WritingSpirit Resources

Biographical & Fictional Movies About Writers

I just watched the movie, "Miss Potter," starring Renee Zellweger as famous children's author, Beatrix Potter. It's fun to watch movies about famous authors, and see how they overcame the naysayers, their own self-doubts, and any other creative obstacles they faced, which made their heroes' journey worth making a movie about.

Here are just a few of the movies that have been made about real life writers:

• Beloved Infidel (1959) about F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, and Tender is the Night. Starring Gregory Peck.
• All The President's Men (1976) about Bob Woodward (author or co-author of 10 #1 national bestselling non-fiction books, more than any other contemporary author) and Carl Bernstein. Starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.
• Cross Creek (1983) about Marjorie Kinnan Rowlings, author of The Yearling. Starring Mary Steenburgen.
• Gothic (1987) about poet Lord Byron and novelist Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. Starring Gabriel Byrne and Natasha Richardson. (Directed by Ken Russell)
• Hemingway (1988) about Ernest Hemingway, author of For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea. Starring Stacy Keach.
• Henry and June (1990) about Anais Nin (Delta of Venus) and Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer). Starring Maria de Medeiros and Fred Ward.
• Impromptu (1991) about George Sand (Aurore Dupin), author of 80 novels and 20 plays. Starring Judy Davis as Sand.
• Kafka (1991) about Franz Kafka, author of The Metamorphosis. Starring Jeremy Irons.
• Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) about poet and essayist Dorothy Parker and Manhattan's legendary literary cadre known as the Algonquin Round Table. Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh.
• Quills (2000) about the Marquis de Sade, author of Justine or the Misfortunes of Virtue, and Letters From Prison. Starring Geoffrey Rush.
• Iris (2001) about Iris Murdoch, author of Under the Net, and The Sacred and Profane Love Machine. Starring Judi Dench.
• The Hours (2002) about Virgina Woolf, author of Mrs. Dolloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, and A Room of One's Own. Starring Nicole Kidman as Woolf, along with Julianne Moore, and Meryl Streep.
• Sylvia (2003) about the poet Sylvia Plath, author of the semi-biographical novel The Bell Jar. Starring Gwyneth Paltrow.
• Finding Neverland (2004) about J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. Starring Johnny Depp.
• Capote (2005) about Truman Capote, author of In Cold Blood, and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
• Miss Potter (2006) about Beatrix Potter, author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, and many other children's books. Starring Renee Zellweger.
• Becoming Jane (2007) about Jane Austen, the author of Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. Starring Anne Hathaway.
• Miss Austen Regrets (2008) also about Jane Austen, the author of Sense and Sensibility, and Mansfield Park. Starring Olivia Williams.

And there are also many movies about fictional writers, and their creative trials and triumphs. Such as:

• Misery (1990) Kathy Bates as an author's worst nightmare. In this case, the author is played by James Caan.
• Deconstructing Harry (1997) Woody Allen as an author who decides to write a novel about his best friends.
  
• Finding Forrester (2000) Sean Connery portrays a famous novelist turned recluse, who helps a high school basketball star (Rob Brown) who wants to be a writer.
• Adaptation (2002) Nicolas Cage as a screenwriter, battling his own creative demons, as he works to adapt a novel (written by Meryl Streeps's character) for the screen.
• Stranger Than Fiction (2006) Emma Thompson plays a novelist struggling to kill off her main character (played by Will Ferrell), but things get out of hand.

What are your favorite movies about authors or about the creative process? Leave a comment and let me know.

All About Jewish Theatre

Who has the time to search all over the Internet to find the information you need in a timely fashion? This website is specially designed to provide a unifying environment designed to bring together all available information about the international world of Jewish Theater and performing arts expertly linked, displayed and easily accessible to anyone.

All About Jewish Theatre is the comprehensive and targeted coverage of the international community of Jewish Theater and the leading source of industry news in the world. Tens of thousands of professionals, educators, students and enthusiasts will stay in touch with All About Jewish Theatre to get the facts, figures & dates of what, when, where and how in-depth coverage they haven’t been able to get till now anywhere else.

Through All About Jewish Theatre, people worldwide will have a single source for a vast array of information pertaining to all facets of the Jewish Theater manufacturers to consumers.

All About Jewish Theatre

Journal of Religion and Theatre

The Journal of Religion and Theatre aims to provide descriptive and analytical articles examining the spirituality of world cultures in all disciplines of the theatre, performance studies in sacred rituals of all cultures, themes of transcendence in text, on stage, in theatre history, the analysis of dramatic literature, and other topics relating to the relationship between religion and theatre. This online journal also aims to facilitate the exchange of knowledge throughout the theatrical community concerning the relationship between theatre and religion and as an academic research resource for the benefit of all interested scholars and artists.

A.D. Players

Houston, TX

Founded in 1967 by Houston actress, author and playwright, Jeannette Clift George, the purpose of the A.D. Players is to be an ongoing theatrical ministry, through various mediums of communication, that reaches people throughout the world by affecting the communities in which they live with the creative signature of God.

The A. D. Players have offered Biblical truths through theater for audiences numbering over two million throughout the United States and Europe. The company is known as one of the oldest Christian theater companies in the United States, and one of the pioneering companies for this innovative art form.

