Joseph Fisher
c/o Jim Flynn
The Jim Flynn Agency
208 West 30th Street, Suite 401
New York, NY 10001
(212) 868-1068
(212) 868-1052 fax
Email:
newdramatists@newdramatists.org
Joseph is a graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas where he received his BFA in Playwriting. Joseph just finished his fourth and final year as playwright-in-residence at Stark Raving Theatre in Portland, Oregon where they produced world premieres of his plays, Prometheus Bound, Tundra, Cupid & Psyche, and Faust. Us. Also in Portland, Joseph’s play The New House and his adaptation of The Seagull have been produced by Artists Repertory. In 2004, Joseph’s Play Thunderbird was produced at The Cherry Lane Theatre’s Mentor Project where he was mentored by the incomparable A.R. Gurney. Joseph’s plays have also appeared at Kitchen Dog Theater, Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre, The Cherry Lane Theatre, The Australian National Playwrights Conference, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Joseph is a recipient of the Playwrights First Award, the Charlotte Woolard Award, a 2002 grant recipient from the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays, and is a resident playwright at New Dramatists since 2002. Joseph currently resides in Los Angeles where he is a screenwriting fellow at Walt Disney Studios.
THUNDERBIRD
Drama
4M, 3W
Mailer is a smokejumper. He parachutes into burning forest fires and
extinguishes them before they rage out of control. After a horrible
accident in which he loses his entire unit, Mailer begins a dark and
surreal journey back to the site where it happened. All the while being
haunted by ghosts, mythic creatures, and a great force known as Enum Klah.
Cherry Lane Alternative, NYC, 2004. Staged reading at Portland Center
Stage's Just Add Water/West New Plays Festival, 2003; Workshopped at New
Dramatists, 2002.
TUNDRA
Drama
3W, 3M
In a frozen arctic town, a curious journalist arrives, to question a
retired composer about the rumors that his most famous piece was written
by someone else. As she probes further into his life, and further into the
quiet town, she discovers the story of a young man named Morgan, who died
several years before, and his strange connection to the retired composer.
Winner of the Playwrights First Award. Staged reading at Portland
Center Stage’s Just Add Water/West New Plays Festival, 2001. The Players
Club, 2002.
“…Theaters should be jumping to get Joseph Fisher’s Tundra, by far the
best piece to be seen at JAW/west.” —Steffen Silvis, The Willamette Week
".a bristlingly good piece of writing, smart and searing and lyrical
and austere—and even funny. ” --Bob Hicks, The Oregonian
IN THE CANOPY OF THE FOREST
Full Length
4M, 1W
Edward is dying. To make the last months of his life worthwhile, his two
childhood friends abandon their lives and spend their nights on the
streets of the city. When Edward is senselessly attacked and robbed, the
three of them begin a dark journey into the city to find the man that hurt
him and to enact a strange and equally senseless revenge.
Staged reading at Stark Raving Theatre's New Rave Festival, 2002.
THE NEW HOUSE
Comedy
3M, 5W
Anthony just bought a new house, his second house in six months. His
friends think he’s crazy and his daughter is infuriated as he spends all
her college money. But Anthony’s got a new wife. She’s half his age and
a former Laker Girl and he’s breaking his bank trying to keep her happy.
An adaptation of Goldoni’s La Casa Nova.
“Portland playwright Joseph Fisher
has taken on the Venetian master and has created a very smart and
comical adaptation of Goldoni’s La Casa Nova.”—Steffen Silvis, The
Willamette Week
Commissioned by Artists Repertory Theatre (October 2003). Produced at
Artists Repertory Theatre (May 2004).