BIO

William Ivor Fowkes (he/him) is an award-winning playwright and author based in Manhattan & Connecticut, a member of the Dramatists Guild, and the first graduate of the Dramatists Guild Institute for Dramatic Writing's certificate program (2022). His work explores human relationships, gay issues, religion, the limits of love, the psychology and politics of love, aging and dying, and the role of art in our lives. He is the author of numerous full-length plays, short plays, and short stories.

 

His plays have been presented in 29 states, the District of Columbia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Austria--at Theatre Rhinoceros, the Cherry Lane Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Gallery Players, LaBute New Theater Festival (St. Louis), Penobscot Theatre Company, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, Harlequin Productions, the Pulse Ensemble Theatre, the Players' Ring, Theatre Southwest, the Collective NY, Stage Left Theatre, the William Inge Theater Festival, Silver Spring Stage, the Wild Project and elsewhere. 

 

Many of his plays have been presented on the radio, on podcasts, and online; many have been published (Dramatists Play Service; The Best 10-Minute Plays, The Best Women's Monologues, The Best Men's Monologues, WE/US: 100 Monologues for Gender Minority Actors, and 105 Five-Minute Plays for Study & Performance (Smith & Kraus Inc); Contemporary One Act Plays (a Fresh Words Anthology); Iris Literary Journal; Clockhouse Review; The Distillery; The Galway Review; Statement Magazine (Cal State Los Angeles); The Paragon Journal; The Eddy; Iris Literary Journal; Fleas on the Dog; Masque & Spectacle: Waxing & Waning; Fresh Words Magazine; and elsewhere). 

 

His full-length plays include ALL IN THE FACULTY (Dramatists Play Service), MUSEUM LOVERS (Renegade Actors Innsbruck, University of Innsbruck, Austria, 2022), COUPLE OF THE CENTURY (UNLV Second Stage, Las Vegas, 2021), INCIDENT IN CONFERENCE ROOM B (Cimientos at IATI Theater 2020), PRIVATE PROPERTY (Players’ Ring 2018), SUNSHINE QUEST (Fresh Fruit Festival 2014), THE BEST PLACE WE’VE EVER LIVED (Love Creek Productions), THE GERMAN LESSON (Great Plains Theatre Conference Playlabs) and others. His short film, THE BRAZILIAN DILEMMA, is available on Amazon Prime Video.

 

 

His fiction has been published in many literary journals, including Eureka Literary Magazine, The Dirty Goat, The Nassau Review, The Chariton Review, Lullwater Review, Wisconsin Review, RiverSedge, Limestone, Argestes, Soundings East, Buffalo Carp: Quad Cities Arts' Journal, and elsewhere. His short play, THE SESSION (published in The Distillery) was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2008. 

 

His short plays include THE DAKOTA (Best Short Play, Downtown Urban Theater Festival, Cherry Lane Theatre), THE BRAZILIAN DILEMMA (First Prize, McLean Drama Company; The Collective NY; film version by Collective NY Films, Amazon Prime Video), SISYPHUS & ICARUS: A LOVE STORY (LaBute New Theater Festival, St. Louis; Digital Dionysian Festival, Third Citizen Company), THE NEXT MOVE (Best New One-Act Play, Brevard Theater; Theatre Southwest; Silver Spring Stage; Warner International Playwrights' Festival; Petaluma Radio Players; Radio Theatre Project; Ensemble Studio Theatre ), THE SESSION (Pushcart Prize Nominee; Strawberry One-Act Festival), TABLE MANNERS IN CHICAGOLAND (Winner, 2017 Nor’Eastern Play Writing Contest, Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre; Audience Favorite Award, CAST Players, Beaumont, CA), TABLE MANNERS IN SANTA MONICA (4th Street Theater, IN; Artistic New Directions, NY; Turtle Shell Theater; Shoestring Radio Theatre, San Francisco), AN ACCIDENT IN THE PARK (William Inge Theatre Festival; Gallery Players, Brooklyn), A REMARKABLE MAN (Gallery Players, Brooklyn), MISS PEDDY & GRACE (Gallery Players; Silver Spring Stage; Radio Theatre Project; Atlanta Audio Fringe Festival), NOT HERE YET (Love Creek Productions; Petaluma Radio Players; Radio Theatre Project; Atlanta Audio Fringe Festival), MUSEUM PIECE (Downtown Urban Theater Festival, Theatre for a New City; North Canton Playhouse, Ohio), STEAM (Theatre Rhinoceros), and others. 

