Call it life's experience, a connection to the psyche or just plain old-fashion talent, but John Patrick Shanley raises the bar on crafting stories about how humans interact and how life is an exploration.
The Company of Fools will present "An Evening with John Patrick Shanley" on Saturday, May 21, at 8 p.m. at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey. Tickets are $35 and available at the box office Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on the night of the presentation. They also can be purchased by calling 578-9122or visiting www.companyoffools.org.
Shanley will share his insights into his writing process, stories of his film career as writer and director and the importance of theater in society. Shanley, in an Oscar acceptance speech, said he thanked, "everybody who ever punched or kissed me in my life and everybody who I ever punched or kissed."
An accomplished and award-winning writer and director, Shanley has written extensively for film and the stage. His play "Doubt," which opened off-Broadway in 2004, became the first of his plays to transfer to Broadway and then to the silver screen. Shanley's screen adaptation of "Doubt" earned him 2009 Academy Award and Writers Guild Award nominations for best adapted screenplay. While on Broadway, "Doubt" won numerous awards, including the Tony, New York Drama Critics Circle Award, The Drama League Award, the Drama Desk Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Company of Fools performed "Doubt" Oct. 17 through Nov. 4 in 2007 at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey.
Shanley's original screenplays include: "Five Corners," "Moonstruck"—for which he won an Oscar and a Writers Guild Award, "The January Man" and "Joe Versus The Volcano," which he also directed. "Five Corners" was awarded the Special Jury Prize for screenplay at the Barcelona Film Festival. Shanley also wrote the adapted screenplay for "Alive."
His long list of acclaimed plays, many of which he directed in their original productions, includes "Defiance," "Savage In Limbo," "The Dreamer Examines His Pillow," "Beggars in the House of Plenty," "Where's My Money?," "Italian American Reconciliation," "Four Dogs And a Bone," "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea" and "Dirty Story," which earned Shanley a Drama Desk nomination. Shanley's 23 plays, many of which he also has directed, have been translated into 15 languages and performed in 17 countries. There are about 80 productions of his works each a year in the United States and Canada.
Company of Fools has presented John Patrick Shanley's "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea" several times during the Company's 16-year history and staged a production of "Doubt" in 2007.
Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com
John Patrick Shanley will share his insights about writing and his career at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey on May 21.
Courtesy photo
