Harrison David Rivers

Harrison David Rivers (born September 11, 1981) is an American playwright. Rivers' work has won him the Relentless Award,[1] a GLAAD Media Award, a McKnight Fellowship for Playwrights,[2] a Jerome Foundation Many Voices Fellowship,[3] an Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship, a Van Lier Fellowship and the New York Stage & Film's Founders Award.[4] He is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota and is married to Christopher Bineham.[5]

Harrison David Rivers
BornHarrison David Rivers
(1981-09-11) September 11, 1981
Manhattan, Kansas, United States
OccupationPlaywright
NationalityUnited States
EducationColumbia University School of the Arts, New York City, New York Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio

Life and career

Rivers was born in Manhattan, Kansas. He attended Manhattan High School, where he was active in the music and theater programs. He earned a B.A. in American Studies and Dance & Drama from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio (2004) and an M.F.A in Playwriting from the Columbia University School of Arts in New York City (2009), where he received the John Golden Playwriting Award.

While still a student at Columbia, Rivers was selected to participate in the inaugural "24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices" event at the Atlantic Theatre.[6] He also wrote a short play for The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway (2009) called “And It Seems To Me A Very Good Sign.”[7] His cast included Sam Rockwell, Naomi Watts, John Krasinski and Amber Tamblyn.[8]

After graduation, Rivers received an Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship from New York Theatre Workshop and a Van Lier Fellowship from New Dramatists.

Rivers was a member of P73's Interstate 73 Writers' Group and the Emerging Writers Group at the Public Theater (2011–13).[9]

Rivers' play "When Last We Flew" was selected for the Sundance Theatre Lab in 2010. The play went on to be produced in the New York International Fringe Festival where it won awards for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Performance (for Rory Lipede).[10] The play was invited to be a part of the Fringe Encore Series. “When Last We Flew” also won the 2011 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding New York Theatre: Off Off Broadway.[11]

The Movement Theatre Company presented Rivers' play Look Upon Our Lowliness, directed by David Mendizábal, at the Harlem School for the Arts Theatre, in April 2013.[12] It was subsequently developed at New York Theatre Workshop's Dartmouth residency in the summer of 2019.[13]

In 2014, Rivers was awarded a Jerome Many Voices Fellowship from the Playwrights' Center[14] and relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota. He subsequently received a McKnight Fellowship for Playwrights (2015–16)[15] and was a Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center from 2016-2019. He currently serves on the Playwrights' Center's Board of Directors.[16]

Rivers received New York Stage & Film’s 2015 Founder’s Award and, in 2016, he was the Playwright-in-Residence at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.[17]

In 2017, Rivers' play Sweet from National Black Theatre received four nominations at the 45th AUDELCO Awards[18] including: Dramatic Production of the Year, Outstanding Ensemble Performance, Director/Dramatic Production and Playwright. The 45th annual Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Awards recognizes excellence in Black Theatre.

His play Where Storms are Born, produced by the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2017,[19] won an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award (2017)[20] and was nominated for Outstanding New Play at the 2017 Berkshire Theatre Awards.[21]

Also in 2017, Rivers' play This Bitter Earth premiered at New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco.[22] In 2018, it was produced at Penumbra Theater in Saint Paul, where it won a MN Theater Award for Exceptional New Work[23] and a Lavender Magazine award for Outstanding New Playwriting,[24] and at About Face Theatre in Chicago,[25] where it was a Jeff Award Recommended Show.[26] It was subsequently produced at Washington, D.C.'s Theater Alliance in 2020.[27]

Rivers also wrote the book for the musical Five Points, with lyrics by Douglas Lyons and music by Douglas Lyons and Ethan Pakchar, which received its world premiere at Theater Latté Da, in Minneapolis, in 2018.[28] The extended,[29] sold-out[30] production received a MN Theater Award for Exceptional New Work[23] and the BroadwayWorld Minneapolis Award for Outstanding Original/New Work,[31] as well as Lavender Magazine awards for Best New Musical Score and Lyrics and Outstanding New Playwriting (for Rivers' book)[24] and was included on MinnPost's year-end Best Of list for 2018.[32] In 2019, Tony Award-winning choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler joined the creative team as the show's director and choreographer.[33] Blankenbuehler directed a sold-out concert staging of the show at Feinstein's/54 Below in New York City on September 16, 2019.

