Ken Urban
Encyclopedia
Ken Urban is a playwright
and director. He was born in New Jersey
in 1974. He now divides his time between Cambridge
, Massachusetts
and New York City
. He teaches at Harvard University
. He is a graduate of Bucknell University
and holds a Ph.D.
in English literature
from Rutgers University
.
Ken Urban’s plays have been produced and developed at The Summer Play Festival @ The Public, The Flea, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, The Huntington Theatre, Moving Arts, Target Margin, Theatre of NOTE, Rude Guerrilla, The Mill @ Stage Left, Son of Semele Ensemble, Urban Stages, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, Soho Rep, Annex Theatre and The Chocolate Factory. His work has been published in New York Theatre Review and Plays and Playwrights 2002, in addition to numerous monologue and scene compilations.
Urban was the Founding Artistic Director of The Committee, a New York
-based theatre
company that produces “catastrophic theatre.” He is no longer involved in the company.
In 2009, he won the 2008 L. Arnold Weissberger Award, given each year by the Williamstown Theatre Festival, for his play Sense of an Ending. Urban maintains a website with information on his theatre
and music
. He is represented by Joseph Rosswog at the Gersh Agency. In 2009, his play The Happy Sad was part of the Summer Play Festival at the Public and featured Maulik Pancholy, Michael Stahl-David, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Ari Graynor, Heidi Schreck, Christopher Abbott and Sue Jean Kim. His play Nibbler was also performed in Los Angeles with music by indie-rock band Xiu Xiu. Ken also plays in the Boston-based band The Avon Barksdale and makes electronic music as Occurrence.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and director. He was born in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in 1974. He now divides his time between Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He teaches at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He is a graduate of Bucknell University
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts university located alongside the West Branch Susquehanna River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of Lewisburg, 30 miles southeast of Williamsport and 60 miles north of Harrisburg. The university consists of the College of...
and holds a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
from Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
.
Ken Urban’s plays have been produced and developed at The Summer Play Festival @ The Public, The Flea, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, The Huntington Theatre, Moving Arts, Target Margin, Theatre of NOTE, Rude Guerrilla, The Mill @ Stage Left, Son of Semele Ensemble, Urban Stages, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, Soho Rep, Annex Theatre and The Chocolate Factory. His work has been published in New York Theatre Review and Plays and Playwrights 2002, in addition to numerous monologue and scene compilations.
Urban was the Founding Artistic Director of The Committee, a New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
-based theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
company that produces “catastrophic theatre.” He is no longer involved in the company.
In 2009, he won the 2008 L. Arnold Weissberger Award, given each year by the Williamstown Theatre Festival, for his play Sense of an Ending. Urban maintains a website with information on his theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
. He is represented by Joseph Rosswog at the Gersh Agency. In 2009, his play The Happy Sad was part of the Summer Play Festival at the Public and featured Maulik Pancholy, Michael Stahl-David, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Ari Graynor, Heidi Schreck, Christopher Abbott and Sue Jean Kim. His play Nibbler was also performed in Los Angeles with music by indie-rock band Xiu Xiu. Ken also plays in the Boston-based band The Avon Barksdale and makes electronic music as Occurrence.
Plays
- I (Heart) Kant
- Nibbler
- Halo
- The Absence of Weather (winner of the 2004 Moving Arts Premiere One Act Competition)
- The Female Terrorist Project
- Sense of an Ending (winner of the 2008 L. Arnold Weissberger Award)
- The Happy Sad
- The Private Lives of Eskimos
Awards/Recognition
- 2009 MacDowell Residency
- 2008 L. Arnold Weissberger Award
- 2007-2009 Huntington Playwriting Fellowship
- 2008 MacDowell Residency
- 2006 Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
Fellowship at the Sewanee Writers Conference - 2004 Winner of Moving Arts Premiere One Act Competition
- 2008 finalist at PlayLabs Festival at the Playwrights’ Center
- 2001 finalist for Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship.