAL (drama)

Boca Raton Theatre Guild Play Reading Festival, 2003

PADDING THE WAGON (drama)

4th Unity Theatre Company, New York City, Unity Fest 2002

Manhattan Theatre Source, New York City, Homogenius Festival of Short Plays, 2002

StageWorks, Hudson, New York, Play By Play Festival of Short Plays, 2002

Primary Stages, New York City, A Moment of Bliss Festival, 2002

SCREAM, WITH LAUGHTER (ten-minute traumedy)

"Ten" - A Ten-Minute Play Festival, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, 1995

Mississippi State University, Director's Series, 1995

"8x10" Ten-Minute Play Festival, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, New York City, 1994

Published in Twenty-Three Plays From the New Play Development

Workshop, ATHE Mississippi State Press, 1994

FULL-LENGTH PLAYS:

THE MAYWORKERS (drama)

Development residency, Division of Dramaturgy, Oklahoma University, Seth Gordon,

Chair, 2019-2021

Development Residency, The Lark and Theresa Rebeck Writers Retreat – July, 2016

Developmental workshop, WORD Bridge, June 2009

BUDDY (comic-drama)

Boston Playwrights Festival of New Plays, reading, March 2010

WordBRIDGE, workshop, June, 2009

WE MAKE A WALL (comic-drama)

The Open Door Theatre, New York City, 1999

Scenes published in The Best Stage Scenes, 1997, Smith & Kraus, Inc., 1998

Two monologues published in The Best Men’s Stage Monologues, 1997, Smith & Kraus, Inc.

xpanded Arts, New York City (Equity showcase), 1997

WHEN A DIVA DREAMS (comedy)

Various monologues published in The Best Women’s Monologues, 1997, Wmith & Kraus, Inc.

African Globe Theatre Works, New Jersey, 1997

Remounted for a spring, 1999 production

Hedgerow Theatre Company, Pennsylvania, (stage reading New Plays Series), 1997

Miranda Theatre, (Equity Showcase), 1996

Alice's Fourth Floor, The "LookSee" Series (staged reading), 1996

EMPTY ROOMS (full-length evening, three short plays consisting of Scream, With Laughter,

Tender Salvation, and The Big, Fat Naked Truth)

Merlin Entertainment, Miranda Theatre, New York City, 1996

Theatre Siena, Siena College, Michigan, 1996

ONE-ACT PLAYS:

THE UNEXPECTED LIGHT ON AZADEH MEDUSA (one-act play, drama)

A commission from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, November 2016.

Readings and workshops, The Kennedy Center, Spring 2017

THE RUBBER ROOM, (one act, drama)

Artistic New Directions, New York, February-March, 2011

THE BIG, FAT NAKED TRUTH (one-act comedy)

Western Kentucky University, Dept. of Theatre, 2004

Western Washington University, Kennedy Center-American College Theatre Festival, SPLASH Series, five casts in rotation, 25 continuous performances

Clarence Brown Theater Lab, Tennessee, 2001

Adelphi University, Long Island, New York, 2000

Expanded Arts, New York City, 1997

Spectrum Stage Festival of One-Acts, Miranda Theatre, New York City, 1995

Pulse Ensemble Theater, NYC, Women Under Pressure Series, 1994

Finalist, Drury College One-Act Competition, 1993

Alice's Fourth Floor, New York City, 1991

Manhattan Punchline Festival of One-Act Plays, New York City, 1991

Second Generation Theatre, Judith Anderson Theatre, New York City, 1988

Circle Repertory Theatre Company, Playwrights Lab production, 1988

Brooklyn Playworks, Festival of One-Act Plays, staged reading, 1988

OH, MESSIAH ME (one-act play, drama)

Manhattan Theatre Source, New York City, 2001

Manhattan Theatre Source, New York, XXX-Mas Series, 2000

The Gary Garrison Award for Ten-Minute Plays, Tusculum University, bi-annual award beginning April 2023.

The Milan Stitt Outstanding Teacher of Playwriting, The Kennedy Center, 2016

Kennedy Center Honors: The National Gary Garrison Ten-Minute Play Award, awarded and named by the John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts, KCACTF, 2014.

The Lilly Award, recognition of contributions to female playwrights and gender parity named after Lillian Hellman, 2013.

Outstanding Teacher of Playwriting, Association for Theatre In Higher Education, 2006

A Younger Ten: Writing and Producing the Ten Minute Play, Hackett Publishing Company, January 2020.

A More Perfect Ten: Writing and Producing the Ten-Minute Play, Focus Publishing, 2008. Hackett Publishing Company, 2015 to the present. Fourth edition.

Verticals and Horizontals, a compilation of my ten-minute plays that have been produced throughout the country. Original Works Publishing, 2014.

The New, Improved Playwright’s Survival Guide: Keeping the Drama in Your Work and Out of Your Life, Heinemann Press, fall 2005.