Rivers' play the bandaged place won the 2018 Relentless Award,[1] a prize created in honor of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, and was part of New York Stage & Film's 2019 Powerhouse season at Vassar College.[34]

During the 2018-19 school year, Rivers was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Drama at Kenyon College.[35]

In May and June 2019, Rivers' play To Let Go & Fall received its world premiere production at Theater Latté Da.[36]

Rivers wrote the libretto for the second part of the musical Broadbend, Arkansas. The libretto for the first part of the show is by Ellen Fitzhugh and music & additional lyrics were written by Ted Shen. The show received its world premiere in the fall of 2019 at The Duke on 42nd Street in New York City in a co-production of Transport Group and the Public Theater.[37] The production appeared on Times Square Chronicles'[38] and The Broadway Blog's "Best of 2019" lists, was named one of NewNowNext's "5 New Musicals in NYC to Be Thankful For,"[39] and was designated by AMNY as an "Off-Broadway show worth seeing."[40] It was nominated for three Antonyo Awards (Danyel Fulton for Best Actor in a Musical Off-Broadway, Shen for Best Score and Rivers for Best Book),[41] and was cited by Times Square Chronicles for Best New Off-Broadway Musical, Outstanding Book of a Musical, Outstanding Score, and Best Orchestrations.[42] It streamed online during the summer of 2020.[43]

Rivers is the 2019-2020 Rudolph William Rosati Visiting Writer at Duke University.[44]

In May 2020, Theater Latté Da announced that Rivers would work on two projects as part of its Next Up laboratory series being held in lieu of a 2020-21 season. Rivers and composer Ted Shen were commissioned to write a third part to their musical Broadbend, Arkansas, and Rivers was commissioned to work on "a new piece about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 alongside the 1927 premiere of the Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein and Edna Ferber's musical, Showboat."[45]

In the fall of 2020, Rivers is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater at Macalester College.[46]

An as-yet untitled project is part of Theaterworks Hartford's 2020-21 season,[47] and Rivers is under commission to write plays for Yale Repertory Theatre, Penumbra Theatre, History Theatre, Trademark Theater, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.[48]

Works

Plays

Musicals

Unproduced projects

  • The Sea & The Stars (Ruth Easton New Play Series, 2017[61])
  • The Salvagers
  • The Last Queen of Canaan [with Rebekah Melocik and Jacob Yandura] (NAMT Festival of New Musicals[62])
  • Just One [with Ellen Fitzhugh and Ted Shen]

Awards and honors
  • 2020 Siena Art Institute Residency[48]
  • 2020 Bogliasco Residency[63]
  • 2020 Rudolph William Rosati Visiting Writer Fellowship at Duke University[44]
  • 2018 Relentless Award
  • 2017 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award[64]
  • 2016-19 Core Writer[65]
  • 2015-16 McKnight Fellowship for Playwrights
  • 2015 Founder's Award
  • 2014-15 Jerome Many Voices Fellowship
  • 2013 Global Age Project Winner
  • 2011 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding New York Theater: Off Off Broadway
  • 2011 New York International Fringe Festival Excellence in Playwriting Award
  • 2011 Queer | Art | Mentorship
  • 2010-12 Van Lier Fellowship
  • 2009 Montblanc Young Writers Competition Winner
  • 2009-10 Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship
  • 2009 John Golden Playwriting Award


