Ed Graczyk
{{short description|American dramatist}}
{{Use American English|date = September 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = September 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Edward Graczyk
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| birth_date = {{birth year from age at date|40|1982|02|01}}
| birth_place = Pennsylvania, U.S.
| other_names = Ed Graczyk
| known_for = Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
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| occupation = Playwright
| years_active = 1969–present
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Edward Graczyk{{Cite book|title=Due to a Lack of Interest—Tomorrow Has Been Canceled! An Original Musical for Young People|last=Graczyk|first=Ed|publisher=Pickwick Press|year=1971|location=Midland, Texas|oclc=7815895}} (born 1941/1942){{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fecCAAAAMBAJ&q=Come+Back+to+the+Five+and+Dime&pg=PA26|last=Allen|first=Jennifer|title=Cher and Altman On Broadway|date=1982-02-01|volume=15|number=5|accessdate=2010-05-15|journal=New York|publisher=New York Media LLC}}{{rp|28}}is a playwright originally from Ohio. He wrote several children's plays early in his career, but became better known as the author of 1976's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. In 1982, Graczyk won the Best Screenplay Award at the Belgium International Film Festival for Robert Altman's motion picture adaptation.{{Cite book|title=A Murder of Crows: A Play in Two Acts|last=Graczyk|first=Ed|publisher=Samuel French, Inc|year=1989|isbn=0-573-69111-8}}
Career
Graczyk was born in Pennsylvania.{{Cite web|url=http://www.review-mag.com/archive/510-519/510/Nlocal.htm|last=Leffler|first=Mark R.|title=Midland Theatre Guild Looks Back At James Dean's Cult of Personality|year=2009|accessdate=2010-05-15|publisher=Review Magazine}} Between 1968 and 1973, he lived in Midland, Texas{{Cite web|url=https://dallasvoice.com/west-texas-ed-graczyk-ed-graczyk/|last=Jones|first=Arnold Wayne|title=Come back to West Texas, Ed Graczyk, Ed Graczyk|year=2010|accessdate=2020-04-10|publisher=Dallas Voice}} and wrote children's plays such as Aesop's Falables{{Cite book|title=Aesop's Falables: A Modern Rock Musical for Young People|last=Graczyk|first=Ed|publisher=Anchorage Press|year=1969|isbn=0-87602-100-3}} and Livin' de Life.{{Cite book|title=Livin' de Life: A Play for Young People|last=Graczyk|first=Ed|publisher=Anchorage Press|year=1970|isbn=0-87602-151-8}} He began to develop his stage drama Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, after driving to the small town of Marfa and researching the customs of the area. The legend of actor James Dean, and the closure of five-and-dime stores in this place, lent their influences to the play's development. Graczyk went on to say:
{{cquote|Jimmy Dean can only be described as the result of my own observations and frustrations with progress that ignores a past; the lack of personalization and pride and the recurring need of people to build facades to conceal the truths of their lives. It is the facade that makes abnormal people seem normal and the sad people seem happy. A personal observation which I feel makes the people I write about, colorful, theatrical, but most of all, honest.{{Cite web|url=http://www.slu.edu/theatre/jimmyplaywright.html|title=Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: The Playwright|accessdate=2010-05-15|publisher=Saint Louis University (slu.edu)|archive-date=June 6, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606070208/http://www.slu.edu/theatre/jimmyplaywright.html|url-status=dead}}}}
After his brief stay in Texas, he moved back to Ohio and served as the artistic director of the Players Theatre in Columbus, Ohio;{{rp|28}} his tenure there lasted from 1973 to 1993.{{Cite news|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DDNB&p_theme=ddnb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0FEAD57A4311BE68&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |last=Morris|first=Terry|title='Five and Dime' author provides guidance on Troy Production|date=2003-11-06|accessdate=2010-05-16|work=Dayton Daily News|page=E7}} The first version of Jimmy Dean premiered in September 1976 at Players Theatre;{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/videoversionsfil0000unse|url-access=registration|quote=Come Back to the Five and Dime.|last1=Erskine|first1=Thomas L.|last2=Welsh|first2=James Michael|last3=Tibbetts|first3=John C.|title=Video Versions: Film Adaptations of Plays on Video|chapter=Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1976)|pages=[https://archive.org/details/videoversionsfil0000unse/page/60 60]–61|isbn=0-313-30185-9|year=2000|accessdate=2010-05-15|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group}} in early 1980, it moved to New York City for a brief run{{Cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117925296.html|last=Hirschhorn|first=Joel|title=Stage review of Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean|date=2004-10-18|accessdate=2010-05-15|work=Variety|publisher=Reed Business Information}} with filmmaker Robert Altman directing.{{Cite book|title=Robert Altman: Hollywood Survivor|last=O'Brien|first=Daniel|publisher=Continuum|year=1995|isbn=0-8264-0791-9|location=New York}}:89 He created a filmed theatre version to largely positive reviews.:93 Nonetheless, Altman soon managed to make a low-budget film adaptation financed by Viacom Enterprises and Mark Goodson Productions.{{Cite book|title=Robert Altman|last=Plecki|first=Gerard|publisher=Twayne Publishers (G.K. Hall & Company/ITT)|year=1985|isbn=0-8057-9303-8|location=Boston}}{{rp|129}} The film won numerous awards at film festivals,{{rp|131}} including Best Film at Chicago; Ed Graczyk won for Best Screenplay at the Belgium International event.
The playwright followed up Jimmy Dean with A Murder of Crows, which opened at New York's South Side Theater in September 1988.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/18/theater/review-theater-metaphor-and-whimsy-in-a-murder-of-crows.html?pagewanted=1|last=Gussow|first=Mel|title=Review/Theater; Metaphor and Whimsy in 'A Murder of Crows'|date=1988-09-18|accessdate=2010-05-15|work=New York Times|publisher=The New York Times Company}} In the early 1990s, he wrote a one-man show with Keith Carradine entitled My Time Ain't Long. By 2003, he was living in Ohio's Miami Valley area and was still writing plays, although in his words, "There are currently several scripts running around in my computer looking for an exit." His most recent work, The Blue Moon Dancing, premiered in Dallas on August 20, 2010.{{Cite web|url=http://www.theatermania.com/dallas-fort-worth/news/08-2009/ed-graczyks-blue-moon-dancing-has-world-premiere-i_20535.html|last=Propst|first=Andy|title=Ed Graczyk's Blue Moon Dancing Has World Premiere in Dallas|date=2009-08-07|accessdate=2010-05-18|publisher=TheaterMania.com}}
Throughout his career, Graczyk has also served as a theater designer and administrator. He has worked with various institutions such as the Hartford Stage Company and the Erie Playhouse.
Selected works
See also
Notes
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{IMDb name|id=0333513}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graczyk, Ed}}
Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:American male dramatists and playwrights