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Edward Crosby Wells

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About Me

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EDWARD CROSBY WELLS (Playwright), born in upstate New York, began playwriting shortly after the life-altering experience of seeing the original Broadway production of Albee’s Tiny Alice. "I had never heard words constructed in such a manner as to open places within me I never knew existed. It was as if hearing the voice of God.” After playing at playwriting for many years he finally found his voice and hasn’t stopped writing since. Wells has had scores of plays produced from coast to coast in the U.S. and in Europe. He is a three-time winner of the Spotlight On Best Play Award for Excellence in Off-Off Broadway Theatre, published by Meriwether Publishing Ltd., and Samuel French, Inc. and a member of The Dramatists Guild of America.
“Edward Crosby Wells is an accomplished and original playwright whose varied works have gained growing esteem over the last few years. He shows remarkable and equal proficiency in comic, dramatic, and fantastic works. One never knows what to expect from each new play of his, except that they always show technical skill, poetic insight, and theatrical acumen."
—Robert Patrick, Playwright (author of over 50 published plays including Broadway’s Kennedy’s Children)
“[Wells’] works are expertly layered and the characters are well thought out, portraying real people. He is equally talented with both comedy and drama. His dramas are beautifully crafted and engrossing and his comedies are arguably the funniest you will ever see.”
—Frank Calo, SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCTIONS, New York City
TOUGH COOKIES
(Winner of the Festival of New Plays sponsored by The Society for
Theatrical Artists’ Guidance & Enhancement (S.T.A.G.E.) Dallas, Texas.)
Available through Samuel French, Inc.
"Wells' dialogue is snappy, clean and often very funny. He has a talent for writing lines for his characters that rarely miss their marks. Whether it is outrageous humor or cutting cynicism, Wells is always on target. TOUGH COOKIES may be one of the best small plays performed on an Albuquerque stage . . . a beautiful script . . . great characters. The plot is quirky, intimate and black, suggesting the work of Beth Henley and Joe Orton . . . holds essential truths . . . the essential truth about human frictions rings true beneath the acid silliness. Wells shows talent for offbeat dialogue that makes heavy themes bearable."
—ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
"TOUGH COOKIES is a slice-of-life story of a woman trying to live under the senile wing of her mother. In the middle of the conflict sits Billie, attempting to make sense of the vicious maternal relationship. The script is teaming with malicious comments and accusations between mother and daughter, often to the point of a sick reality. Wells' dialogue is clever and witty. "
—NEW MEXICO DAILY LOBO
". . . another response to Americans' seemingly bottomless love of black-hearted, foul-mouthed elderly female characters."
—DALLAS TIMES HERALD
". . . a family sitcom with emotions that essentially explode the form . . . it's as if Mr. Wells removed Aunt Pearl and her poisoned bitter pills from Greater Tuna and set her loose on the rest of the family. This is camp Southern-gothic taken to an extreme . . . .”
—THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
"TOUGH COOKIES is a powerful hour of theater, exploring jealous love and hatred . . . an extraordinary play.
—CORRALES COMMENT
THE PROCTOLOGIST'S DAUGHTER
“Master of Period Mirth Edward Crosby Wells provides us with another fun send-up”
—Louis Lopardi, Artzine
“…a new comedy in a film noir style...very funny...extremely campy.”
—Sherry Braun, NYC STAGE PAGES
FLOWERS OUT OF SEASON
"In a dusty town in New Mexico salvation is a stranger."
"[Flowers Out Of Season] throws together sex, religion and suicide in a fresh, original and transcendent way . . . I think I have just seen the future of American Theatre.”
—Michael Bourne, Circle Repertory Company, NYC
“Spiritually barren lives given meaning by fundamentalist religion. Comfortable lifestyles devoid of passion. And the finality of the gun. All reflect what happened to American values . . . and they form the subject of Edward Crosby Wells’ challenging new play, Flowers out of Season."
—Jeff Bradley, Denver Post
“Powerful stuff . . . riveting . . . thought-provoking . . . Flowers Out of Season is a production that promises revelations regarding working rural poverty, American health care, and religion as well as a healthy dose of dangerous eroticism . . . the show delivers on all of these promises – brilliantly at times . . .”
—THE CHICAGO CRITIC
“Something significant . . . be advised that this is the show that will soon make the journey worth the effort.”
—Windy City Times
“Edward Crosby Wells' play hails from the Nick Cave School of magic realism: set in the same sort of vaguely southwestern, vaguely antediluvian, lightning-driven flood plain of the mind, it has a Murder Ballads-style hero who may literally be the devil in disguise. The expressionism and outright fantasy of Wells' audacious, borderline supernatural scenario are well matched by director Madrid St. Angelo's stylized, sensual staging . . .”
—Brian Nemtusak, Chicago Reader
THOR'S DAY
“. . . a mysterious and seductive game of rent boy and patron that spirals into an unexpected fight for life and death. Edward Crosby Wells’ play is a bit Gods and Monsters and a bit Zoo Story . . . compelling and intriguing drama.”
—nytheatre.com
“. . . an intriguing mixture of the erotic and dangerous.”
—HX MAGAZINE
“. . . strong, haunting, intense, suspenseful and engaging.”
—HI DRAMA TV
“A brilliant creation! . . . the heir to Zoo Story . . . Electric . . . The story-telling is assured and highly intriguing. Every behavior leads logically to the next. . . original and universal. This property has a movie in it.”
—Kenneth Weller, NYC STAGE PAGES
“Each transition, from opening the first beer to pulling the final trigger, had its own psychological logic—a sign of complete commitment by the playwright . . . it’s not a show for the faint of heart.”
—John Chatterton, OOBR
“Thor's Day is a new sort of thriller, one that blends the terror of the everyday unknown with the more powerful supernatural unknown. Set on the West Texas-New Mexico border, it examines the strength of both latent and overt desire . . . the play builds to a strange and startling climax . . . It's not a play for those uncomfortable with frank sexual situations . . . it's a Tennessee Williams play without a woman . . . enthralling . . . playwright Edward Crosby Wells has built a solid story on an exciting and original premise.”
—Jenny Sandman, OOBR
“. . . a great masterpiece of art.”
—INSIDER ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
3 GUYS IN DRAG SELLING THEIR STUFF
(2000-2001 Winner of the Spotlight On Best Play Award
for Excellence in Off-Off Broadway Theatre.)
“. . . a trashy delight . . . Diva and Lillian hark straight back to Jackie Gleason and Art Carney . . . And finally, a la South Park, results in a police shootout when someone plays with a cap gun. A satisfying result for a laugh-a-minute, harebrained play. It takes place on a suburban planet of its own.”
—John Chatterton, OOBR
“Brilliant dialogue.”
—KDHX, St. Louis
“This play does what Beckett was trying to do, but Beckett was too squeamish to face the facts of the decline of the West. Wells faces them with hilarious completeness, and therefore is able to be both funnier and more tragic than Beckett ever was.”
—Robert Patrick, Drama Desk and OBIE Award Winning Playwright and Author
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To read any of the plays of ECW in their entirety, including THE JUNGLE TREE, a memoir-in-progress, click on the link below.
WWW.EDWARDCROSBYWELLS.COM
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All the plays of ECW can be purchased through THE INTERNET THEATRE BOOKSHOP. To place your order click on their link below.
WWW.STAGEPLAYS.COM