References
  1. Aridi, Sara (2018-12-13). "Harrison David Rivers Wins 2018 Relentless Award". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  2. "Harrison David Rivers". Playwrights' Center. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  3. "Many Voices Fellowships". Playwrights' Center. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  4. "Awards, Fellowships & Residencies". nysaf. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  5. "A Twin Cities playwright is having a personal and professional moment". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  6. "Kevin Spacey Hosts NYC Debut of '24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices' July 2 | Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  7. McElroy, Steven. "24 Hour Plays: The Writing Hours". ArtsBeat. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  8. McElroy, Steven. "24 Hour Plays: Assignments and First Rehearsals". ArtsBeat. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  9. "Boo Killebrew, Harrison David Rivers Among Playwrights in Public Theater's 2012-13 Emerging Writers Group". TheaterMania.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  10. Desk, BWW News. "WHEN LAST WE FLEW Closes At The Lortel 8/29". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  11. "2011 GLAAD Media Awards - New York". GLAAD. 2011-09-09. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  12. Desk, BWW News. "The Movement Theatre Company Presents LOOK UPON OUR LOWLINESS, Now thru 4/20". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  13. "Look Upon Our Lowliness | Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth". hop.dartmouth.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  14. "Playwrights' Center adds talent for their 2014-15 season". Twin Cities Daily Planet. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  15. "Meet the 2015-16 McKnight Fellows in Playwriting". Playwrights' Center. 2015-04-25. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  16. "STAFF". Playwrights' Center. 2014-07-23. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  17. Coakley, Jacob (2016-03-14). "Williamstown Theatre Festival Names Play Award-Winners - Stage Directions". Stage Directions. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  18. "Nominations announced for 45th AUDELCO Awards". Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  19. "Where Storms Are Born". Williamstown Theatre Festival. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  20. Group, TCG: Theatre Communications. "TCG: Theatre Communications Group > Edgerton Foundation > New Play Awards > 2017 Awards". www.tcg.org. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
  21. Giuliano, Charles. "Berkshire Theatre Awards 2017 - Berkshire Fine Arts". www.berkshirefinearts.com. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  22. Desk, BWW News. "New Conservatory Theatre Center to Premiere of THIS BITTER EARTH This Fall". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  23. "NEWS: The 2018 MN Theater Award Honorees – Twin Cities Arts Reader". twincitiesarts.com. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  24. "Lavender Magazine 615". Issuu. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  25. "This Bitter Earth | About Face Theatre". aboutfacetheatre.com. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  26. "Jeff Recommended Show | The Joseph Jefferson Awards". www.jeffawards.org. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  27. "This Bitter Earth – Theater Alliance". Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  28. Bovard, Karen. "BWW Feature: Upcoming World Premiere of FIVE POINTS at Theater Latte Da". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  29. Desk, BWW News. "Theater Latté Da Extends Performances Of FIVE POINTS". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  30. Da, Theater Latté (2018-04-20). "FIVE POINTS has officially sold out. Thank you to all who have come out to see this world premiere musical. #fivepointsTLD #worldpremiere #newmusical #soldoutpic.twitter.com/wkoESHhGuO". @theaterlatteda. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  31. Desk, BWW News. "Winners Announced for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Minneapolis Awards". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  32. "25 of the best things we saw and heard in 2018: A year in the arts". MinnPost. 2018-12-21. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  33. Gans, Andrew (June 13, 2019). "Hamilton's Andy Blankenbuehler Will Direct and Choreograph New Musical Five Points". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  34. "Powerhouse 2019 | New York Stage and Film". nysaf. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  35. "Harrison David Rivers". Kenyon College. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  36. "Latte Da's season has VocalEssence collaboration, 'Once,' 'All is Calm'". Twin Cities. 2018-05-16. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  37. Oren, Hannah (2019-06-21). "Broadbend, Arkansas". Transport Group Theatre Company. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  38. "The Best of 2019 Theatre – Times Square Chronicles". Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  39. Brandon Voss 11/16/2019. "5 New Musicals in NYC to Be Thankful For". LOGO News. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  40. Windman, Matt (2019-11-11). "10 Off-Broadway shows worth seeing this holiday season". amNewYork. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  41. "Inaugural Antonyo Award Nominations Announced, Celebrating the Best of Black Broadway and Off-Broadway Season". OnStage Blog. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  42. "T2C's List For the Best of Theatre for the 2019/ 2020 Season – Times Square Chronicles". Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  43. transportgroup (2020-07-13). "BROADBEND, ARKANSAS Streaming". Transport Group Theatre Company. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  44. arianne.hartsellgundy (2015-04-03). "The Rudolph William Rosati Visiting Writer Program". library.duke.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  45. "NEXT UP". Theater Latté Da. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  46. Dance, Theater and; Theater 108; Theater 108; 651-696-6611; Office), 651-696-6359 (Box; [email protected]. "Harrison David Rivers - Macalester College". Retrieved 2020-08-29.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  47. Desk, BWW News. "TheaterWorks Hartford Announces 2020/21 Season". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  48. "Harrison David Rivers Resume" (PDF). Harrison David Rivers. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  49. "Penumbra Theatre has new works, return of powerful solo performer". Twin Cities. 2017-04-30. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  50. Hawbaker, KT (2018-07-10). "About Face Theatre sets 2018-19 season with two Chicago premieres and a world premiere". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  51. Desk, BWW News. "Meryl Jones Williams to Lead ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT WILDFIRES at Teatro Circulo; Cast Announced!". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  52. "A Crack in the Sky | History Theatre". www.historytheatre.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  53. "Where Storms Are Born | Williamstown Theatre Festival". wtfestival.org. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  54. "Proud and Tall: 'And She Would Stand Like This'". The BroadwayBlog. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  55. "The National Black Theatre". The National Black Theatre. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  56. "convergence-continuum". convergence-continuum. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  57. Desk, BWW News. "TheatreLAB to Present Harrison David Rivers' WHEN LAST WE FLEW". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  58. "When Last We Flew at Diversionary Theatre | PFLAG San Diego County | 888 398-0006". PFLAG San Diego County | 888 398-0006. 2012-10-27. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  59. "When Last We Flew". Backstage.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  60. "Classics and new work in next Theater Latte Da season". Twin Cities. 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  61. pwcenter (2016-09-19). "Playwrights' Center Announces 45th Anniversary Season - Minneapolis Happening". Minneapolis Happening. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  62. "27th Annual Festival of New Musicals | NAMT". NAMT. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  63. "Upcoming Fellows | Bogliasco Foundation". www.bfny.org. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  64. Group, TCG: Theatre Communications. "TCG: Theatre Communications Group > Edgerton Foundation > New Play Awards > 2017 Awards > Where Storms are Born". www.tcg.org. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  65. "Meet the 2016-19 Core Writers". Playwrights' Center. 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2017-12-24.

Bibliography
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