MAC

Mac Wellman is an acclaimed American playwright, poet, author, and educator whose formally adventurous work has made him a seminal figure in American experimental theater. For more than four decades, his plays have challenged theatrical convention through their radical approaches to language, structure, character, and performance. His work frequently combines linguistic play, cultural critique, absurdism, and unconventional stage directions, expanding the possibilities of what dramatic writing can be.

Wellman is the author of more than forty plays, including Harm’s Way, The Bad Infinity, Terminal Hip, Dracula, Whirligig, Crowbar, 7 Blowjobs, A Murder of Crows, Second-Hand Smoke, Description Beggared or the Allegory of WHITENESS, and Jennie Richee. His interdisciplinary collaborations include work with composer and percussionist David Van Tieghem and, in 2006, the opera The Difficulty of Crossing a Field with composer David Lang, adapted from the short story by Ambrose Bierce.

Among Wellman’s numerous honors are the 1990 Obie Award for Best New American Play for Bad Penny, Terminal Hip, and Crowbar; a 1991 Obie Award for Sincerity Forever; and the 2003 Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement. He has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Writers Award, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, and McKnight Foundation.

Wellman is a co-founder of The Flea Theater in New York City and has had a profound impact as an educator and mentor to generations of playwrights. He serves as the I. Fine Professor of Play Writing at Brooklyn College and was named a CUNY Distinguished Professor in 2010. His work as both artist and teacher has helped shape the landscape of contemporary experimental American playwriting.