Biography
Joe Calarco's published work includes in the absence of spring (Playscripts, inaugural production of Second Stage’s New Plays Uptown series and included in The Best Stage Scenes of 2004), Shakespeare’s R&J (DPS, Lucille Lortel Award), Walter Cronkite is Dead (DPS, included in The Best Stage Monologues of 2013), Winter Break and Spring Break (DPS) soon to be followed by Summer Break and Final Break, his short plays, Just A Little Sniffle and Parting Gifts, and two collections of his other plays for teens Signature in the Schools Volumes 1&2(Concord) which include the plays My Vacation in Paris, Salat, Civil Wars, Aftershock, Shakespeare, Will, Image Is Everything, Revolution, Hero Worship and Veni Vidi Vici. Other adaptations include A Midsummer Nights Dream (The Shakespeare Theater Company), and Antigone Renewed, which had its first workshop at the National Theater in London. Other produced work includes A Measure of Cruelty (Carbonell Award nomination Best New Work and included in The Best Stage Monologues of 2013), Isolated Incidents, Watershed, Waiting, and his most recent play Separate Rooms at 4615 Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is the book writer for the musicals The Mysteries of Harris Burdick with composer Chris Miller and lyricist Nathan Tysen, which had its West End premiere in conjunction with Mercury Musical Developments in London and its U.S. premier at Barrington Stage Company as part of William Finn’s Musical Theatre Lab, Golden Gate with composer/lyricist Richard Pearson Thomas (developed at Second Stage and Lincoln Center), and he was a contributing book writer of the Drama Desk Award winning The Audience (The Transport Group.) His current work in development includes the musical The Circus in Winter with composer Ben Clark, and his plays 36 Cents and ’87.. His work for young audiences also includes A Thousand and One Nights, and for Signature Theatre’s Signature in the Schools program: 295N, Smile Lines, 12 Million Footsteps, and The Spoken Word. He was resident playwright at Expanded Arts for two years, is one of New York Theater Workshops Usual Suspects, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
