David Bar Katz

David Bar Katz is an American screenwriter, playwright, author and director.

Early life

Katz was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His interest in theater was sparked by stories of his great-grandfather who was a Yiddish theater producer on the Lower East Side of New York City. Katz attended Chestnut Hill Academy and graduated from The Hun School of Princeton, where in 1985 he founded their modern crew program. He attended Williams College where he was a double-major, receiving a BA in Philosophy and Religion.^[1] Katz was a Varsity oarsmen at Williams and a member of the '88 Varsity crew which was the first undefeated heavyweight eight in Williams College history. He was also in the '89 Varsity eight that notably defeated Harvard's Varsity at The Henley Royal Regatta.^[2] At Williams Katz was a member of Cap and Bells, the oldest continuously running student-run college theater group in the country.

Before embarking on a writing career Katz was a New York City public school teacher and a theatrical publicist working on Broadway, in the New York cabaret scene and with numerous Off-Broadway theater companies including E.S.T., INTAR,^[3] Manhattan Class Company,^[4] AMAS, and The Negro Ensemble Company. Katz was the spokesman for Fiddler on the Roof star Topol when he made the controversial move of temporarily leaving the Broadway revival of the show during the first Gulf War to return to Israel as it was weathering scud missile attacks.^[5]

Career

Film and TV

Mr. Bar Katz and John Leguizamo wrote the movie The Pest[6] and did re-writes/dialogue polishes on Pyromaniacs; A Love Story, Executive Decision, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar and Spawn.  Katz co-created, wrote and was a supervising producer for the Emmy nominated FOX television show House of Buggin',[7] the first all-Latino comedy show in network history.  Katz's script The Man Who Couldn't Forget has been in development with producers Sam Raimi and Josh Donen at Columbia Pictures.  Katz is currently developing a film with SimCity and Spore creator Will Wright at a branch of Sony Pictures.

For Showtime Katz is co-writing and co-executive producing the half-hour comedy project "The Sober Coach" from Apostle and CBS Television Studios. ^[8]

Theater

Katz co-wrote and directed the show FREAK^[9] starring John Leguizamo at San Francisco's Theater on the Square, The Goodman Theatre in Chicago, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company and the Cort Theatre on Broadway where it was nominated for two Tony Awards including Best Play.

Katz is a 14 Street Y LABA Fellow. He has directed and developed shows with Julian Fleisher, John Leguizamo and Eliza Jane Schneider (South Park) all at PS 122. He was a participating artist in HomeBase IV, a site-specific installation built around a dozen artists’ notions of home. Katz is a member of Israel Horovitz's New York Playwright's Lab.

Katz is a company member of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. He has had five plays selected for their annual Barn Series Festival between 2006-2011.

• The History of Invulnerability, featuring David Deblinger and Chris Messina, directed by John Gould Rubin at The Public Theater.
• Philip Roth in Khartoum, featuring David Zayas and David Deblinger, directed by John Gould Rubin at The Public Theater.
• Burning Burning Burning Burning, featuring Eric Bogosian and Michael Stuhlbarg, directed by John Gould Rubin at The Public Theater.
• The Atmosphere of Memory, featuring Ellen Burstyn and Sam Rockwell, directed by Peter Dubois at The Public Theater.
• Oh, the Power, featuring Ed Vassalo and Yul Vazquez, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman at The Cherry Pit theater.^[10]

Katz has directed 2 LAByrinth theatre company plays at the Barn Series and one at Live Nude Plays. At the Barn Series Katz directed "Utilities" by Jonathan Marc Sherman ("knickerbocker", "things we want"). At Live Nude Plays Katz directed "GUARANTEED SECOND BASE" by Michael Puzzo.

At Vineyard Theatre, Katz directed a reading of Kristina Poe's love sick. The cast included Elizabeth Canavan (Thinner Than Water), David Zayas ("Dexter"), Stephen Adly Guirgis (The Motherf*cker with the Hat), Danny Mastrogiogio (The Hallway Trilogy), Cara Akselrad, Maggie Burke and Scott Hudson (sweet storm).

LAByrinth Theater Company is kicking off its 20th Season with Katz's play "The Atmosphere of Memory" in Fall 2011 at The Bank Street Theater (formerly The Cherry Pit). Pam MacKinnon (Obie Award winner, lilly award winner, Clybourne Park) will direct the World Premiere production, with Scenic Design by David Gallo (Tony Award-winner, The Drowsy Chaperone), Costume Design by Emily Rebholz (Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson), Lighting Design by Dans Sheehan (AlIce The Magnet; Hedda Gabler), and Sound Design by Brendan Connelly (Co-Founder, Obie Award-winning Theater of the Two-headed Calf).

Katz is directing a play ("The Wood" written by Dan Klores) at the Obie award-winning Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. The play is about Mike McAlary (Viscardi), the larger-than-life columnist for the Daily News and the New York Post and his missionary zeal to ferret out the truth. A Pulitzer Prize-winner for his exposé of the New York police torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima in 1997, McAlary died of colon cancer on Christmas Day 1998 at the age of 41. The cast will feature John Visicardi, Gregory Bastien, Michael Carlsen, Melanie Charles, David Deblinger, Kim Director, Thomas Kopache, and Sidney Williams.

