Matthew Calhoun

Biography

Five of Matthew Calhoun's short plays, THE BREAKFAST SPECIAL, MONEY, MY USUAL, PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY AT THE EDGE OF A CLIFF, and a comic monologue, AUDITION, appear in anthologies and have been widely performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia. AUDITION, a piece about an actor who goes to an audition and does everything wrong, has been performed three times during the talent portion of beauty contests, twice at the Miss America Beauty Pageant. THE BREAKFAST SPECIAL has been presented on Kaleidoscope Television and reprinted in The Stage and The School, published by Glenco McGraw-Hill Press. MY USUAL and TEN MINUTES have also been finalists for the Actors Theatre of Louisville Heideman Award. MY USUAL was produced by the Turnip Festival in New York City, and was presented at the LaGuardia Center for the Performing Arts along with HELP, a one-act comedy. His play RESTRAINT, an expanded, full-length version of TEN MINUTES, was produced at the Inner Space Theater in Manhattan and then twice in Los Angeles. The book, CREATE a Yoga Practice for Kids: Fun, Flexibility and Focus, by Yael Calhoun and Matthew Calhoun, was published in 2006 by Sunstone Press. Lilias Folan, the “First Lady of Yoga,†called it the best yoga book for children on the market today. ALL THAT MATTERS, a musical (book and lyrics, Calhoun and Iaccarino; music, Art Bellucci,) was produced at the Willoughby Theatre in New York City and Lymon Center in Connecticut. Stephen Sondheim called it, “Wonderful Work†. Matthew Calhoun†s play, WORM DAY was produced at the DR2 Theater in New York in 2003 by OBIE award winning producer, Jeff Britton, following a production at Manhattan†s Prdocuer†s Club in 1999. In 1996, WORM DAY finished fourth in the Mixed Blood Versus America Competition. Currently, the script is in development by Broadway producer, Kimberly Vaughn. Full-length plays, KITCHEN THERAPY and TORTURED PEOPLE have been produced by Stage Two in Illinois and were both finalists for the Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival of New Plays. TORTURED PEOPLE was also a Finalist for the Shipping Dock Theatre's international new plays festival, Inter Play, and a semi-finalist for the Shiras Institute/Mildred and Albert Panowski Playwriting award. KITCHEN THERAPY, and TORTURED PEOPLE, along with LIVING IN SIN (also produced by Stage Two) and FRANK'S SWEET POTATO, were awarded an "Honorable Mention" by Tim Mooney's "The Script Review" in 1993. WATERING HOLE, a comedy set on the club car of a cross-country train, was a finalist for the Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence, and REJECT MY PLAY AND I'LL KILL MYSELF, a tragicomedy, was a finalist for the West Coast Ensemble's Playwrights Competition. Manhattan productions include CAREER COUNSELLING, WHAT TO DO IF THE SECRET POLICE COME TO YOUR DOOR, and SEX-TET: Six Comedies about Love and Biology, all on theatre row, as well as SKITS-OPHRENIA, CONDITIONS, POET OF LAUGHTER, MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, and ATTRACTIONS. THE LAST WEED IN GLEN ELLYN a one-act play about angst in the suburbs, was produced by The Neighborhood Playhouse as well as Love Creek in New York, and was a finalist for the Drury College One-act Playwriting Competition. STATUES ON A LAWN a chamber opera, (music by Tom Flanagan, libretto by Matthew Calhoun) was produced in New York by the Golden Fleece Opera Company. His plays have also been produced in Chicago, Asheville, North Carolina, Boston, Los Angeles, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. Matthew Calhoun has received two awards to teach playwriting from "Poets and Writers." As a comic writer, his writing has also appeared on Comedy Central, performed by Paul Provenza. Many years ago, he won a contest sponsored by Stand-Up New York. His skit, DEJA VU, ALREADY! was presented by Spontaneous Combustion, in New York. THE RUINS OF CHRISTMAS, a skit, TRUE WIT, an extended skit, FUN AT THE MALL a comic-monologue, GOOD AND EVIL, a comic-monologue, and THE DIM REAPER, a comic-monologue, have been performed at various benefits in New York City. THE DIM REAPER, and 'F' AS IN FRUSTRATION, were performed at the Shuttle Theatre, in New York. Working as a columnist and stringer for the News/Journal, a Chicago weekly newspaper, he wrote a personal column about neighborhood life in Chicago†s inner city, investigated stories, and wrote articles on assignment. His piece, HUMBOLDT PARK: BEFORE THE RIOT, appeared in the Chicago reader and won a national writing award.

Source:
Ironworth Productions
http://www.ironworthproductions.com
(accessed August 27, 2007) [Read More...]

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