Jason Grote was born in New Jersey in 1971 and has lived in Brooklyn since 1997.
His plays include 1001 (Denver Center, Page 73, Boston Court, Contemporary American Theater Festival; upcoming, Mixed Blood, University of Wisconsin, Marin Theater), Maria/Stuart (Woolly Mammoth), Box Americana, Hamilton Township (Salvage Vanguard; upcoming, Soho Rep), and This Storm Is What We Call Progress (Rorschach).
His work has also been produced or developed at: The Atlantic Theater, Baltimore Centerstage, The Brick, chashama, Circle X, Clubbed Thumb, CUNY’s Prelude Festival, The Edmonton Fringe, The Flea, The Frontera Fest at Hyde Park Theater, The Glej Theater (in Ljubljana, Slovenia), HERE, The Lark, The Lincoln Center Directors' Lab, New York Theatre Workshop, The 92nd Street Y’s Makor/Steinhardt Center, The NY Fringe, NYU’s hotINK Festival, The O’Neill National Playwrights’ Conference, The Orchard Project, Playwrights’ Horizons, The Playwrights' Foundation, Portland Center Stage, Theater J, Theatre of NOTE, The Williamstown Theater Festival workshop, and The Working Theater. He has been commissioned by The Denver Center, Clubbed Thumb, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Working Theater.
Honors include an Ovation Award from The Denver Post; the P73 Fellowship; nominations for The Pushcart Prize, The Kesselring Prize, and The Weissberger Award; an NEA Grant via Soho Rep; a NYSCA Grant via Clubbed Thumb; a Sloan Commission from Ensemble Studio Theatre; multiple-year finalist for the Princess Grace Award; and "Best New Play" (for 1001) from Denver's alternative weekly, Westword. 1001 was also included in critics’ year-end top ten lists in Time Out New York, The Rocky Mountain News, and The Boulder Daily Camera.
Current and upcoming projects include his commissions from Clubbed Thumb, Denver Center, and Ensemble Studio Theater, as well as various projects for film, TV, and radio. He teaches playwriting and screenwriting at Rutgers University, is a member of PEN and New Dramatists, and a contributor to Comedy Central's "Indecision 2008" blog. He was co-chair of Soho Rep's Writer/Director Lab from 2004-07, and currently serves on their Artist Advisory Committee.
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RESUME:
PLAYS
1001
* Produced in Denver Center Theater’s 2006-07 season
* Produced in Contemporary American Theater Festival (Shepherdstown, WV), 2007
* Produced Off-Broadway at Rose Nagelberg Theater by Page 73 and On DEC, 2007
* To be produced by Theater @ Boston Court (Los Angeles), 2008 season
* To be produced by Marin Theater Company (SF Bay Area), 2008 season
* Developed/read at Eugene O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference; Theater @ Boston Court; P73 Productions (as part of fellowship program); Denver Center Theater’s Colorado New Play Summit; Soho Rep “Phase 2” Workshop (NYC); New Dramatists; Theater of NOTE (Los Angeles); Last Frontier Conference, 2005-07
* Written in the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, 2004-05
* Ovation Award from The Denver Post
* “Best New Play,” from Denver’s alternative weekly Westword, 2007
* Critics’ year-end top ten lists in Time Out New York, The Rocky Mountain News, and The Boulder Daily Camera
* Nominee, 2007 Kesselring Prize
* Finalist, 2006 Weissberger Award
* Semifinalist, Playwrights’ Center PlayLabs, 2006
* Final round, Princess Grace Award, 2006
* Published in chapbook edition by Denver Center, 2007
* Web adaptation in collaboration with P73 (1001nyc.com)
This Storm Is What We Call Progress
* To be produced at Rorschach Theater (Washington, DC), 2008
* Developed and read at/with: The Lark Play Development Center; Theater J; P73; Manhattan Ensemble Theater; The Playwrights’ Center; Theatre of NOTE; Studio 42; Manhattan Theatre Source; Another Chicago Theatre, 2004-06
* Written in Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, 2003-04
* Finalist, Bay Area Playwrights’ Festival, 2006
* Finalist, Princess Grace Award, 2005
* Finalist, PlayLabs, 2005
Box Americana (A Dream of Wal-Mart)
* Commissioned and developed by The Working Theater, 2005-06
* Workshop Production with The Working Theater, 2006
* Developed with Portland Center Stage JAW/West Festival; The Lark; The Playwrights' Foundation's "In The Rough" Series; Millay Colony for the Arts, 2005-07
