Scott McPherson
{{Short description|American playwright (1959–1992)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox person
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1959|10|13}}
| birth_place = Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1992|11|07|1959|10|13}}
| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| nationality =
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| alma mater = Ohio University
| occupation = {{hlist|Playwright}}
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Scott McPherson (October 13, 1959 Columbus, Ohio – November 7, 1992 Chicago) was an American playwright.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/08/obituaries/scott-mcpherson-actor-33-author-of-a-hit-stage-play.html?pagewanted=1| title=Scott McPherson; Actor, 33, Author of a Hit Stage Play| author= BRUCE LAMBERT| date=November 8, 1992| work=The New York Times}} He was influential as one of the first openly gay playwrights when AIDs was severely impacting the nation.{{Cite web |last=Wallach |first=Allan |date=November 10, 1992 |title="Marvin's Room" |website=ProQuest |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/278570935/sem-2 |access-date=October 18, 2024}}
Early life
McPherson, whose father died in a car accident when he was two, was raised by his mother, who worked part-time in a department store, in a predominantly Roman Catholic home in Columbus, Ohio. Many of Mcpherson’s plays were influenced by his experiences in his youth caring for ill and dying family members, which revolved around the inevitability of dying, but he transformed his experiences into comedic and eloquent works.{{Cite news |date=November 27, 1992 |title="Scott McPherson : Playwright" |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/278571917/sem-2 |access-date=October 23, 2024 |work=The Associated Press |pages=1}}
Life
He graduated from Ohio University.{{cite web |url=http://www.glhalloffame.org/index.pl?item=22&todo=view_item |title=Scott McPherson |work=Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame |access-date=2010-01-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005080405/http://glhalloffame.org/index.pl?todo=view_item&item=22 |archive-date=2010-10-05 }}
In 1981, he moved to Chicago, where he acted in The House of Blue Leaves and "The Normal Heart," where he met actor and Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Steven Drukman with whom he lived for three years. He joined the play writing group Chicago New Plays.
His partner at the time of his death was activist and cartoonist Daniel Sotomayor.{{Cite news
| last = Smith
| first = Sid
| title = Chicago Playwright Scott Mcpherson, 33
| newspaper = Chicago Tribune
| date = 1992-11-08
| url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/11/08/chicago-playwright-scott-mcpherson-33/
| access-date = 2010-12-01}}
He died of complications from AIDS on November 7, 1992, aged 33.{{cite book |editor-last=Nelson |editor-first=Emmanuel Sampath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzuahdj0Q9EC&pg=PA313 |title=Contemporary gay American poets and playwrights: an A-to-Z guide |location=London |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group| year= 2003| isbn= 978-0-313-32232-7 }}
Ohio University named a new theater space for him.
The Goodman Theatre and the Victory Gardens Theater have established an annual playwriting award in his name.{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/review97/fmarvinsroom.htm| title= A Door Left Ajar in 'Marvin's Room'| first= David |last=Richards | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=January 5, 1997 }}
Family
The son of Leo McPherson and Peggy Sansbury, he had the following siblings: Bret and Mark McPherson, Steve Sansbury, Hugh Sansbury, Susan MacDowell, Ellen Oatney and Cathy Hargett.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}
Awards
- 1991 Whiting Award
- 1992 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play
- Oppenheimer Award
- Obie Award
- Outer Critics Circle Award
- Induction into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame (in 1992).{{cite web |url=http://www.glhalloffame.org/index.pl?page=inductees&todo=year |title=Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame |accessdate=2016-08-01 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017032241/http://www.glhalloffame.org/index.pl?page=inductees&todo=year |archivedate=2015-10-17 }}
Works
- Til the Fat Lady Sings Ohio University
- Scraped Organic Theatre 1986
- Marvin's Room Goodman Theatre 1990
=Screenplay=
- Marvin's Room (film, 1996)
- Legal Briefs
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Keehnen/McPhers.html "Owen Keehnen Interviews", Queer cultural Center]
- [http://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/scott-mcpherson#/ Profile at The Whiting Foundation]
- [http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsM/mcpherson-scott.html "Scott McPherson", doollee]
- [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0574259/ "Scott McPherson", IMDb]
{{Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McPherson, Scott}}
Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:AIDS-related deaths in Illinois
Category:American male dramatists and playwrights
Category:American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights
Category:LGBTQ people from Ohio
Category:Ohio University alumni