William Missouri Downs


William Missouri Downs is an American comedy writer, playwright, screenwriter, stage director, and author

Life & Writing

William Missouri Downs started as an actor earning an MFA in acting from the University of Illinois, but a bout with viral encephalitis left him with a slight stammer and ended his acting career. So he gave up acting, moved to New York and lived in a transient hotel on the corner of 77th and Broadway. There he studied playwriting at the Circle Rep Theatre under Lanford Wilson and Milan Stitt. Early in his career, he became a writer because he wasn't good at anything else. He was fired by the big band singer Peggy Lee for being a rotten spotlight runner and fired from the Carlyle Hotel in New York for being a bad waiter.
He then moved to Los Angeles and lived at 10733 Ohio in a bungalow once owned by the writer John O'Hara while he earned an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA. While a student at UCLA film school, he won numerous screenwriting awards, including the Jack Nicholson prize.
In Hollywood, he started as a script secretary on NBC's Moonlighting. He studied sitcom writing at the Warner Brothers Sitcom Writing Workshop. He was a staff writer on NBC's . He also wrote episodes for the NBC shows and . In addition, he sold a movie to Ron Howard's Imagine Films and optioned another to Filmways. Recently he worked with Jim Parsons developing a TV pilot that was optioned by Hollywood producer Meryl Poster.
His plays include winner of a rolling premiere from NNPN, published by Samuel French. ', winner of a rolling premiere from NNPN, published by Playscripts. Mad Gravity, a finalist at the Eugene O'Neill, winner of the Reva Shiner Comedy Award, published by Playscripts. Cockeyed winner of The Greenhouse Festival Of New Plays, published by Samuel French. Seagulls In A Cherry Tree, winner of the Larry Corse Prize For Playwriting, published by Heuer Publishing. Mr. Perfect published by Playscripts. Headset, A view from the light booth published by Heuer Publishing, Kosher Lutherans published by Samuel French, Dead White Males published by Playscripts. How To Steal A Picasso a finalist at the Eugene O'Neill. His other plays include Innocent Thoughts published by Next Stage Press, A Doll House published by Next Stage Press. ', winner of the Bay Area Critics Award for Best Production in San Francisco, , Forgiving John Lennon and Fascism The Musical.
He has had over 250 productions of his plays. Including productions at The Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, The InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia, The San Diego Rep, The Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Salt Lake City Acting Company, the Actors Theatre of Charlotte, the Jewish Theatre of Toronto, The Bloomington Playwright's Project, the Detroit Rep and the New York City Fringe Festival.
His plays have been produced in Spain , Canada, South Africa , Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Austria, Israel, India, and South Korea.
Bill has an extensive publication record including articles, plays, and . He has co-authored four books, including Naked Playwriting'', Playwriting: From Formula To Form, Screenplay: Writing The Picture, and The Art of Theatre. The Art of Theatre is now in its 4th edition and has been used by tens of thousands of college student in the US. , is in its 3rd edition and was published in Warsaw, Poland, Jak Napisac Scenariusz Filmowy.
He lives in a log cabin near the Shambhala 2350 meters up in the Rockies of Colorado.

Awards

Downs has won two rolling premieres from the National New Play Network National New Play Network. and twice been a finalist at the Eugene O'Neill. He also won the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild Julie Harris Award

Plays

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