James Still

JAMES STILL’s work has been produced throughout the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Europe, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. He is an elected member of the National Theatre Conference in New York and a Kennedy Center inductee of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. Other honors include the Todd McNerney New Play Prize from the Spoleto Festival, William Inge Festival’s Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, the Orlin Corey Medallion from the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America, and the Charlotte B. Chorpenning Award for Distinguished Body of Work. His plays have been nominated four times for the Pulitzer Prize, and have been developed and workshopped at Robert Redford’s Sundance, the New Harmony Project, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Eugene O’Neill Playwrights...

JAMES STILL’s work has been produced throughout the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Europe, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. He is an elected member of the National Theatre Conference in New York and a Kennedy Center inductee of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. Other honors include the Todd McNerney New Play Prize from the Spoleto Festival, William Inge Festival’s Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, the Orlin Corey Medallion from the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America, and the Charlotte B. Chorpenning Award for Distinguished Body of Work. His plays have been nominated four times for the Pulitzer Prize, and have been developed and workshopped at Robert Redford’s Sundance, the New Harmony Project, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, the Colorado New Play Summit, the Lark in New York, Launch Pad at UC-Santa Barbara, Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival, Telluride Playwright’s Festival, New Visions/New Voices, and Fresh Ink in Minneapolis. Three of his plays have received the Distinguished Play Award from the American Alliance for Theatre & Education. Theaters that have produced his plays include the Kennedy Center, Denver Center, Indiana Rep, Geva, Cornerstone Theater Company, Ford's Theatre, People’s Light & Theatre, the Barter, Pasadena Playhouse, Portland Stage, the Station, the Asolo, Company of Fools, the Children’s Theater Company of Minneapolis, Metro Theater Company, B- Street Theatre, Tricklock, Theatrical Outift, Round House, American Blues, Shattered Globe, Illusion Theater, and the Mark Taper Forum.
Recent world premieres are the Denver Center Theatre production of Appoggiatura which was then a nominee for Outstanding New Play for the Henry Awards at the Colorado Theatre Guild. Appoggiatura is the second play in the family trilogy that began with the award-winning The House That Jack Built and concludes with Miranda which premiered in 2017 at Illusion Theater in Minneapolis followed by a second production at Indiana Rep. Also premiering recently was The Widow Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC.; and April 4, 1968: Before We Forgot How To Dream at Indiana Rep. James's short play When Miss Lydia Hinkley Gives a Bird the Bird has appeared in several festivals around the country including its premier at Red Bull in New York and was a finalist for the Heideman Award from Actors Theatre of Louisville. New plays include Dinosaur(s); (A) New World , and an adaptation of the classic Black Beauty commissioned by Seattle Children’s Theatre. Other plays include I Love to Eat (solo play about culinary icon James Beard); The Heavens are Hung in Black; Iron Kisses; Looking Over the President’s Shoulder; Searching for Eden; And Then They Came For Me; Amber Waves, and Illegal Use of Hands.
James also works in television and film and has been nominated for five Emmys and a Television Critics Association Award; he has twice been a finalist for the Humanitas Prize. He was a producer and head writer for the series PAZ, the head writer for Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear, and writer for the Bill Cosby series Little Bill. He wrote The Little Bear Movie and The Miffy Movie as well as the feature film The Velocity of Gary. James grew up in Kansas and lives in Los Angeles.

Scripts

EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE MOTHERS

by James Still

Synopsis

”Sometimes stories about the future take place in the past…” EVERYBODY’S FAVORITE MOTHERS is a love story, a theatrical celebration of unconditional love and unlikely activism that started in the summer of 1972. The play celebrates a reluctant hero -- a 5th Grade Teacher in Queen New York and self-described "ordinary mom” who marched in a parade with her gay son carrying a home-made sign boldly declaring her...

”Sometimes stories about the future take place in the past…” EVERYBODY’S FAVORITE MOTHERS is a love story, a theatrical celebration of unconditional love and unlikely activism that started in the summer of 1972. The play celebrates a reluctant hero -- a 5th Grade Teacher in Queen New York and self-described "ordinary mom” who marched in a parade with her gay son carrying a home-made sign boldly declaring her support — and a new kind of movement was born. On that day Jeanne Manford became everybody’s favorite mother to dozens of shocked gays and lesbians — but the story didn’t end there. Jeanne and her husband Jules went on to co-found a support group for parents — an organization that would eventually become known around the world as PFLAG which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. This is a story about family history that became American history —a theatrical feast with a cast that also includes other "favorite mothers”including the Virgin Mary, Mrs. Cratchet, Marge Simpson, and Maria Von Trapp. EVERYBODY’S FAVORITE MOTHERS is also about young queer men and women coming out, standing up to power, and accelerating the fight for gay rights. It was a time when homosexuality was illegal in 49 states, when the American Psychiatry Association still diagnosed homosexuality as a mental illness, and police raids on any kind of same-sex gatherings were common and life-threatening. With violence now against the transgender community and LGBQT+ youth at an all-time high, EVERYBODY’S FAVORITE MOTHERS isn’t nostalgic — it’s a warning that there’s still work to do and that history can inspire us to find ways forward.

DINOSAUR(s)

by James Still

Synopsis

Two adult siblings share one profound thing: a violent childhood trauma they both survived and have gone on to very different lives. While the siblings sustain an undeniable and troubled connection through the years, that event from childhood continues to shape their lives in contrasting ways. After losing touch for a couple of years, the sister and brother find themselves on a road trip traveling back to the...

Two adult siblings share one profound thing: a violent childhood trauma they both survived and have gone on to very different lives. While the siblings sustain an undeniable and troubled connection through the years, that event from childhood continues to shape their lives in contrasting ways. After losing touch for a couple of years, the sister and brother find themselves on a road trip traveling back to the rural setting of their childhood. Before they reach their destination, a series of mishaps strands them in a small town in the Flint Hills of Kansas where they are unexpectedly caught up in the lives of three locals each of whom have developed their own ways of coping with a quickly changing world.

(A) NEW WORLD

by James Still

Synopsis

1637. Plymouth Colony. When two young men discover themselves passionately and inexplicably drawn to one another, their insistence that “there is a nearness between us,” collides with the complex morality of the Puritans and points toward a mysterious and unknown future. Surprisingly, the moral conscience of the play is Governor William Bradford, who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 and is fighting to keep...

1637. Plymouth Colony. When two young men discover themselves passionately and inexplicably drawn to one another, their insistence that “there is a nearness between us,” collides with the complex morality of the Puritans and points toward a mysterious and unknown future. Surprisingly, the moral conscience of the play is Governor William Bradford, who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 and is fighting to keep Plymouth true to its mission of being a spiritual community while also being a place governed fairly and with integrity. Inspired by two paragraphs from the Plymouth court records, (A) NEW WORLD shines a light on loves and lives nearly lost to the secrets of history.

BLACK BEAUTY

by James Still

Synopsis

Inspired by Anna Sewell's novel subtitled "The Autobiography of a Horse". A story of resilience and justice that spans the life of a horse named Black Beauty.

Inspired by Anna Sewell's novel subtitled "The Autobiography of a Horse". A story of resilience and justice that spans the life of a horse named Black Beauty.