Frank Blocker, Playwright, Author, Editor & Actor
Contact via email, please or visit FrankBlocker.com
Dramatists Guild / Actor's Equity
Plays
- Southern Gothic Novel, solo piece. Premiered at the 2003 NY International Fringe Festival, presented for Playwrights Project at The Colleen Dewhurst Theatre, October 2003 and at the 2004 Midtown International Theatre Festival, NYC. Columbus National Gay & Lesbian Theatre Fesitval, Ohio, awarded Best Playwright for a Solo Show. Adapted from an original novel, a comedy-suspense-thriller-romance, where one actor portrays the denizens of Aberdeen, Mississippi. The town suffers a rash of kidnappings, as Viola Haygood, our heroine, falls in love with a mysterious man who may be the key to a vast conspiracy. Everyone is suspect.
- Air Marshals, full-length play. The spiraling death of America as seen from the exit row of a commercial flight from LaGuardia to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
- Eula Mae's Beauty, Bait & Tackle, premiered Off Broadway in 2001 (co-written with Chuck Richards). A Southern comedy centered around a country store in Alabama and the relatives and friends of its proprietor. Rita Mae Raspberry, proprietor Eula Mae's niece, is on her ninth attempt at the Miss Alabama crown, Eula Mae handles the advances of trucker Carl Joe, and Mama dispenses senility-laced truths to all. Eight characters are played by three actors. Eula Mae's consistently sold-out nine separate runs in Atlanta. The Off-Broadway run received much positive press and ran for eight weeks.
- Suite Atlanta, One-week in the life of an Atlanta hotel room in late September 1995; reminiscent (and respectful) of Neil Simon's Plaza Suite and California Suite. Cast can vary from four persons playing the roles to fifteen characters cast individually.
- Patient Number, a one-act play. 2007 winner of Inner Voices Social Issues at the University of Illinois. Originally presented in workshop at Actor's Express, Atlanta, 1997, under the title Waiting Room. Semi-finalist in the Next Generation Playwriting Contest, Reverie Productions, NYC, 2004. Selected as a finalist at the Tennessee Williams One-Act Play Festival, 2004. Two men waiting for HIV test results at a clinic, through the anonymity and tension of waiting, they learn from each other and become friends.
- Alice, the Musical, with composition and lyrics by William Wade, presented as a staged reading at The York Theatre's Musical Development Series. The musical twists and turns through young adult Alice's dreams by way of political satire and seduction -- in honor of Lewis Carroll's original intentions.
- Chameleuns (co-written with Rochelle Burdine). Two people morph in and out of several characters in a tangled web of vignettes about life, love and lost identities.
- That Scottish Play: The Murder Mystery (co-written with Lydia Bolen-Gordon), still un-produced, the plot follows the story of Macbeth (Tray McBride) while mildly slamming the murder mystery format. A crowd pleaser for all levels of intellect.
Publication
Special Recognition
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Drama Desk Award nomination for Solo Performance for Southern Gothic Novel, 2009.
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Audience Award nomination from Broadway.com for Favorite Solo Performance for Southern Gothic Novel, 2009.
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Invited to present Southern Gothic Novel at The Playwright's Project, Mount Kisco, NY; 2004 Midtown International Theatre Festival, NY; 2004 Columbus National Gay & Lesbian Theatre Festival.
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One-minute play 2=1 was performed in the GI60 event by Brooklyn College and filmed for release on YouTube.
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Winner of 2007 Inner Voices Social Issues at the University of Illinois for Patient Number, who also read the play for World AIDs Day in December 2009.
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Finalist at Tennessee Williams One-Act Play Festival, 2004, for Waiting Room.
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Published at Turner South's website (TurnerSouth.com), a relatively new cable network geared toward the Southeastern states. Winner of a short story competition. "Swinging with Great Aunt Silva"
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Selected to present a one-act play for the playwright's festival "Six from the Rainbow" showcasing Atlanta playwrights at Actors' Express theatre company.
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Semi-finalist at 2004 Next Generation Playwriting Contest, Reverie Productions, NY, for Patient Number.
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Ten-minute play, Kiss and Fade, selected for the Short Attention Span Play Festival, Atlantis Playmakers, June 2004.
Works in Progress
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Clarabee in Wichita Falls, set in 1930's Southern Oklahoma. Jesus Takes Manhattan, pending. New solo works.