 

A graduate of Yale University (BA, magna cum laude) and Northwestern University (MA, PhD), he is also the author of the book, A Hegelian Account of Contemporary Art, and several articles on philosophy and aesthetics. He began his professional life as a professor of philosophy and aesthetics, teaching at Hobart & William Smith Colleges and Northwestern University. He has twice been the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities: at Brown University (Semiotics) and New York University (Business). 

 

After leaving academia, he held a variety of executive positions in the media & entertainment industries, at the Time Magazine Group, HBO Inc, CBS Records/Columbia House, and Showtime Networks. A resident of the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where he lives with his husband, music conductor Stephen Michael Smith, he is also a pianist, photographer, runner, urban gardener, meditator, and the proud father of two daughters (and one granddaughter). He currently runs the DGPG Writers, a playwrights' group in New York City. 

 

AWARDS

The Brazilian Dilemma (10-minute play)

First Prize, McLean Drama Company’s 10-Minute Play Contest (2013)

The Hudson Family Guide to Table Manners (full-length play)

Finalist (as A Field Guide to Table Manners), Reva Shiner Comedy Award, 

   Bloomington Playwrights Project (2013)

Finalist (as A Field Guide to Table Manners), W. Keith Hedrick Playwriting Contest, 

   HRC Showcase Theatre, Hudson, NY (2012) 

Marriages of Inconvenience (full-length play)

Winner, One-Act Play Competition, Brevard Little Theatre, Brevard, NC (2010)  

Museum Lovers (full-length play)

Finalist, Normal Avenue Playwriting (NAP) Series, NYC (2019)

The Next Move (one-act play)

Winner, One-Act Play Competition, Brevard Little Theatre, Brevard, NC (2010)  

Rage, Children! Rage! (full-length play)

      Finalist, Isle of Shoals, 2020 Lance Hewitt Reading Series, NYC (2020) 

The Seeker (full-length play)

Semi-Finalist, Promising Playwright Award, Colonial Players, MD (2015) 

Semi-Finalist, Princess Grace Playwriting Award (2015)

The Session (one-act play)  

Nominated for the Pushcart Prize (2008)

Finalist, the Strawberry One-Act Festival, Bernie West Theatre, NYC (2005)

Table Manners in Chicagoland (one-act play)

Winner, Nor’Eastern Play Writing Contest, Vermont Actors’ Repertory

   Theatre, Rutland, VT (2017)

Audience Favorite Award, National One Act Playwriting Competition, 

   Catch a Star Theatrical (CAST) Players, Beaumont, CA (2012) 

Virtual First Date (10-minute play)

Winner, This Covid Life, Script6, London, UK (2020)  

 

DIRECTING CREDITS

Productions:

Sunshine Quest (full-length): Fresh Fruit Festival, The Wild Project, New York City, July 2014.

Table Manners in Mexico City (one-act): 15-Minute Play Festival, American Globe Theatre, New York City, April 2012.

Readings:

All in the Faculty (full-length): Turtle Shell Theater, New York City, May 2009.

Godiva Chocolate & a Diet Coke (short play): Gay Pride Plays, Village Playwrights, New York City, June 2018.

 

EDUCATION

Yale University

BA (magna cum laude)

Northwestern University

M.A., Ph.D. (philosophy and aesthetics)

NEH Fellowships:

Brown University

New York University

The Dramatists Guild Institute for Dramatic Writing

Certificate

 

MEMBERSHIPS:

The Collective NY (2013-2018)

The Dramatists Guild Institute Writers’ Lab (as of 2019)

The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc (since 2005)

The Dramatists Guild Playwrights Group (The DGPG Writers) (since 2017)

Experts' Theater Company (ETC) (since 2023)

 

Pulse Ensemble Theatre Playwriting Group (2012-17)

River Writers Group of Manhattan (2002-17) 

Stillwater Writers (since 2015)

Turtle Shell Productions Playwrights Platform (2009-10)