Big Bossman

Peter Ullian's work for the stage has been produced off-Broadway, regionally, and internationally, and includes THE COLLEGIATE SISTERHOOD OF LAKE PAWTUCKAWAY, which he wrote and directed for the Forward Phoenix New Play Project, as well as WAITING FOR MARCEL, which premiered in Cape Town as part of the Book Wings South Africa theatre festival. Other plays include BLACK FIRE WHITE FIRE, presented by Jewish Plays Project at OPEN: the Festival of New Jewish Plays; HESTER STREET HIDEAWAY: A LOWER EAST SIDE LOVE STORY, produced by En Garde Arts; STUCK IN LUXEMBOURG, produced by Theatre Winter Haven; and NEW AMERICAN CENTURY, developed at 4th Wall at the Beacon and the Lark Play Development Center. His published work includes the plays BIG BOSSMAN and THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF BLACKBIRD FLYNT, both originally produced by the Cleveland Public Theatre and both available from Broadway Play Publishing. He has written the libretto for the musicals ELIOT NESS, produced at the Denver Theatre Center and the Cleveland Playhouse; SIGNS OF LIFE, produced off-Broadway, at the Village Theatre, and at Chicago's Victory Gardens; and FLIGHT OF THE LAWNCHAIR MAN, produced at the Prince Music Theatre, the Ahmanson Theatre, 37 Arts, and Goodspeed Musicals, and licensed by Theatrical Rights Worldwide. Directors who have helmed productions of his work include Harold Prince, David Esbjornson, Jeremy Dobrish, Lisa Portes, and Lynn Taylor-Corbett. He has written screenplays for major and independent movie studios, and his short fiction has been published in Cemetery Dance, Hardboiled, and the DAW Books anthology Star Colonies. Critics have described his work as "daring," "ambitious," "provocative and witty," "pulsing, power-packed, vital and visionary," "crazy and charming," and "a cross between David Mamet and the Marx Brothers." His awards for dramatic writing include a Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center/Fund for New American Plays, two Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theatre Foundation Commendation awards, and two National Endowment for the Arts production grants. He has been a visiting professor, lecturer, or guest artist at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, SUNY Old Westbury, Western Michigan University, Juniata College, and the Hollins University MFA Playwrights Lab. He lives in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife and two sons