About the Playwright
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MICHAEL GORMAN / FOUNDER, FORTY HOUR CLUB
Playwright, Writer, Experimental Theater Producer and Installation Artist 
Mike Gorman is the newly appointed Playwright in Residence for La MaMa’s 57th Season and Director of The Forty Hour Club, a resident company of La MaMa, formed by a collective of independent artists dedicated to creating work that asks the question, "To what consequence?" The productions focus on the economic, environmental and systemic destruction facing working communities and the paramount issue of sustainability.
Mike is currently working on an epic project "Chasing The New White Whale" that deals with the issue of opiate addiction in the commercial fishing community of New England and beyond. His newest production, Chasing the New White Whale will premiere November 24 - December 9, 2018 in The Ellen Stewart Theater at La MaMa Theater in New York City. He made his debut at La MaMa in 1994 as a member of performance duo “The Fabulous Giggin’ Bros.” with their evening of short plays “Biffing Mussels”. He has since had more than a dozen productions staged at La MaMa, including “If Colorado Had an Ocean…(2014); “The Honor and Glory of Whaling” (2007-8); and “UltraLight” (2000)—the three plays in his trilogy. Mike makes his home in Maine and New York City. Artist Statement: “As an artist, I have become obsessed with the idea of invisibility—that there is a whole class and culture of people among us that feels, for all intents and purposes, invisible. At the same time, I have become obsessed with the loss of nobility, as these people were once some of our most prominent and noble. They are the ones who go out to sea, build things and work the land. They’re important to our identity, and their loss—in particular, through the current opiate epidemic—is nothing short of a tragedy. To make visible the invisible, and in the process, restore dignity to a people who have been stripped of it by fatal forces often beyond their control—that is my current goal as an artist. |
Mike with Ellen Stewart, founder of La MaMa Theater where Mike is currently the Theater's
Playwright in Residence. |
“Mike’s been writing in his own singular, idiosyncratic style for more than two decades now; journey with us through his oeuvre to discover a truly original talent with a world view as wide and humanist and compassionate as the ocean he so often writes about.” — Martin Denton, Indie theater Now
Mike Gorman is like a young Sam Shepard.” |
Mike giving tribute to Sam Shepard at Shepard's Memorial— La MaMa Theater, October 2017.
Read Mike's tribute here. |
