BILL C. DAVIS - aka GLISERMAN

Another play by Bill C. Davis, Dancing in the End-Zone, premiered at the State Theatre in Miami, directed by Jose Ferrer and starred Elaine Stritch. The play moved to Broadway under Melvin Bernhardt's direction, with Pat Carroll. Dancing in the End-Zone was also performed in Los Angeles starring Lois Nettleton, where the play received a Dramalogue award.

His play, Wrestlers, had its premiere in Los Angeles, with Mr. Davis acting in it opposite Mark Harmon. The play was Critic's Choice for the LA Times. The play was also staged at the Hudson Guild with the author, Dan Butler and Elizabeth Berridge in the cast and directed by Geraldine Fitzgerald. A French language production of the play was produced in Brussels, Belgium.

Bill C. Davis directed his play Spine in Los Angeles with Meredith Baxter and Mackenzie Astin. Spine was also directed by the author at The George Street Playhouse with Caroline Aaron and Justin Kirk. Spine received a workshop production at the Barrow Group Theatre in New York City this past fall.

Recently, Mr. Davis' drama, Avow, premiered Off-Broadway at the Century Center for the Performing Arts under the direction of Jack Hofsiss after being presented in workshop at George Street Playhouse directed by Gillian Lynne and at the Director's Company in New York City directed by Michael Parva. The play has been translated into French by Dominique Piat - entitled - Parcours - (Journeys) - and In German by Pascal Breuer - entitled - Bekenntnisse - (Confessions.)

Bill C. Davis is collaborating with composer Brett Boles on an original musical, Austin's Bridge.

He has completed two new plays: Expatriate, which received two developmental readings - one with Julie Harris and another with Maureen Stapleton and All Hallowed which was given two readings at the Writer's Institute in Albany, William Kennedy executive director and at Tri-Arts Theatre in Sharon Ct.

His most recent play, The Sex King, received a workshop production at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh and is currently under option.

He has just completed his first novel, Connecticut Wildlife.

Bill C. also writes political essays for the online magazine Commondreams.org.

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My grandfather, unable to get a job in 1920's Boston because he was Jewish, changed his name from Gliserman to Davis. Otherwise, all things being equal, my name would be Bill C. Gliserman.

I prefer the name Gliserman because it has a legacy; it has fiber and it’s rare. I see the name Davis as a sign of my grandfather’s times and as a capitulation to something I, perhaps unreasonably, would have preferred he fought.

My father was a prisoner of war in a German prison camp during WWII so of course I wonder if the name Davis saved his life. My father’s mother was Irish – (she and Mr. Gliserman/Davis did not stay married past my father’s second birthday) and my mother’s parents were Italian. Irish, Italian and Jewish – my hair was and is curly. The part of my family that I was most exposed to growing up was the Irish side. A great-grandmother, a grand- mother, three uncles, and an aunt – fierce, poetic, conservative, proud, emotional, and all heavy drinkers.

I was the third of four children - born in Ulster County New York (Ellenville) where many people now go to hang glide, (which is how I describe the first performance of a new play) - and raised in Dutchess County (Poughkeepsie) where IBM ruled for many years – the two counties divided by the Hudson River, a river which flows both ways.

:: Mom at 24 ::	:: Dad at 20 ::	:: Family photo / Irish side ::

I had twelve years of Catholic education. Nuns until the fourth grade – then Marist brothers – then back to nuns for seventh and eighth grade.

At thirteen I was kicked out of the May procession because I laughed in church. I don’t know what struck me funny but the fear of laughing made me laugh uncontrollably, which disturbed an already disturbed priest. I was then manhandled by an extreme, commando nun and as punishment I was publicly shunned from devotion to the Blessed Mother. As I watched, from a distance, a crown of flowers being placed on the head of the statue of the Blessed Mother in a stone grotto by the holiest girl in our class, miraculously I was able to tell myself that Jesus would not be upset about my laughing. Rather than feeling ashamed I felt defiant – internally of course. I was convinced that Christ and I were the only ones who had a sense of humor and everyone else in uniform might be upset about my laughing but He was not. It felt more like revelation than rationalization. So although they tried, I was not deprived of a religious experience.

My resistance to Marist evaporated quickly. I wrote plays – acted in them - and every semester I would get credit by putting on a play that I had written. Marist had no theatre department but everyone from the dean to the head of the drama club was thrilled to have a student write plays. I took philosophy, psychology, European drama, physics, French literature, creative writing – and of course I received the unofficial education a person gets from friendships, lovers and mentors during those feverish years that get played out on the microcosm of a campus.

:: College theatre days ::	:: Nature days ::	:: LA/ with sister Lois ::	:: Outside Father's Store::

Immediately after college I worked at Rhinebeck Country Village, a residential community for developmentally disabled and emotionally disturbed adults where the truths about human beings were revealed brutally and poignantly every minute of every day.

I wrote Mass Appeal while working and living there. That play went to Manhattan Theatre Club where Lynne Meadow produced it. After it opened in New York many new and extraordinary things began to happen. One of the strangest and ultimately scariest thing that happened was that I was able to get a mortgage for my first house with nothing to show the bank president except Frank Rich's review of Mass Appeal in the New York Times.

Life was exciting and beautiful until several years later which is now several years ago, my sister died – she was thirty-two. The course of her illness and our attempts to save her life changed the world for me.

I've had three other plays produced in New York City - Dancing in the End-Zone on Broadway - Wrestlers and Avow Off-Broadway.

I work daily. I write what I’m moved to write –my plays are read, workshopped, produced, published and some I have adapted for the screen. I look forward to many and varied interpretations of my plays by directors and actors in America as well as in other countries.