Biography
at the Caffe Cino, 1961
Doric Wilson was one of the first playwrights at NYC's legendary Caffe Cino, his comedy And He Made A Her opening there in 1961, with Jane Lowry and Paxton Whitehead in the leads. Other Cino productions followed, including Now She Dances! (one-act version), Babel Babel Little Tower and Pretty People (with Nancy Wilder and the celebrated mime Tom Lawrence).
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Wilson was raised on his grandfather's ranch at Plymouth on the Columbia River of Washington State. He wrote his first play for his English Lit class at Kennewick High School, but was accused of plagiarism when his teacher Miss Shrives informed him that no student she taught would ever be able to write a play. He failed the course.
He received his early theater training under Lorraine Larson, apprenticed with Dorothy Seeburger and the Richland Players (WA), and studied briefly at the Drama Department of the University of Washington until he was asked to leave after he initiated a one person protest against anti-gay shootings at a nearby park.
Wilson moved to NYC in 1958 where, under the mentorship of producer Richard Barr, he became a pioneer of the Off-Off-Broadway movement, writing, directing, producing and/or designing over a hundred productions and becoming a founding member of Circle Repertory Theater and the Barr/Wilder/Albee Playwright's Unit.
A participant in all three nights of the Stonewall Riot, he became active in the early days of the New York Gay Liberation movement as a member of GAA (Gay Activist Alliance) and as a "star" bartender and manager of the post-Stonewall gay bar scene, opening such landmark institutions as the Spike, TY's and Brothers & Sisters Cabaret.
In 1974, Doric Wilson (with Billy Blackwell, Peter del Valle and John McSpadden) formed TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), the first professional theatre company to deal openly and honestly with the gay experience. The company featured new plays and revivals by such writers as Brendan Behan, Noël Coward, Christopher Hampton, Charles Jurrist, Joe Orton, Terrence McNally, Robert Patrick, Sandra Scoppettone, Martin Sherman, Doric Wilson and Lanford Wilson. In June, 2001, Wilson, Mark Finley and Barry Childs resurrected the company as TOSOS II ( http://www.tosos2.org ).
Doric Wilson's plays Street Theater (titled Stonewall 69 outside the US), The West Street Gang, Forever After and A Perfect Relationship became staples of the emerging Gay Theater circuit, widely performed here and abroad and winning numerous honors, including The Villager and Chambers-Blackwell best play citations. In 1994 Wilson received the first Robert Chesley Award for Lifetime Achievement in Gay Theatre. He is a member of The Dramatist Guild and the Evette Society. He is currently working on two new plays, An Object of Affection and Saints on a Secret Mission.
Pending and recent productions: In the fall of 2000 the new version of Now She Dances! opened in Glasgow, directed by Stephen Bottoms. In the spring of 2002 Mark Finley directing the revised script of Street Theater for a successful run at The Eagle NYC, produced by TOSOS II. A revival is planned in May of 2003. April 1 A Perfect Relationship will open in NYC at the new Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex. His major plays have been translated into Italian by Paolo Casiddu (paolocasiddu@hotmail.com) and can be obtained by emailing the playwright.
Earlier versions of Street Theater and A Perfect Relationship are published by TNT Press (Box 1243 Ansonia Station, New York, NY 10023); Street Theater is also included in the Don Shewey edited anthology Out Front (Grove Press), and are available at Drama Bookshop (http://www.dramabookshop.com).
Doric Wilson dedicates this web site to Richard Barr, Billy Blackwell, Jane Chambers, Tommy Chapis, Robert Chesley, Joe Cino, Harry Grier, Bruce Hopkins, Jack Logan, Michael O'Brien, Lance Taylor, Pat Tolson, Walter Torgerson, Wally Wallace, Jerry West, Marjorie Wilson, Alex Yancy and all the many other ghosts who made his past possible, to Richard Andersen, Mark Blasius, Ed Bodey, Dan Doyle, Dr. Ronald Grossman, Rick Hinkson, Bill Kaiser, Michael Lynch, Gary Marder, Robert Patrick, Bruce Shenton, Teri Sheridan, Richard Taddei, Karen Tate, Susi Thiss, Eileen T'Kaye, Francine Trevens, Patricia Nell Warren, Gail Wilcox and Wendy Zilka who bring the best of the past into the present, to Paul Batchelor, Steve and Paula Bottoms, Morry Campbell, David Crespy, Bob Cruz, Kevin Held, Larry Johnson, Tom Krupa, Amelie Littell and the Editorial Production Department of St. Martin's Press (Terrence Bailey, David Burr, Meg Drislane, Mara Lurie, Geraldine VanDusen et al), Robert Locke, Mikeboy, James Orange, Arnold Rodriguez, Michael Roselli, David Stren and Chris Weikel who convinced him to look to the future.
A special thanks to classy Vicki Lawless who designed this site, to diffident juvenile Chuck Blasius, and to the tall, dark and very handsome Rick Hinkson, who proofread these scripts so they could go forth into the ether of the Internet to pester posterity, and finally to guitar fan Barry Childs and "stray" dog lover Mark Finley who made it all happen one more time, and finally to his beloved Jane Lowry, figuratively and factually the sight of his eyes.
