SEAN O’CONNOR
500 West 111th Street, #5-E, NY, NY 10025 / 917-880-0119 / seanoconn7@gmail.com / writersean.com AEA-WGA-SAG
I received a B.A. in English from Columbia University. And an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Queens College. Along with Lanford Wilson, I was a member of N.Y.’s Circle Rep Theatre. I’m presently a member of the Actors Studio (Playwrights/Directors Unit) and a resident playwright and actor with NYC’s Algonquin Theatre Company. Ten of my plays have been published by both Next Stage Press and JAC Publishing. And two of them have been translated into French by the Baz’Arts Theatre Company in Metz, France, and published there.
FILM: My full-length script Imitate the Sun, which won First Prize in Hollywood’s American Accolades Competition, was shot this summer as a short called Summer of ‘70. I directed it and I act in it. I’ll be directing the feature next year.
USA Network and Nasser Entertainment hired me to write films. Hostage Negotiator, which I wrote the last two drafts of, was made into a USA movie. My film script Breakfast in Paris was a Semi-Finalist in FadeIn Magazine’s Best Screenplay Competition. My film script Serious Moonlight was a Finalist in The Writers Foundation’s Competition. I’ve also been hired by Nasser Entertainment and other independent companies to write films. My most recent film script is a comedy, The British Are Coming.
THEATRE: There Is An Angel In Las Vegas (published) won the Washington D.C’s Source Theater’s “Best New Dramatist” prize. It was produced at the Source Theater where it won three more awards in the Washington Theater Festival. It was later produced by N.Y.’s Circle Rep Lab in and then Off-Broadway with Playwrights Preview Productions (currently Urban Stages.) It was later optioned for Broadway.
Who Collects The Pain (published) won the Playwrights Preview’s “Emerging Playwright Award.” They produced it Off-Broadway at the Mazur Theatre. Another production ran at NYC’s Shapiro Theater. And it was later produced at Theatre for the New City. It will open this year in NYC, directed by Chuk Obasi.
Kidnapped (published) received the “Best Play” award by NY’s WorkShop Theatre. It was first produced by Circle Rep in NYC in their Lab Theater. It was then produced by the Miranda Theater Co. in NYC. And the latest production was with the WorkShop Theatre.
New Truck For Paulie (published) was selected as “Best New American Play” in North Carolina’s Southern Appalachian Repertory Theater Competition. It was then produced in their festival. And it has recently been chosen by The Drama Notebook to be distributed, for production, throughout the American school system.
Broken Birds (published opens again in Feb 2020 at the SOOP Theatre in Pelham, NY. I’ll be directing it. It was nominated for Best New One-Act in the Samuel French Festival. I acted in it in the festival. In Dublin, Ireland, it received a workshop co-production by the Axis Ballymun Arts Centre and Bewley’s Café Theatre. It is being shot a film next year with Standing 8 Productions.
World of Sinatras (published in English, also in French), my recent full-length play, was recently produced at NYC’s Arclight Theatre, by the Project Rushmore Theatre Company. It received a grant from the Pilgrim Project and another from the Puffin Foundation. It was also nominated for Best New Play by the Southern Appalachian Rep. It had extensive readings at La Mama, the WestBank Café, the Southern Appalachian Rep, and with Project Rushmore. It was translated into French by the Baz’Arts Theatre in Metz, France, and also published in French.
The Knitting Club (published), a recent one-act, won 2nd prize in L.A.’s FirstStage’s national Best New One Act Competition. It was performed in their Best New One Act Festival in December of 2013. And it was produced in Nov 2021 at the SOOP Theatre, in Pelham, NY. I played the character “Lou.”
The Unraveling (being translated into French), a recent full-length, received a grant from the Puffin Foundation. It was produced in the Elia Kazan Festival at NYC’s Actors Studio. And it has had staged readings at the Flea Theatre, the Actors Studio, the Project Rushmore Theatre, and the Athena Theatre, all in NYC. It was also selected by L.I. Post for the New Play workshop of 2016. I’ve recently completed a screenplay version of it.
Yearn, my new one-act, will be produced in the Freethought Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska this summer. It was also chosen as a finalist in the 2013 national Dubuque Fine Arts One-Act Playwriting Competition.
King Dollar is a TV pilot I’ve just completed.
Wound, my new full-length, won a major award in the 2016 Writer’s Digest Competition, beating out 6,000 other new plays. It was a semi-finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference. It has had readings in NYC with Urban Stages, and the Project Rushmore Theatre. And it is presently being workshopped with the New Circle Theatre Company (a lot of my old Circle Rep colleagues).
Miss Hollywood, a new play, won NETC’s esteemed Aurand Harris Playwriting Award. It was first produced with the Hawk Theatre in Silverado, CA, in November 2019. It was also chosen by the Drama Notebook to be distributed throughout the American school system.
Teenagers in Love, my brand new play, was immediately chosen by The Drama Notebook to be distributed to colleges and schools all across the country for production. It will be produced by NYC’s Manhattan Rep in the fall of 2022, directed by Ken Wolf.
ACTING: I’ve acted in dozens of plays in New York and regional theater. I did lead roles on All My Children and Another World. I did lead roles in the films Copy Shop, All Fall Down and Trust Us. I spent two years as a writer and performer for the cable TV show Basil Basset Bingo. I’ve also written and performed several radio commercials. i just played the character “Bruce” in my own film, Summer of ‘70.
GRANTS/FELLOWSHIPS: Puffin Foundation. Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation. Pilgrim Project. Blue Mountain Center. Another from the Puffin Foundation.