Allan Baker
Bio
After retiring and after a decade as a gay rights activist in Texas, Allan began writing in 2004. He has since written fourteen plays, all but one with gay characters and themes. Eleven of these plays have been on stage, in a total of twenty-five productions and eight staged readings, from coast to coast in the US and from Guam to Canada, internationally.
His
first play was All the Saints, a full-length, modern re-telling
of Dumas’ Lady of the Camellias and Verdi’s La Traviata, with gay
characters. This play was given a well-received staged reading at Zach Scott
Theatre Center in Austin in January 2008.
Allan’s
first one act play, Five Minutes, set in the World Trade Center
on 9/11, was named “Best of the Fest” for the FronteraFest short fringe
festival at Hyde Park Theatre in Austin in 2006 and was selected for the
Emerging Artists Theatre’s Fall Festival of Short Plays in New York City in
November 2006. Nominated by Emerging Artists as part of a nation-wide
competition, Five Minutes was again produced in New York City as
part of the Samuel French, Inc. Festival of Off Off-Broadway One Act Plays in
June 2007.
Allan’s
ten minute play, ...last and always, based on the final scene of Five
Minutes, was produced by NativeAliens Theatre Collective for New York
City’s Pride Celebration in June, 2009. In February, 2011, this play was again
produced in New York City, by Turtle Shell Productions. It was also produced
by Blue Slipper Theatre, in Livingston, MT (2012); Buffalo United Artists
Theatre in Buffalo, NY (2012); Santa Cruz Actor’s Theatre, in Santa Cruz, CA
(2014) and West Coast Players, Clearwater, FL (2014). In November, 2013, this
play was produced by the theatre department of the University of Guam as part
of their student directed Short Play Festival. In 2006, this play was a finalist in the annual 10 minute play competition at the Magnolia Arts Center in Greenville, NC. In 2008 “…last and always” was a finalist for the Fall Festival of Ten Minute Plays produced by the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre in San Luis Obispo, CA. In 2012 this play was a finalist for the annual National Award for Short Playwriting of the City Theatre of Miami, FL. In February, 2020 this play was produced by the Raven Players at the Raven Theatre in Healdsburg, CA as part of their festival of short plays. In May, 2020 it will be produced by the Tree City Playhouse in Sylvania, Ohio as one of three winners of their annual ten minute play competition.
In
2008 and 2009 Allan wrote a trio of one act plays focusing on critical moments
in the relationships of three gay couples: Click, A Midsummer
Night’s Conversation and A Midwinter Night’s Conversation.
He also wrote Voices, a one act involving the conversation across
four generations of five members of a family, all residents of a cemetery in
rural Texas.
In
April, 2010, four of Allan’s one act plays (Click, Voices, Five Minutes and
A Midsummer Night’s Conversation) were produced together as Connect:
Four Short Plays for three weeks at the Off Center theatre in Austin. In
June, 2010 Connect was given an encore performance at the Rollins
Theatre of the Long Center in Austin as part of Austin’s Pride 2010
celebration.
In
September, 2011, Click and A Midsummer Night’s Conversation
were produced at the Kalita Humphreys Theatre by Uptown Players as part of the
Dallas Pride Performing Arts Festival. In July, 2012 Click was
produced by The Eclectic Company Theatre of Los Angeles, CA as part of their 9th
annual “Hurricane Season New Play Festival & Playwriting Competition”. The
script for Click tied for first place among the nine plays
selected to be produced. In April, 2018 Click was produced by the Department of Music and Theatre of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa as part of their annual student-directed short play festival.
Allan’s
short play, Beauty, is about a magnificent work of art and an
even more extraordinary woman. In February 2012 this play was premiered by
Valley Repertory Company of Enfield, CT as part of their third LabWorks New
Play Contest. In July, 2012 Beauty was produced by Salem Theatre
Company of Salem, MA as part of their annual “Moments of Play” festival. Of
850 plays submitted to this well-regarded festival, 10 were selected for
production.
On
June 26th, 2014 a staged reading of Click and A
Midsummer Night’s Conversation was presented by The Desert Rose
Playhouse at the Tolerance Education Center in Rancho Mirage, CA as part of the
Palm Springs area’s celebration of Pride Month.
Allan’s
full length play, Dex & Abby, is a sweet, funny and moving
play about a gay couple and their two dogs...the dogs to be played by human
actors. In March, 2013, two very well received, fully staged readings of this
play were given at Salvage Vanguard Theatre, in Austin. In November, 2017 it was listed as a “Second Rounder” in the Austin Film Festival’s Playwriting Competition. From May 16th to June 1st, 2019, Dex & Abby was produced by the Ground Floor Theatre in Austin. In 2020 this play was produced by Pride Films and Plays at the Broadway Theatre of the Pride Arts Center in Chicago and ran from Feb. 20th to March, 29th.
Allan’s full length play, Eskandar, was inspired by Bizet’s Carmen and the Shahnameh of the 10th Century Persian poet, Firdowsi, and is set in today’s Afghanistan. Joe, an Afghan-American who has returned to Afghanistan as part of a covert operation, falls in love with Eskandar, the wild “kept boy” of an Afghan warlord. They develop a relationship which ends in tragedy. In 2014 this play was a finalist in the annual Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Competition for plays with GLBT historical themes. In 2015 Eskandar was one of only three plays chosen from among 71 submitted by playwrights across Texas, to be given two staged readings by Wordsmyth Theatre Company at Stages Repertory Theatre as part of the Texas Playwright’s Festival in Houston.
In
September, 2015, A Midwinter Night’s Conversation was produced at
the Registry Theatre in Kitchener, Ontario by Modus Vivendi Theatre Company as
part of their annual festival of LGBT theatre. This was Allan’s first
international production.
In 2013 Allan wrote his most recent full-length play, Dare. In a
nursing home, a gay man reflect s on a life that has spanned the most tumultuous
years of gay history and explains his decision to complete the “dramatic arc”
of his “character” in the play that is his life. A staged reading of this
play was presented on Feb. 25, 2015 at Ground Floor Theatre in Austin. This play is one of
two winners of the 2017 Mario-Fratti-Fred Newman Political Play Contest,
sponsored by the Castillo Theatre in New York City. Held bi-annually, the
contest received 300 submissions in the 2017 round. A staged reading of Dare
was given at the Castillo Theatre in New York City on August 7, 2017, as part of
the award presentation. Dare was the concluding production in the 2017-2018
season of The Desert Rose Playhouse in Palm Springs. Acclaimed by critics and
audiences, Dare ran from April 20th to May 13th, 2018.
Allan’s most recent plays, from 2017 are In a Box, Modesto and Missing. In a Box is
an 8 minute play, in the manner of a Greek chorus, explaining the implications of
certain principles of quantum physics. Modesto is a half hour one act, based on
Dare, with rather different characters and set after the presidential election of
2016. Missing is a one act set in Vietnam in January, 1971 and September, 1996. Searching for information on Americans missing in action from the Vietnam war, a US consulate official hears the story of two such men from a Buddhist priest. The story is sad, enlightening, comforting…and one out of an important and very ancient legend.
Allan’s short dog lover’s monologue, Saturday, Duboce Park, won the “Original Monologue Contest” sponsored by Talking Horse Productions in Columbia, MO. Thirty-six monologues were streamed on the company’s Facebook page in September, 2020 and viewers voted on their favorite.
Allan is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild of America.
Allan Baker
4711 Spicewood Springs Rd., #159
Austin, TX 78759
arbaustx@aol.com
512-318-9848 (mobile)
abbyproductions.com
New Play Exchange profile: https://newplayexchange.org/users/3417/allan-baker
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