You can contact Doric Wilson in the following ways:
Via Regular Postal Mail:
Doric Wilson
506 Ninth Avenue
Apt 3FN
New York, NY 10018-2822
Via Email: doricw@nyc.rr.com
For gay theater information contact:
The Purple Circuit (http://www.buddybuddy.com/pc.html)
Attn: Bill Kaiser
921 N. Naomi St.
Burbank, CA 91505
Via Email: Purplecir@aol.com
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Wilson was raised on his grandfather's ranch at Plymouth on the Columbia River of Washington State. He wrote his first play for his English Lit class at Kennewick High School, but was accused of plagiarism when his teacher Miss Shrives informed him that no student she taught would ever be able to write a play. He failed the course.
He received his early theater training under Lorraine Larson, apprenticed with Dorothy Seeburger and the Richland Players (WA), and studied briefly at the Drama Department of the University of Washington until he was asked to leave after he initiated a one person protest against anti-gay shootings at a nearby park.
Wilson moved to NYC in 1958 where, under the mentorship of producer Richard Barr, he became a pioneer of the Off-Off-Broadway movement, writing, directing, producing and/or designing over a hundred productions and becoming a founding member of Circle Repertory Theater and the Barr/Wilder/Albee Playwright's Unit.
A participant in all three nights of the Stonewall Riot, he became active in the early days of the New York Gay Liberation movement as a member of GAA (Gay Activist Alliance) and as a "star" bartender and manager of the post-Stonewall gay bar scene, opening such landmark institutions as the Spike, TY's and Brothers & Sisters Cabaret.
In 1974, Doric Wilson (with Billy Blackwell, Peter del Valle and John McSpadden) formed TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), the first professional theatre company to deal openly and honestly with the gay experience. The company featured new plays and revivals by such writers as Brendan Behan, Noël Coward, Christopher Hampton, Charles Jurrist, Joe Orton, Terrence McNally, Robert Patrick, Sandra Scoppettone, Martin Sherman, Doric Wilson and Lanford Wilson. In June, 2001, Wilson, Mark Finley and Barry Childs resurrected the company as TOSOS II ( http://www.tosos2.org ).
Doric Wilson's plays Street Theater (titled Stonewall 69 outside the US), The West Street Gang, Forever After and A Perfect Relationship became staples of the emerging Gay Theater circuit, widely performed here and abroad and winning numerous honors, including The Villager and Chambers-Blackwell best play citations. In 1994 Wilson received the first Robert Chesley Award for Lifetime Achievement in Gay Theatre. He is a member of The Dramatist Guild and the Evette Society. He is currently working on two new plays, An Object of Affection and Saints on a Secret Mission.
Pending and recent productions: In the fall of 2000 the new version of Now She Dances! opened in Glasgow, directed by Stephen Bottoms. In the spring of 2002 Mark Finley directing the revised script of Street Theater for a successful run at The Eagle NYC, produced by TOSOS II. A revival is planned in May of 2003. April 1 A Perfect Relationship will open in NYC at the new Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex. His major plays have been translated into Italian by Paolo Casiddu (paolocasiddu@hotmail.com) and can be obtained by emailing the playwright.
Earlier versions of Street Theater and A Perfect Relationship are published by TNT Press (Box 1243 Ansonia Station, New York, NY 10023); Street Theater is also included in the Don Shewey edited anthology Out Front (Grove Press), and are available at Drama Bookshop (http://www.dramabookshop.com).
Doric Wilson dedicates this web site to Richard Barr, Billy Blackwell, Jane Chambers, Tommy Chapis, Robert Chesley, Joe Cino, Harry Grier, Bruce Hopkins, Jack Logan, Michael O'Brien, Lance Taylor, Pat Tolson, Walter Torgerson, Wally Wallace, Jerry West, Marjorie Wilson, Alex Yancy and all the many other ghosts who made his past possible, to Richard Andersen, Mark Blasius, Ed Bodey, Dan Doyle, Dr. Ronald Grossman, Rick Hinkson, Bill Kaiser, Michael Lynch, Gary Marder, Robert Patrick, Bruce Shenton, Teri Sheridan, Richard Taddei, Karen Tate, Susi Thiss, Eileen T'Kaye, Francine Trevens, Patricia Nell Warren, Gail Wilcox and Wendy Zilka who bring the best of the past into the present, to Paul Batchelor, Steve and Paula Bottoms, Morry Campbell, David Crespy, Bob Cruz, Kevin Held, Larry Johnson, Tom Krupa, Amelie Littell and the Editorial Production Department of St. Martin's Press (Terrence Bailey, David Burr, Meg Drislane, Mara Lurie, Geraldine VanDusen et al), Robert Locke, Mikeboy, James Orange, Arnold Rodriguez, Michael Roselli, David Stren and Chris Weikel who convinced him to look to the future.
A special thanks to classy Vicki Lawless who designed this site, to diffident juvenile Chuck Blasius, and to the tall, dark and very handsome Rick Hinkson, who proofread these scripts so they could go forth into the ether of the Internet to pester posterity, and finally to guitar fan Barry Childs and "stray" dog lover Mark Finley who made it all happen one more time, and finally to his beloved Jane Lowry, figuratively and factually the sight of his eyes.
You can contact Doric Wilson in the following ways:
Via Regular Postal Mail:
Doric Wilson
506 Ninth Avenue
Apt 3FN
New York, NY 10018-2822
Via Email: doricw@nyc.rr.com
For gay theater information contact:
The Purple Circuit (http://www.buddybuddy.com/pc.html)
Attn: Bill Kaiser
921 N. Naomi St.
Burbank, CA 91505
Via Email: Purplecir@aol.com