Carter W. Lewis

Carter W. Lewis

Carter W. Lewis – was the Playwright-in-Residence at Washington University in St. Louis from 1999 to 2022. Prior to that, he was Dramaturg & Playwright-in-Residence for The Geva Theatre Center in New York. Carter was also co-founder and Resident Playwright for Upstart Stage in Berkeley, California. He is the winner of several national playwriting awards including: The Julie Harris - Playwriting Award, The...
Carter W. Lewis – was the Playwright-in-Residence at Washington University in St. Louis from 1999 to 2022. Prior to that, he was Dramaturg & Playwright-in-Residence for The Geva Theatre Center in New York. Carter was also co-founder and Resident Playwright for Upstart Stage in Berkeley, California. He is the winner of several national playwriting awards including: The Julie Harris - Playwriting Award, The State Theatre - Best New American Play, The Cincinnati Playhouse Rosenthal New Play Prize (’96 & 2001), New Dramatist Arnold Weissberger Playwriting Award, Playwright’s Center Jerome Residency, The Kevin Kline Award for Best New Play of 2009 and he is a two time nominee for the American Theatre Critics Award. For his play, While We Were Bowling, Carter was the recipient of an NEA/TCG Residency Grant for Playwriting, and The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation Award for Best New Play. A sample of theatres that have produced his work include; The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Syracuse Stage, The Source Theatre, Florida Stage, Studio Arena Theatre, The Fulton Opera House, Arizona Theatre Company, B Street Theatre, The Round House Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, The Dorset Theatre Festival, The Sacramento Theatre Company, The Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, The Phoenix Theatre, The Barksdale Theatre, American Stage, Cider Mill Playhouse, The Boarshead Theatre, Sonoma Repertory Theatre, Oakland Ensemble Theatre, Pegasus Theatre Company, Northwest Actors Studio Theatre, Wellfleet Theatre, The New Repertory Theatre, Theatre on the Square, The State Theatre Company, The Barter Theatre, Florida Repertory Theatre, Virginia Stage, The Geva Theatre Center, New Jersey Repertory Company, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, The Falcon Theatre, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, San Diego Repertory Theatre and The Royal Court Theatre in London. His published works include, Art Control, No Preying, A Geometric Digression of the Species, Soft Click Of A Switch, An Asian Jockey In Our Midst and The One-Eyed Man Is King. Other plays by Carter W. Lewis include; Golf With Alan Shepard, Picasso Does My Maps, Longevity Abbreviated For Those Who Don’t Have Time, Women Who Steal, Men on the Take, American Storm by Integrity Out of Molly Brown, Kid Peculiar, Ordinary Nation, Civil Disobedience, Hit Story, Camden & Lilly, Evie’s Waltz, The Storytelling Ability of a Boy, The Cha Cha of a Camel Spider The Americans Across the Street, The Hummingbird Wars, Camden & Lilly, Echo Location, Unlucky Nick and With. Carter lives in St. Louis with his dog, Vivian.

