Biography
Jonathan Dorf has had his plays produced throughout the United States and Canada, as well as on every continent except Antarctica. He has been a finalist for the Actors Theatre of Louisville Heideman Award, the Weinberger Playwright Residency, the Charlotte Repertory New Play Festival, and the InterAct New Play Festival. His work has been seen at Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Ensemble Studio Theatre - LA, Moving Arts, and the Pittsburgh New Works Festival, and he has had plays for young people commissioned by the Walnut Street Theatre, Coachella Valley Repertory, and the Choate Rosemary Hall Summer Arts Conservatory, where he served as playwright-in-residence. In addition to his many works with Playscripts, plays include Ben, Bookends, Shining Sea, Milk and Cookies, Beef Junkies, Supermodels in Jeopardy, and Neverland, while such works as 4 A.M. (the musical), From Shakespeare With Love?, Now You See Me, Dear Chuck, War of the Buttons, and Me, My Selfie & I were created specifically for school-age actors and audiences. A number of his monologues are published in collections by Playscripts, Inc., Meriwether and Smith & Kraus, and his published plays make their homes at Playscripts, Inc., Brooklyn Publishers, Heuer, Original Works, and YouthPLAYS, the publisher of plays for young actors and audiences he co-founded. He is also co-created ProduceaPlay.com, the web's foremost resource site for producers, and authored Young Playwrights 101, a complete playwriting text for young playwrights and those who teach them.
Long-time playwriting advisor for Final Draft and The Writers Store (author of Playwriting101.com and playwriting instructor at Screenwriters University), Mr. Dorf has also served as Visiting Associate Professor of Theatre in the graduate playwriting and children's literature programs at Hollins University, and as the United States cultural envoy to Barbados. He is the co-chair of the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights, a life member and former managing director of the Philadelphia Dramatists Center, and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and the Guild's education committee. He holds a BA in Dramatic Writing and Literature from Harvard University and an MFA in Playwriting from UCLA, and works with playwrights and screenwriters internationally as a script consultant. He has been a guest artist at the International Thespian Festival, Educational Theatre Association Annual Conference, Asian Festival of Children's Content, the Tennessee Arts Academy, as well as at numerous schools and festivals. He is available for playwriting workshops and residencies worldwide through his JonathanDorf.com website.
