Joshua Irving Gershick is a playwright, author, journalist, filmmaker & teacher whose work illuminates the lives of Queer Americans who’ve been hidden from history.
His plays include Bluebonnet Court, winner of the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Los Angeles Theatre, an NAACP Award for Theatre Excellence, and a multiple L.A. Weekly and L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation nominee.
His latest works are Dear ONE: Love & Longing in Mid-Century Queer America and the radio comedy Assisted Living.
Dear ONE was commissioned by the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at USC to honor its 60th anniversary. The play has had staged readings at the USC ONE Archive; the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books; the LA Library Foundation’s ALOUD Series; the West Hollywood Festival of the Arts; Pasadena’s A Noise...
Joshua Irving Gershick is a playwright, author, journalist, filmmaker & teacher whose work illuminates the lives of Queer Americans who’ve been hidden from history.
His plays include Bluebonnet Court, winner of the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Los Angeles Theatre, an NAACP Award for Theatre Excellence, and a multiple L.A. Weekly and L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation nominee.
His latest works are Dear ONE: Love & Longing in Mid-Century Queer America and the radio comedy Assisted Living.
Dear ONE was commissioned by the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at USC to honor its 60th anniversary. The play has had staged readings at the USC ONE Archive; the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books; the LA Library Foundation’s ALOUD Series; the West Hollywood Festival of the Arts; Pasadena’s A Noise Within Theatre; and at the One Archives Summer Pride Series, featuring George Takei. An audio version of Dear ONE was produced by San Diego's Diversionary Theatre to launch its AmeriQueer Series (2020). The audiocast, winner of the San Diego Union-Tribune's Best Audiocast Award, starred Mr Takei and was directed by Gershick.
Gershick's short film Door Prize (starring Beth Grant) has screened at more than 125 film festivals worldwide and was winner of the Bloomington PRIDE Film Festival’s Alfred C. Kinsey Award, honoring film that furthers understanding of gender or sexuality. The film also was named Best GenderBender Short at the Hamburg International Queer Film Festival; Best Female Short at FilmOut: The San Diego Gay & Lesbian Film Festival; and Best Short at the Kansas City Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The film was used nationally by The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other non-profits to promote the full equality and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Gershick wrote the narration for the documentary film Tweakers, chronicling the methamphetamine epidemic in the LGBTQ community; and his comedy script Rozzie & Harriet (co-written with Marion Levine) was a finalist at Outfest.
Gershick is the author of two acclaimed oral histories, Gay Old Girls, winner of the ForeWord Book of the Year Award for LGBT Nonfiction, an American Library Association Book of the Year Nominee, and a Lambda Literary Award Finalist; and Secret Service: Untold Stories of Lesbians in the Military, winner of the ForeWord Book of the Year Award for LGBT Nonfiction.
His short fiction has appeared in the anthologies Best Lesbian Love Stories 2003 and Best Lesbian Love Stories 2004 (Alyson Books).
He is a former reporter for Newsweek, The Advocate and other newspapers and periodicals, and served as the frontline media liaison for USC, the West's largest private research university, for more than a decade.
Gershick has taught graduate and undergraduate writing at USC, Pasadena City College, Glendale Community College and Austin Community College.
A U.S. Army veteran and graduate of the Defense Information School, Gershick holds an MFA from the USC School of Dramatic Arts; a Master of Professional Writing (MPW) from the USC Dornsife College; and is a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts Summer Intensive in Documentary Filmmaking.
He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a regular contributor to The Dramatist magazine.