* Current finalist, O'Neill Playwrights' Conference, 2008
Maria/Stuart, or Platzangst
* To be produced by Woolly Mammoth Theater, 2008
* Written in Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, 2006-07
* Developed/read at Portland Center Stage, NYU's hotINK Festival, 2007-08
* Current finalist, Bay Area Playwrights' Festival, 2008
Darwin’s Challenge
* Ensemble Studio Theatre/Sloan Commission, 2006
* Developed at the Lark, 2008
Hamilton Township
* To be produced by Salvage Vanguard Theater, 2008
* To be produced by Soho Rep, 2009
* Developed in Soho Rep “Phase 2” Lab, 2007
* Written in Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, 2005-06
* Presented in CUNY’s Prelude ’06 Festival at the Martin E. Segal Theater Center
* Translated and presented at Glej Theater, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2006
* Published in Slovenian Literary Magazine Mentor (in English and in Slovenian), 2006
* Semifinalist, PlayLabs, 2007
* Finalist, O'Neill Playwrights Conference, 2007
The New Jersey Book of the Dead
* Produced at Bloomington Playwrights Project, Indiana, 2004
* Produced by The Vestige Group, Austin, TX, 2007
* Developed and read at: Theatre of NOTE; Coe College; The Flea; Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco; Another Chicago Theatre, 2002-04
* Winner, Reva Shiner Award, 2004; Coe College Playwriting Award, 2003; San Francisco DRAMARAMA, 2002
* Finalist, Bay Area Playwrights’ Festival, 2004; LAByrinth Summer Intensive, 2003; Sanford Meisner Theater Center Playwriting Competition, 2001
* Runner-up, Princess Grace Award, 2002
Kawaisoo (The Pity of Things)
* Produced: The Frontera Fest @ Hyde Park Theater; WBAI radio; Edmonton Fringe festival; California Insititute of the Arts; New Theatre Collective (Cincinnati, OH); NY Infringement Festival; American Living Room @ HERE; Le Petit Versailles; The Fall Collection @ Clemente Soto Velez; The Makor (92nd St. Y Festival of ‘Wrights); chashama; Brooklyn Lyceum; New York University, 2002-08
* Published in Back Stage Book of New American Short Plays 2005 (Craig Lucas, ed.)
* Winner, Swamp King Short Play Prize, 2003
* Finalist, VORTEX Theatre Bare Bones Festival, 2005
Moloch and Other Demons
* Workshop productions at: American Living Room @ HERE; Hell Festival @ The Brick Theater, 2004
* Developed and read at: Circle X; The Makor (92nd St. Y Festival of ‘Wrights), Salvage Vanguard Theatre, 2003-2007
* Excerpts published in online journal Polyphony, 2003
* Princess Grace Award Semifinalist, 2004
Cats
* Commissioned and produced by Clubbed Thumb for Summerworks ’06
In His Bold Gaze My Ruin Is Writ Large
* Created in the 24-Hour Plays at the Orchard Project in collaboration with members of Radiohole, Drama of Works, Theatre in the Flesh, and The Green Room Players, 2006. Published in KNOCK Journal, 2007
Prometheus Rendered
* Created in THAW’s Pro-Peace Event at the Culture Project’s Impact Festival, in collaboration with HERE’s Kristin Marting and members of the Juggernaut Theater Co., 2006
* Remixed for Personal Space Theatrics' American Mythic Event, 2007
(Anti)gone
* Developed and read at Williamstown Theater Festival workshop, 2005
* Developed at Millay Colony for the Arts, 2005
The Island of Never Giving way on your Desire
* Site-specific play commissioned and produced by Sanctuary Theatre for “Six Nights” Project, 2004
* Published in KNOCK Journal, read by Printer’s Devil at Jewel Box Theatre (Seattle) 2005
NOW’s My Choice My Voice Project
* Oral history project, adapting interviews with women who had illegal abortions pre Roe v. Wade; commissioned by The National Organization for Women and performed at Jamaica Plain Community Center, 2001
Pipe Bomb Sonata: The 1988 Tompkins Square Park Police Riot
* Produced at The Present Company/NY Fringe, 1999; CHARAS/El Bohio, 2000
TRANSLATIONS:
MORE
* Adaptation of Slovenian play by Simona Semenic, from a literal English translation; developed with New Georges and WaxFactory, 2006
Balance
* Adaptation of Slovenian play by Zalka Grabnar Kogoj, from a literal English translation; developed with New York Theatre Workshop, PreGlej, and WaxFactory as part of European Dreams Festival, 2006
HONORS
2008:
NYSCA Grant for Clubbed Thumb commission
Nomination, Pushcart Prize (still under consideration)
Finalist, O'Neill Playwrights' Conference