My Interests


Theatre, of course.

Also, philosophy, theology and metaphysics. I know next to nothing about any of them, but they seem like worthy disciplines of interest.

I'm very much interested in astral projection. In fact, I've read many books on the subject, practiced all the suggested exercises, but still remain unchanged and within. I guess I am not willing to enter the state of mind that would actually allow belief. Perhaps my interests are purely academic and I'm not as adventurous a soul as I pretend.

I enjoy browsing yard sales and thrift stores. I've never met a movie I couldn't find something good about. I love "pithy" conversations where I'm free to giggle and be silly. I enjoy photography and graphic design. Among my guilty pleasures are fairs, carnivals and amusement parks.

I'd like to meet:

Producers with deep pockets, Directors with inspired vision, Publishers who read through all the layers, Lovers of Theatre, Slaves to Thespis . . . an Audience.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Music:


My taste in music is extremely eclectic. What I listen to is pretty much determined by mood and what side of the bed I get out of on any given day. 'Though I am very fond of Damien Rice.

However, on any day of the week and at any hour I am most always in the mood for Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Blossom Dearie, Dinah Washington and all the divine ladies of blues, jazz and swing. And let us not forget Mel Torme.

Movies:


I am most interested in directors. Some of my many favorites are Ken Russell, Lars Von Trier, David Cronenburg, Luchino Visconti, Robert Altman, David Lynch, Pedro Almodovar, Julie Tamor, Wim Wenders, Mel Brooks . . .
I believe Michael Moore ought to win a Nobel Prize, but then I believe that I ought to win a Pulitzer!
I love 50's science fiction and everything Vincent Price.
Some of my topmost watch-again-and-again movies are: The Thief of Bagdad (Alexander Korda, 1940), Le Ballon Rouge, King of Hearts (Le Roi de Cœur), This Island Earth (predecessor to Close Encounters), 2001: A Space Odyssey, Titus (Julie Tamor’s Felliniesque Shakespearian romp), Women in Love (great screenplay by Larry Kramer), Tommy (seeing Anne Margaret covered with and rolling in beans and chocolate is worth the price of the rental), The Music Lovers, Wings of Desire (brilliant screenplay by Wim Wenders and Peter Handke), The Lives of Others (magnificent screenplay and direction by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck), Videodrome, eXistenZ, Zentropa, Dogville (life-altering screenplay by Lars Von Trier). That’s just a small taste of my very, very favorites.