Perfect Ten: Writing and Producing the 10-Minute Play, Heinemann Press, fall, 2001.

The Playwright’s Survival Guide: Keeping the Drama in Your Work and Out of Your Life, Heinemann Press, fall 1999.

Forward, WE/US: Monologues for the Gender Minority, Debbie Lamedman, editor, Smith & Krause, publisher, Fall, 2022

The Kennedy Center Presents: The Best Student Plays of 2006, introduction by Neil LaBute. Editor, BackStage Books, March, 2006.

Monologues for Men by Men, Volumes 1 & 2, co-edited with Michael Wright, Heinemann Press, summer 2002, summer 2003.

Introduction, Shoes on the Highway, by Maureen Brady Johnson, Heinemann Press, 2006.

Introduction for Michael Wright’s Playwriting in Process, Heinneman Press, Fall 1997.

The Playwright’s Toolbox, Justin A. Maxwell, editor. “Uniquely You,” Applause Books, 2023.

Experiential Theater: Praxis-Based Approaches to Training 21st Century Theatre Artistists, Editors William W. Lewis, Sean Bartley. “Reconfiguring Narrative and Dramaturgy,” Routledge, 2022.

The Dramatist. Over 50 published articles relating to the field of playwriting (craft, inspiration, writer’s block, self-production, agenting, etc.), 2007-2017.

Playwriting Master Class, The Personality of Process and the Art of Rewriting, Michael Wright, 2000. Chapter Four: Gary Garrison, Cherry Reds.

Encyclopedia entries on Lanford Wilson, Terrence McNally and Charles Ludlam for Notable Gays and Lesbians in American Theatre History, University of Michigan Press, 1997.

GAME ON

“Several plays touched on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. SpeakEasy Stage selected "Game On" by Gary Garrison, an astute, as well as touching and funny, examination of prejudices within the gay community. In his personal ads, Ted (Grant MacDermott) takes care to specify "tall" and "straight acting"; Donnie (hilarious Connor Christiansen) falls short on both counts, though his penchant for extreme emotion often boosts him to his full height, on near-pointe. Someone is due for a comeuppance, and this sly jab at looksist mores is right on target.” The Boston Globe

CHERRY REDS

“The flawed but charming Georgette has a strong sister in Lonni D, the lone character of Gary Garrison's "Cherry Reds." Lonnie D (the snappy Lorna Ventura) is ready to leave her man, and she's packing her many, many shoes, arranged in an enchanting arc around the stage: high heels, disco boots, work boots, sandals, sneakers, ruby slippers and especially the title footwear.

Slipping on her "cherry reds," Lonnie D leaves her packing behind and recalls her high school days—in particular, questions of identity after she fielded a sexual advance from her same-gender best friend.

The memory affirms Lonnie D because of its link not to sexual identification but to gender celebration. "Women are fierce. We're like, the fierce gender," she says, popping her lipstick with a smack.

Mr. Garrison's material is witty and wise.” -David DeWitt, The New York Times

STORM ON STORM

“Like the caveman in Johnny Hart's "B.C." comic strip, Norton -- a furniture salesman from Summit, N.J., in Gary Garrison's inventive, achingly funny and deeply affecting one-act play, Storm on Storm," part of Stageworks/Hudson's Play By Play: Choices!? -- walks around under a tick, black, stormy cloud ... literally.

Bad weather tracks him like a bloodhound on a mission. He's been struck trice by lightning; he's lost his job, hib body is in disarray from the lighting strikes, and his daughter doesn't want him at her wedding for fear he will rain on her parade... Enveloped in his misery, Nordon has secluded himself emotionally from his wife, Chicky, who has been battling cancer.

It's a delicate negotiation...that is as outrageously funny as it is heart-rending.” -Jeffrey Borak, Berkshire Eagle Staff

RUG STORE COWBOY

“Garrison has fun exploding stereotypes here, giving us a randy, self-assured, very masculine cowboy who is entirely comfortable with his sexuality. It goes where you expect it to, but it gets there with honesty and wit.” - Martin Denton, nytheatre.com

“Rug Store Cowboy is a farcical and unserious delight.” - David Mackler, Off Off Broadway Review

GAWK

“There is a moment in "Gawk" by Gary Garrison, part of StageWorks' fourth annual "Ten by Ten" festival of one-act plays, in which a fourth grade teacher tells a 62-year-old black grandmother that she was teaching her 10-year-old grandson how to close his p's. The boy has been killed in a drive-by shooting. The teacher has come to deliver a bloodied letter the boy was about to mail when his life was brutally cut short. "Gawk," is the powerful communication between a grandmother living in the projects of Chicago, who has lost he 10-year-old grandson to street violence, and the teacher who witnessed the heinous act. Two women, one filled with rage, one with disbelief, struggle to answer the question, "Who is going to own this…" in this gripping drama.” - Jeffrey Borak, The Berkshire Eagle

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