Arthur Theodore Wilson – Actor, Playwright, Poet, Educator

As Director of the Education Department and the Playwriting in the Schools Program (PITS) at the Public Theater, Mr. Wilson was featured in the “Thirty Year Retrospective of Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival – Part of the McNeil-Lehrer Hour on PBS,” Wilson was filmed teaching a PITS Workshop at an East Village Elementary School.  Wilson also appeared on a “WNYC Ten Minute Window,” in a Harlem Junior High School; “Leah Scott’s Yesterday Meets Today for Discovery Television,” “The Flo Kennedy Show,” and “The Phil Donahue Show on ABC as part of a panel discussing Satanic Verses.  Wilson was also featured in an ITVS/Clay Point Production Documentary on PBS – “Declarations: An Essays On American Ideals” – this documentary was produced by award-winning Producer, Nigel Noble, and premiered at The Library of Congress in Washington D.C. before key members of Congress.  Most recently Wilson has appeared on New Jersey Network NJN spotlighting his residency work at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center – and as a judge for the National Endowment of the Arts “Poetry Out Loud Program.”

Mr. Wilson’s major plays and commissions from 1983 to present include: “Windows,” performed at the Native American Museum (NY); “Naked Earth Songs,” performed as part of the Lincoln Center Outdoor Summer Festival; “A Karamu: A Tribute To All the Beautiful Black Men,” produced at The Afro-American Total Theater (NY); “High Rise Snaps,” performed and produced at the Albany Empire Theater (London, England); “For Those Who Grieved for Eleanor Bumpers,” performed at the Off-Off Theater Center (NY), “Peace, Peace, Pieces,” performed at the Tukak Theater (Denmark); Playwriting Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for “Gretel Regrets – A Tragi-Calamity in Chocolate & Pink Face;” “The Extended Family Suite,” with legendary Broadway Jazz Percussionist Warren Smith and Dancer Pat Hall (Jazz Center, NY); and “Trouble The Water,” with composer Arthur Rosen as part of a Harburg Foundation Commission.

 

Wilson’s current plays and commissions include: “Homeless Monologues,” produced at BACA – Brooklyn Downtown Art Center (NY); “Hallelujah Roots,” a Metropolitan Community Church Commission (NY); “Street Songs,” Prager Publishing Company Commission (NY); “Slave Revolts,” PBS Conn.; “Guns Like Candy,” City of New York Commission – the Honorable David Dinkins, Mayor (NY); “Life Sea Treasures, “ an American Express Ltd. Commission (NY) – performed at the South Street Seaport Museum aboard the DeWitt Clinton Ship; and “High Rise Snaps,” with composer Cooper Moore – broadcast on “Live For the New York Shakespeare Festival on W.B.A.I.,” and A South Australia Arts Council Commission for “Shakspearience” – performed at The Come Out Festival in  Adalaide, Australia.

 

In addition, Wilson’s “Eleo Pomare,” was commissioned by the American Dance Festival (Durham, NC); “A Patchwork Quilt of Light,” a New Community Corporation of Newark Commission was performed at the Newark Museum; “Words for The Journey,” commissioned by VSA Arts of New Jersey was performed at Project Freedom (Hamilton, NJ); “Dancing ON Eternity,” commissioned by New Dance Group Art Center (NY) for its’ 75th Anniversary Celebration with composer/musician Kevin Hylton; “Queen Elizabeth and the Bard,” was commissioned by the High School of Performing Arts of Union County; and “Treading Sacred Ground – A Jazz-Rock Romp for Solo Voice & Trio,” is currently a collaboration with singer-actress – dancer Maraima Whyte and composer Damon Marks. Wilson appears as the narrator on composer Raymond Wojcik’s CD “Pictures and Stories” produced by Albany Records and is working with composer/musician Kevin Hylton again on a Spoken Word CD Unfinished Screams.  Wilson also serves as a Guest Poet with the Kaleidhaphonic Quartet.