Biography
Robert O'Hara received a 2006 Obie Award for his Direction of the World Premiere production of In the Continuum. He wrote and directed Insurrection: Holding History at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater. The piece received the Oppenheimer Award for Best New American Play and was subsequently published by both Theater Communications Group and Dramatist Play Service. It has been produced around the country including at Mark Taper Forum and American Conservatory Theater. His new play, Antebellum, was workshopped at the O'Neill Theater Conference; American Ma(u)l was produced by ACT/Magic Theater and The Culture Project; The Spot, produced at Mark Taper Forum and NYSF; Down Low, produced by Mixed Blood Theater; and B.Candy, produced by Partial Comfort Productions. Current and recent writing projects are a rewrite (uncredited) for The Wiz, directed by Des McAnuff; Raw Pearl, Broadway bio-musical of Pearl Bailey, to be produced by Bill and Camille Cosby; a New Play Commission from LaJolla Playhouse; Good Breeding, (after The Oresteia), currently in production at UCSD; as well as My Place in the Horror, to be produced by Duly Noted Inc., as his feature film directing debut. He has written films for Martin Scorsese/Universal Pictures (Live, a biopic of Richard Pryor); Spike Lee/HBO (Micheaux, biopic of Oscar Micheaux); Avnet/Kerner/ABC (Parting the Waters); Sony Pictures (The Journey is the Destination); New Line/Fine Line Cinema (Boorda); and Artisan Entertainment (White Folks). His plays have been produced around the world and he has been awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship, TCG Extended Collaboration Grant, NEA/TCG Fellowship, a Van Lier Fellow at New Dramatists, the first Mark Taper Forum's Sherwood Award, and the Tanne Award for Exceptional Body of Work. He is currently directing the World Tour of the Off-Broadway hit play, In the Continuum. He has been an artist in residence at the American Conservatory Theater, New York Shakespeare Festival, and Theater Emory, as well as a visiting Professor at DePaul University School of the Arts. His work has been developed at Seattle Rep., Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, NYSF, ACT, and CTG. He has been commissioned by Mark Taper Forum, National Endowment of the Arts, McCarter Theatre, Theatres de Nimes, Le Theatre l'Odeon, Theaterworks/USA, and Theater Emory.