Finalist, Bay Area Playwrights' Festival (still under consideration)
2007:
Ovation Award, The Denver Post
Year-end Top Ten List, Time Out New York
Year-end Top Ten List, Rocky Mountain News
Year-end Top Ten List, Boulder Daily Camera
"Best New Play - Non-Local Author," from Denver's alt-weely Westword
Nominee, Kesselring Prize
NEA Grant for 2006-07 Soho Rep Lab
Selected for JAW/West Festival, Portland
Orchard Project Residency (with Radiohole)
Lark Play Development Center Residency
Selected for "In The Rough" Reading Series, Playwrights' Foundation (SF)
2006:
New Dramatists Residency
Residency at O’Neill Theater Conference
P73 Fellowship
EST/Sloan Commission
NEA Grant for 2005-06 Soho Rep Lab
Finalist, Weissberger Award
Selected for Colorado New Play Summit, Denver Center Theater
Finalist, Bay Area Playwrights’ Festival
Final Round, Princess Grace Award
Semifinalist, PlayLabs
2005:
Residency at Millay Colony for the Arts
NEA Grant for 2004-05 Soho Rep Lab
Residency at Last Frontier Conference, Valdez, Alaska
Finalist, TCG/Jerome Affiliated Writers’ Fellowship
Finalist, Princess Grace Award
Finalist, PlayLabs
Finalist, Ensemble Studio Theatre Sloan Fellowship
Finalist, VORTEX Theatre’s Bare Bones Festival
Semifinalist, New Dramatists membership
2004:
NEA Grant for 2003-04 Soho Rep Lab
Winner, Reva Shiner Award for The New Jersey Book of the Dead
Finalist, New Dramatists membership
Finalist, Bay Area Playwrights
Finalist, Seven Devils Playwrights’ Conference
Semifinalist, Princess Grace
Semifinalist, Onassis International Theatre Competition
Quarterfinalist, Slamdance Screenplay Competition
2003:
Finalist, LAByrinth Summer Intensive
Top 5%, Chesterfield Writers’ Film Project
Second Round, Austin Film Festival Prime Time Competition
2002:
Runner-up, Princess Grace Award
Winner, NYU-Tisch Screenplay Festival
Winner, Coe College Playwriting Award
Winner, DRAMARAMA Award from Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco
Winner, Swamp King Ten-Minute Play Contest
Finalist, Sanford Meisner Theater Center Playwriting Competition
Second Round, Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition
2001:
Tisch Scholarship, New York University
1998:
Winner, OOBR Award
Finalist, Nantucket Short Play Competition
1996:
Winner, New York One-Minute Play Contest
1993:
Samuel F. Gerber Playwriting Award from Montclair State University
SCREENPLAYS/TV SCRIPTS/WEB
Comedy Central's "Indecision 2008"
* Freelance contributor to Comedy Central blog.
Murray’s Wild Ride
* Children’s’ Feature; New York University MFA Thesis
* Top 5% Finalist, Chesterfield Writers’ Film Project, 2003; Quarterfinalist, Slamdance Screenplay Competition, 2004
4G
* Feature comedy
* Winner, Tisch Screenplay Festival, 2002; Top 5% Finalist, Chesterfield Writers’ Film Project, 2003 Second-Round, Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition, 2002
The First Elegy
* Spec treatment, in developmet with Dreamworks
The Simpsons: “Send in Les Clowns”
* Spec script
* Second-round, Austin Film Festival Prime Time Competition, 2003
Oregon
* Independent Feature, produced and directed by Mario Lopez, 1996
The Organ Grinder
* Student short, Produced and directed by Michael Finn, 1993
PUBLICATIONS
* 1001 in chapbook edition by Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 2007
* Kawaisoo (The Pity of Things) in The Back Stage Book of New American Short Plays (Craig Lucas, ed.), 2005
* Kawaisoo (The Pity of Things) excerpted in Best Women’s Monologues of the Millennium, Applause Books, 2006
* Hamilton Township in English and Slovenian in Balkan Literary Magazine Mentor, 2006
* Excerpts from All You Can Eat and In His Bold Gaze My Ruin Is Writ Large in KNOCK journal, (published by Antioch University, Seattle), 2007
* The Island of Never Giving way on your Desire in KNOCK, 2005
* Article on O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference, in American Theater, 2006
* Profiles of playwrights Sheila Callaghan, Anne Washburn, and Young Jean Lee in American Theater, 2006-07
* Roundtable discussion on the future of playwriting with Anne Washburn, Caridad Svich, and Ken Urban, in Performing Arts Journal, 2006
* Profile of Wax Factory, in TheatreForum, 2006
* Book and Theater Reviews, “Best of NY” Listings in The New York Press, 2005
* “In Dialogue” and other profiles of Radiohole, Jeffrey M. Jones, Ann Marie Healy, Ken Urban, Elana Greenfield, Wax Factory, and Sanctuary: Playwrights Theatre in The Brooklyn Rail, 2004-07
