About Mike
Michael London is a playwright and the Director of the Ohio Playwrights Circle. He studied playwrighting and the theatre and in a variety of settings including, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in the UK and Ohio State University in the USA. He has a Master of Arts in Screenwriting for Television and Film from Royal Holloway, University of London, in the UK.
His plays have been performed in the US, the UK & Canada. His bio-play on Charles Chaplin, SMILE, was a feature presentation at the International Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, Canada and the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival in Scotland.
In 2007 he received a variety of publishing awards for his original novel, Dearest. In 2010 he received a Silver Medal Award from the Publishers Association of The West, for the design and editing of a three-dimensional edition of the Jane Austen novel, “Lady Susan”.
His play TREASON, is the story of Benjamin Franklin and his son William and their estrangement over the War for American Independence. His new play LISTEN was recently performed in San Diego, California.
Mike is currently Playwright-in-Residence with the Benjamin Franklin House in London, UK. He has taught playwrighting in a variety of theatrical, university and community settings. He is a member of the Dramatist Guild, the International Society of Dramatists, & the Authors League of America.
- In 2021 Mike became the Ohio Regional Representative for the Dramatists Guild of America, and serves on the National Affairs Committee for the Guild.
- In 2022, Mike received an Individual Artist Award as a playwright from the National Endowment for The Arts through Culture Works, and created the new play, Waiting For Ella.
- He is a 2023 recipient of the Governor's Award in the Arts from the State of Ohio.
- He is a 2024 Culture Works recipient of an Individual Artist Award to create a Podcast series of his novel, Dearest.
- Mike received a 2024 commission form the Dayton Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton to create a dramatic adaptation of the holocaust memoir, Anschel's Story.
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Plays
Mike has written a number of plays over the years and usually has 2 or 3 in development.
Here are a few .............. |
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Workshops / Residencies
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Mike has taught classes and facilitated workshops on playwrighting in many settings. He currently teaches classes and facilitates workshops and public readings of new plays for the Ohio Playwrights Circle.
Mike was a Teaching Artist and Visiting Artist for the Ohio Arts Council's Arts-in-Education Program for over 20 years. He was a Guest Professor in playwrighting for Otterbein University and taught Playwrighting for The Human Race Theatre Company's Education Program for many years. |
Story
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Stories for me are the text-books for life. This belief is at the center of the what and the why I do this work as a playwright. The theatre is a place to watch & create those stories that keep me thinking and learning long after I have left the space. I love film, and books of all kinds, but creating for the live experience of the theatre is where I connect to story-telling.
There are two key themes throughout my work…. secrets and families. What fascinates me is learning the histories and stories that aren’t told, the secrets of society. Discovering the secrets that often are at the core of what we do, who we are and who we have been, takes me to the truth of who I can be. I love digging up the secrets and unveiling them to an audience. Families are the context of my stories. Whether it is the families we know, the ones we don’t, the ones we think we know, or the families we create where none exists, all are the context for where we have come from, are going to, or wish we had. LGTBQ communities have been creating families for hundreds of years and we have so much to learn from those courageous acts. A great joy of mine is writing for actors. Whether it’s giving them a role to challenge them, excite them, or simply to allow them to go to a new place in their craft. I love giving actors roles that they love to play. That passion translates to audiences and comes right into the story. I have written in other forms, however, I am a playwright. It’s my way to tell our stories and add to that textbook of life. |
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