Television:


I watch far too much TV and all of it junk—like pizza, Cracker Jacks, Mounds, 3 Musketeers and ice cream, I am addicted. Would somebody please slap me?

Books:


What with my poor old diabetic eyesight I don't read much anymore. When I did, among my favorite writers were Thomas Mann (favorite is The Magic Mountain), Gertrude Stein, Saki (H.H. Munro), D.H. Lawrence, Proust, E.F. Benson, Joyce (the short stories), Gore Vidal, Anthony Burgess (Earthly Powers is my favorite), Anne Rice (the vampire books)....

Heroes:


I was raised by my grandparents on a small dairy farm in Harriman, NY and they are my heroes. We were financially poor, yet I had everything I needed. They were an example of selfless love and common sense. I think the idea that we are all somehow connected and that this planet is a living and conscious entity comes from their influence.

I don't know that I'd call Williams, Albee, Orton and Peter Shaffer "heroes," but they are the quartet of writers whose work I most admire and to whose level of accomplishment I aspire.

My Blog

TWISTER - a one-minute skit (from WAIT A MINUTE! collection)

TWISTERby Edward Crosby Wells  JUNIOR and MISSY are riding a roller coaster.  They are holding on to the invisible safety bar for dear life.  They lean and sway one way and then an...
Posted by Edward Crosby Wells on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:46:00 PST

PETER & JUDY, a one-minute play

PETER & JUDYBy Edward Crosby Wells (C) COPYRIGHT 2008 EDWARD CROSBY WELLSPETER sounds suspiciously like Cary Grant and JUDY like Bette Davis. Their dialogue should run the gamut of emotions. ...
Posted by Edward Crosby Wells on Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:57:00 PST

THE WAKE: Monologues for the Dead (a play in progress)

THE WAKE monologues for the dead by Edward Crosby Wells COPYRIGHT 2007, 2008 EDWARD CROSBY WELLSSomewhere a lone casket, open. The CHARACTERS come and go. Perhaps this is a darkly somber place, a sm...
Posted by Edward Crosby Wells on Sun, 13 Apr 2008 09:45:00 PST

3 GUYS IN DRAG SELLING THEIR STUFF, full-length comedy

 3 GUYS IN DRAG SELLING THEIR STUFF A Comedy by Edward Crosby Wells   3 GUYS IN DRAG SELLING THEIR STUFF is the 2000-2001 Winner of the Spotlight On Best Play Award for Excellence in...
Posted by Edward Crosby Wells on Fri, 09 Nov 2007 05:31:00 PST

PINK GIN FOR THE BLUES, monologue for mature drag queen

PINK GIN FOR THE BLUESa short monologue by Edward Crosby WellsAT RISE  TRICK, a mature drag queen, sips a pink gin while seated, speaking to an invisible bartender. TRICK: I don't know.  Crime ...
Posted by Edward Crosby Wells on Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:15:00 PST

SISTERS OF LITTLE MERCY, a 10-minute irreverent comedy

SISTERS OF LITTLE MERCY A Short Play by Edward Crosby Wells  SYNOPSIS:3W, No Set except a small table and 3 chairs. Approx. 10 minutes. A bit of nunsense about three nuns who are banish...
Posted by Edward Crosby Wells on Fri, 02 Nov 2007 08:22:00 PST

THORS DAY, a homoerotic thriller, full-length, 90 minutes

THOR'S DAY A Thriller by Edward Crosby Wells  COPYRIGHT 2005 EDWARDCROSBYWELLS   SYNOPSIS: 2M, One Set, Full Length, 90 Minutes.Philip, a middle-aged insurance salesman, brings h...
Posted by Edward Crosby Wells on Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:07:00 PST

CIVIL UNIONIZED, a 10-minute comedy about gay marriage

CIVIL UNIONIZED by Edward Crosby Wells © COPYRIGHT 2005 EDWARD CROSBY WELLSSETTING: The Post Office. MAN is applying for a passport from the CLERK.CHARACTERS: CLERK, MAN and WOMAN. CLERK: ...
Posted by Edward Crosby Wells on Fri, 13 Jul 2007 04:26:00 PST

SAMSON AND DELILAH, a gritty 10-minute drama

SAMSON AND DELILAH© COPYRIGHT 2006 EDWARD CROSBY WELLSSYNOPSIS 1M/1W.  A bed and a small vanity with chair, 10 minutes. Set in New Orleans, this is the story of two outcasts suffering the con...
Posted by Edward Crosby Wells on Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:41:00 PST

EVENSONG, a 20-minute love story

EVENSONGCOPYRIGHT 2006 EDWARD CROSBY WELLSSYNOPSIS: 1M/1W, Minimal, Approx. 20-25 Minutes. She's working on her memoirs. Her memory is fading as the early symptoms of Alzheimer's begin to take root....
Posted by Edward Crosby Wells on Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:00:00 PST