* Book reviews of Electoral Guerilla Theater and New Downtown Now in The Brooklyn Rail, 2006
* “The Art of (Class) War” in How to Rule the World for Fun and Profit by Billionaires for Bush (Thunder’s Mouth/Avalon), 2004
* “Michel Auder” in Captured: A History of Film and Video on the Lower East Side (Seven Stories), 2004
* Excerpt from Moloch and Other Demons in PolyphonyMagazine (www.geocities.com/polyphonymag), 2003
* “The God That People Who Don’t Believe in God Believe In: Taking a Bust With Reverend Billy” in Cultural Resistance: A Reader (Verso), Stephen Duncombe, ed., 2002
* “We Love Bush! We Love Dick! The Students for an Undemocratic Society” in From Act Up to the WTO (Verso), Ron Hayduk and Ben Shepard, eds., 2002
* “Punditry Slam” in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency (www.mcsweeneys.net/links/gergen), 2000
* Book reviews in Working USA (www.workingusa.org), 2002
* "Vote for Me, by Al Gore” in The Indypendent: Newspaper of the NY Independent Media Center, 2000
* Record reviews in VH 1’s The Score (www.vh1.com), 1997-98
* “The Soul of the City” in The Salt Journal, 2000
* “Save CHARAS!” in Off: The Journal of Alternative Theater, 1998
* “The Fat Blue Line: Backstage at Pipe Bomb Sonata” in Propaganda: The Daily Newspaper of the New York International Fringe Festival, 1998-99
* “Enemy of the People” column in EdgeNY: The Magazine for Independent Theater, 1999
* The New York Hangover contributor (nyhangover.com): 1998-99
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
* Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ: Assistant Instructor, Department of English, teaching Screenwriting; Playwriting; Popular Culture; Science and Technical Writing; and Expository Writing, 2003-07
* Queens College, Flushing, NY: Professor of Screenwriting, Department of Media Studies, 2003-06
* Glej Theater, Ljubljana, Slovenia: conducted beginner and intermediate playwriting workshops, 2006
*Playwrights Foundation, San Francisco, CA: workshop in writing the "political" play, 2007
* Young Playwrights, Inc: Playwriting Teacher, 2005-06
* New School University, NYC: Tutor, Writing Center, 2003-04
* Hunter College, NYC: political theater workshop at Theaters Against War Teach-In, 2004
* Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA: workshops with undergraduates during residency, 2003
* NYU, Tisch School of the Arts: Assisted with Theater Arts in Political Activism class, 2002
* 92nd Street YM/YWHA: drama therapy and acting exercises with special needs children, 2002
* NYC Public School 287: Tutor/assistant teacher with second grade and Pre-K children, 2001-02
* Students for a Free Tibet: political theater workshop at annual retreat, 2003
* Panel discussion and conference participant at Columbia University, Barnard College, New School University, Hunter College, CUNY Graduate Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Blue Mountain Arts Center, WBAI, National Public Radio, 1999-2007
* Writings taught at: NYU, Barnard College, Rutgers University, Brooklyn College, California State University at Northridge, Michigan State University, Indiana State University, Northampton College (PA), University of Canterbury (New Zealand)
AFFILIATIONS
* New Dramatists Resident Playwright, 2006-13
* Soho Rep Writer-Director Lab Co-Chair, 2004-07; Member,
2003-07
* The Brooklyn Rail Co-editor, theater section, 2006-07
* Young Playwrights, Inc. Dramaturg/Evaluation Committee, 2005-06
* Theaters Against War Affiliated member, 2003-Present
* PEN American Center Member, 2006-Present
* The Playwrights’ Center Member, 2004-Present
* The Dramatists’ Guild Member, 1993-Present
* New Jersey Dramatists/The Waterfront Ensemble Member Playwright, 1993-2001
* Neighborhood Playhouse Workshop Member Playwright, 1997-98
TRAINING
* NYU, Tisch School of the Arts M.F.A., Dramatic Writing, 2003
* The Flea, NYC Pataphysics Lab w/ Mac Wellman, 2006
* Hourglass Theatre, NYC DAH Theatar Master Class w/ Maja Mitic, 2005
* The Brecht Forum, NYC “Theater of the Oppressed” Lab w/ Augusto Boal, 2001
* Montclair State University, NJ B.F.A. in acting and directing, 1993
* Mercer County School of Performing Arts, NJ, H.S. Diploma, studied Strasberg/Kazan “method” with Judith Robinson, 1987-89