Read more: http://offbroadway.broadwayworld.com/article/Creative-Team-Announced-For-Labyrinths-THE-ATMOSPHERE-OF-MEMORY-20110831#ixzz1Wf6Zr1CT

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Other select theater projects include "Burning, Burning, Burning, Burning" (Red Bull Theater’s Obie Award winning “Revelation Readings” series, 2010 at redbull theatre), and "What A Way To Go" (New York Playwrights Lab, 2009) at the cherry lane theatre.

Katz's play Philip Roth in Khartoum was produced by LAByrinth Theater Company and The Public Theater (off broadway) in 2008. "David Bar Katz is an important, incisive, scary, funny playwright. Always full of surprises." -Eric Bogosian

His play The History of Invulnerability, about Jerry Siegel, the Holocaust and the creation of Superman was produced by Cincinnati's Tony Award winning Playhouse in the Park in the spring of 2010 and directed by Michael Haney. "More incredible than the Hulk, more amazing than Spiderman, that’s “The History of Invulnerability,” a consideration of The Man of Steel, his co-creator Jerry Siegel and Truth, Justice and the America Way. “Invulnerability” is going to be the spring season’ s buzz show." (Jackie Demaline, The Cincinnati Enquirer) "Katz has X-ray vision to see into the human soul, and his powerful play should be required viewing." (Rick Pender, Cincinnati CityBeat) "A sensation... Katz creates a fantastic biography of Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of Superman, to explore the roots of art and its relationship to the world." (Demaline, Cincinnati.com)"The History of Invulnerability is set to run at Washington's Theater J in spring 2012.

The History of Invulnerability won the Acclaim Award for Outstanding Play of the Year^[12] and the Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Outstanding Premiere.^[13]

Katz received the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Citation recognizing The History of Invulnerability as one of the top three American plays of 2010.

Katz's 'tween' novel Chronicles of the Chosen: 7th Grade Gods will be published in Spring 2011.^[14]

Katz's adult novel is under development at random house value publishing.

David Bar Katz lives in New York City with his 4 sons.

References

1. ^ "Williams College Department of Philosophy : Alumni List 1986 - 2003". Williams.edu. https://williams.edu/philosophy/sub/alumni_list_name.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
2. ^ "Henley Royal Regatta | Rowing pictures and photos by Sportgraphics". Sportgraphics.com. https://www.sportgraphics.com/photo_builder/new?photo_id=2864256&return_path=%2Fevents%2F568%2Fphoto_browser%3Fphoto_id%3D2864256&return_string=Henley+Royal+Regatta+%3E+Return+Search. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
3. ^ Theatre World 1991-1992 - Google Books. Books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=pTjjq1o8AcgC&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=one+act+festival+david+bar+katz&source=bl&ots=mP4_Nw7EZz&sig=8flpsX7YL_NKbOnGWFgABeu_hjY&hl=en&ei=mQc5Te6_DISs8Ab50ISWCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=one%20act%20festival%20david%20bar%20katz&f=false. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
4. ^ The Ridiculous Theatrical Company[http://books.google.com/books id=dlnphmEsU8cC&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=%22david+bar+Katz%22+ridiculous+theatrical+company&source=bl&ots=cCIdjjFfTf&sig=xrorFjUSXVCmE0aaIQVsQhxRPnw&hl=en&ei=EgE5TZyvNcP-8Ab6g4juCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22david%20bar%20Katz%22%20ridiculous%20theatrical%20company&f=false. Lortel.org. http://www.lortel.org/lla_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=1153. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
5. ^ USA Today, Life Section, Jan. 28, 1991
6. ^ "Bach Movie - The Pest". Bach-cantatas.com. 2007-11-21. http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Movie/F0229.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
7. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112007/
8. ^ {{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/showtime-buys-sober-coach-script-203005
9. ^ . Books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=YAactu7BbrEC&pg=PA186&lpg=PA186dq=david+bar+katz+emmy+freak&source=bl&ots=-UXmQ2pTXq&sig=x2Fa392eVkyLp6SmWz4ogbONgmA&hl =en&ei=sAk5TcKSCIyt8Abs0sCACw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=david%20bar%20katz%20emmy%20freak&f=false | title=Creating Your Own Monologue - Google Books. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
10. ^ "LAByrinth Theater Company - Past Productions". Labtheater.org. http://www.labtheater.org/about/pastseasons/pastproductions.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
11. ^ . http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/labyrinth-theater-finds-a-downtown-home/. 
12. ^ "Acclaim Awards: Long Night of Tribute". Citybeat.com. http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-1333-acclaim-awards-long-night-of-tribute.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
13. ^ "2010 CEA Theater Nominees". Citybeat.com. 2010-07-07. http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-21081-2010-cea-theater-nominees.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
14. ^ "Chronicles of the Chosen, David Bar Katz, (9781935703303) Paperback - Barnes & Noble". Search.barnesandnoble.com. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Chronicles-of-the-Chosen/David-Bar-Katz/e/9781935703303/?itm=1&USRI=%27david+bar+katz%27+chosen. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 

External links

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