Plays

  • Guys in Cabins
    Naturalist/Author Henry David Thoreau of the 19th century, and domestic terrorist (Unabomber) Ted Kaczynski of the 20th century live side-by-side as neighbors in their individually notorious cabins in the woods. The historical and ideological similarities between these two men are hysterical and perplexing, proffering the question: What if Ted lived then, and Henry lived now, and ultimately, what responsibility...
    Naturalist/Author Henry David Thoreau of the 19th century, and domestic terrorist (Unabomber) Ted Kaczynski of the 20th century live side-by-side as neighbors in their individually notorious cabins in the woods. The historical and ideological similarities between these two men are hysterical and perplexing, proffering the question: What if Ted lived then, and Henry lived now, and ultimately, what responsibility does our country bear in the creation of our own domestic terrorists.
  • LIT: A Tall Tale of Quarantine
    Lit is the story of a grandmother, Celladora, and granddaughter, Maisie, who have refused to come down from their rooftop apartment long after the pandemic has ended. After more than a year has passed, a young man named Down, climbs up a the seven-story fire escape ladder to find out why. After several visits, Down and Maisie fall in love. Down feels he needs to rescue her and bring her back into the world....
    Lit is the story of a grandmother, Celladora, and granddaughter, Maisie, who have refused to come down from their rooftop apartment long after the pandemic has ended. After more than a year has passed, a young man named Down, climbs up a the seven-story fire escape ladder to find out why. After several visits, Down and Maisie fall in love. Down feels he needs to rescue her and bring her back into the world. Maisie loves her grandmother and understands her reasons for not wanting return to the world. Into the evening come several characters from their pasts who have died during the pandemic. Together they create a different perspective for Celladora, and a compromise is reached, that brings great joy and sadness to all. Although the play is not a musical, there are two dances, and it ends with a song (a song that is in public domain).
  • The Science of Leaving Omaha
    The Science of Leaving Omaha by Carter W. Lewis
    After dropping out of school and surviving a rough turn as a Save Mart clerk, Iris was given a job at the Belladonna Funeral Home’s basement crematory. Three years later she is trying to find her way out of the job - and out of Omaha. One winter evening a young man named Baker breaks into the funeral home. He has come to say goodbye to his recently deceased...
    The Science of Leaving Omaha by Carter W. Lewis
    After dropping out of school and surviving a rough turn as a Save Mart clerk, Iris was given a job at the Belladonna Funeral Home’s basement crematory. Three years later she is trying to find her way out of the job - and out of Omaha. One winter evening a young man named Baker breaks into the funeral home. He has come to say goodbye to his recently deceased wife, Ruth-Ellen, who was killed in a bungled burglary and lies within a body bag awaiting cremation. Now Iris and Baker will spend a very humorous, clumsy and erratic evening together trying to understand the dismantling of their working-class lives, before the police arrive and they are held accountable for present or past transgressions.
  • With
    Clifford and Minnie devolve into a world of humorous, but ultimately heartbreaking minutiae as they navigate a blizzard, a dead son, a rat in the kitchen and worse; in order to hold on to a bit of control over their personal end of life decisions. The couple enlist their derelict son to obtain Death With Dignity drugs from the state of Oregon, but due to an accident on the highway, the plan goes hysterically...
    Clifford and Minnie devolve into a world of humorous, but ultimately heartbreaking minutiae as they navigate a blizzard, a dead son, a rat in the kitchen and worse; in order to hold on to a bit of control over their personal end of life decisions. The couple enlist their derelict son to obtain Death With Dignity drugs from the state of Oregon, but due to an accident on the highway, the plan goes hysterically and tragically array. As a result, Minnie and Clifford cling to daily tasks as they slowly get cut off from the world by a blizzard and disconnected utilities. Their enduring love fuels them through an obstacle course of of each days events.
  • Duck/Rabbit
    Duck/Rabbit is a reflection of our current divisive political times. Most of the play takes place in the beloved kitchen of Shirley and Hickey - Shirley loves her kitchen and feels safe there. Hickey is a retired high school history teacher, who is now, for some reason, getting glimpses of the future – but his glimpses are in cartoon form. As the friends and family’s concern for Hickey escalate, suddenly they...
    Duck/Rabbit is a reflection of our current divisive political times. Most of the play takes place in the beloved kitchen of Shirley and Hickey - Shirley loves her kitchen and feels safe there. Hickey is a retired high school history teacher, who is now, for some reason, getting glimpses of the future – but his glimpses are in cartoon form. As the friends and family’s concern for Hickey escalate, suddenly they discover that the world is actually turning into a cartoon, and their daughter is morphing in that direction. In the second act, Hickey and Shirley’s two newly-in-love neighbors, Jerry & Angela have moved into their kitchen with them, and they have formed an encampment/retreat in which they plan to wait till the world comes to its senses. There are beds in the kitchen and the rest of the house is being used to grow crops (and Vietnam War Vet, Jerry’s, marijuana). Also in the house is the daughter of Hickey and Shirley, Georgina – who has already halfway morphed into a cartoon. Eventually Georgeena leaves the kitchen to lead the cartoons as their newly appointed Mayor. Soon after she leaves, Angela and Jerry leave. Jerry, because he is ultimately patriotic and this is his country, and regardless of the cartoon-rule, well... “love it or leave it.” Angela goes with him because she loves him, and she is sick of eating vegetables. Hickey and Shirley are left with a decision of whether to “hole up” and wait out the current political cartoon regime, or to fight. In a final statement, Shirley, dons a duck costume and leaves her beloved kitchen to take on the world.
  • The Hummingbird Wars
    Warren is Iraq war hero who doesn't leave the house. His wife Mel picks up causes like a dog picks up fleas. Their son Pete is too smart for school and too smart to have so many guns. Their daughter Kate is a poet who intends to build a franchise to of cable boxes in the kitchen and live within it - but without her girlfriend Tracey, who can't feel their love thru the medications. This midwest family...
    Warren is Iraq war hero who doesn't leave the house. His wife Mel picks up causes like a dog picks up fleas. Their son Pete is too smart for school and too smart to have so many guns. Their daughter Kate is a poet who intends to build a franchise to of cable boxes in the kitchen and live within it - but without her girlfriend Tracey, who can't feel their love thru the medications. This midwest family struggles against the minutiae of their daily lives as guns magically appear throughout the house, the leaking water from the basement begin to rise and the walls of their once cosy kitchen begin to crumble.
  • Percentage America
    Percentage America is about false information, and our outrage over the media creating a disease that begins to appear in the lives of Americans - i.e. they have an involuntary need to bang their heads against hard surfaces. This disease leads to a search for truth, and a surprising outcome as truth becomes a bit of an aphrodisiac to those who long for it.
  • Echo Location
    Once the cat got flung into the ceiling fan, the backyard wedding of Benjamin Rindle appeared to be in jeopardy. As waves crash against the nearby Massachusetts shores, Benjamin desperately attempts to keep his nuptials on schedule with the moon and the tides. But first he must navigate a heart-broken bookie named Bluetooth, the police car in front of his house, the arrival of a young girl claiming to be his...
    Once the cat got flung into the ceiling fan, the backyard wedding of Benjamin Rindle appeared to be in jeopardy. As waves crash against the nearby Massachusetts shores, Benjamin desperately attempts to keep his nuptials on schedule with the moon and the tides. But first he must navigate a heart-broken bookie named Bluetooth, the police car in front of his house, the arrival of a young girl claiming to be his daughter, and the unspeakable retribution for the ill-fated cat – before he can finally marry Emmy…the woman who buried his sister.
  • Unlucky Nick
    Unlucky Nick has been in a coma for three days. Connie has been in a coma for nine years. They meet. They fall in love. Their love awakens them, but they are now in adjacent hospital rooms with no recollection of each other. They are both left with a burning feeling that something wonderful happened. They search for this wonderful thing. Thru circumstances they go back into a coma, and rediscover each other....
    Unlucky Nick has been in a coma for three days. Connie has been in a coma for nine years. They meet. They fall in love. Their love awakens them, but they are now in adjacent hospital rooms with no recollection of each other. They are both left with a burning feeling that something wonderful happened. They search for this wonderful thing. Thru circumstances they go back into a coma, and rediscover each other. But when they awaken, they still have no recollections of each other, so they select something else that they think might have caused the wonderful feeling. Connie falls in love with her nurse. Nick falls in love with Jesus. But they continue to search.