As believer artists, the A. D. Players feel it is time for the church to reclaim its historical position in sponsoring the arts. Through their touring shows, grassroots communities who cannot otherwise afford theater experience a new art form: Christian theater. Churches who are seeking a creative way to teach, preach, and impact their communities for Christ, use the A. D. Players in teaching workshops or through performances in worship services, Sunday school classes, banquets, and revivals.

Please note: Do not send full scripts unless requested. Submit a synopsis, statement of ultimate theme or message, representative scene sample (10 pages or less), sample music tape or CD (musicals only), and SASE.

Not every play they produce has overt religious or Biblical themes, but they do not present material that contradicts, denies, or negates a traditional Biblical worldview.

A.D. Players
Writers Guidelines

Jewish Theatre Companies

Arizona Jewish Theatre Company
Phoenix, AZ

The Arizona Jewish Theatre Company is one of the largest Jewish Theatres in North America. In addition to their main stage work, they provide summer theatre day camps for children and teens; produce 2 children's shows each year and have an on-going teen improvisational troupe.


Chicage Jewish Theatre
Chicago, IL

Chicago Jewish Theatre is Chicago's only professional theatre company dedicated exclusively to producing shows that deal with Jewish culture, history, identity, and experiences.


Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre
New York, NY

The Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre strives to preserve, promote, and develop Yiddish Theater for current and future generations; to enhance the understanding and appreciation of Yiddish culture as a necessary component of Jewish Life, and  to present the history and traditions of an immigrant people in a fresh, inventive venue that emphasizes the culture's lively, ever-evolving art and wisdom. The theatre produces main-stage productions, bilingual children's entertainment and a play reading series.


Jewish Ensemble Theatre
Writers Guidelines
West Bloomfield, MI

The Jewish Ensemble Theatre’s mission is to provide a stage for the exploration of ideas that confront issues of humanity and community from the Jewish perspective.
Each year they produce 4 shows for their mainstage season, the Seymour J and Ethel S Frank Festival of New Plays in Staged Readings, and the Dorfman Foundation Youth Theatre/JETYES for student audiences.

They’re also committed to producing The Diary of Anne Frank each spring. This show is written for a student audience, and speaks to issues of humanity and community. It serves as a learning tool about the past, and a bridge to the future, both in understanding, and in appreciation for theatre. For this production, they bring schools and youth groups to a collaborating theatre.

The Festival of New Plays is the entrée point for new plays.  Each play will have two staged reading performances on consecutive evenings.  These readings are performed and directed by theatre professionals and are followed by open discussion between the audience, actors, director and playwright, when in attendance.  Over the years, a number of these new plays have graduated from their festival to full production on their main stage, other stages in Michigan and beyond.


Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company
St. Paul, MN

Along with their main-stage productions, The Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company hosts Doorways, an ongoing program of forums, lectures, symposia, and communications designed to open the doors to greater understanding and enjoyment of their plays, and to deeper insights into the subjects and issues they address; and Wellsprings, a play development program to discover and develop a continuous flow of new plays rooted in the Jewish experience but illuminating the common humanity among us all.


Storahtelling-Jewish Ritual Theatre Revived
New York, NY

Storahtelling is a radical fusion of storytelling, Torah, traditional ritual theater and contemporary performance art. Founded in 1998, our New York City-based nonprofit company is committed to promoting relevant and dynamic Jewish cultural literacy through theatrical performances and educational programs for multi-generational audiences.

Storahtelling has developed three program models to accomplish this aim: synagogue-based ritual performance, theatre productions that adapt Jewish literacy for a popular audience, and training programs that familiarize artists and educators in local communities with the Storahtelling technique. Storahtelling performances feature traditional Hebrew chanting, non-traditional English translation, original and ethnic music, modern stagecraft, and audience participation.


Traveling Jewish Theatre
San Francisco, CA

Traveling Jewish Theatre's (TJT) mission is to create and perform original works of theatre, as an ensemble and in collaboration with theatre artists from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, that contribute to a generous vision of the human condition. TJT looks for connections where others see separation. This unique artist-led ensemble has, over the past twenty-six years, created a body of work that defies categorization. In the polyglot tradition of Jewish culture, TJT speaks many languages. It speaks poetry and it speaks story. It speaks secular Yiddish humanism and ecstatic mysticism. It speaks jazz and sacred chant. It speaks Jewish and it speaks American.    

TJT has created scores of  original works for the theatre. The sources for these works have ranged from the legends of the Hasidim to the assassination of Trotsky; from Yiddish poetry to the reclamation of women's wisdom; from the healing nature of storytelling to the challenge of interfaith marriage and from the politics of the Middle East to African-American/Jewish relations. TJT does not deal with social or political issues in isolation. It searches for the living images that burn themselves into our consciousness. It recognizes that the roots of theatre lie in the realm of the mythic, the sacred and the communal; that theatre can be an instrument of healing for people and cultures.


West Coast Jewish Theatre
Studio City, CA  (Los Angeles area)

The mission of the West Coast Jewish Theatre is to portray Jewish history, philosophy and culture through theatrical productions dealing with Jewish life in days past, present and future, and through these presentations to foster a respect for and understanding of the Jewish heritage.


Winnipeg Jewish Theatre
Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada

The only professional theatre in Canada producing a full season of plays on Jewish themes, the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre exists to educate, promote and preserve Jewish heritage and culture. In addition to main-stage productions, the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre is dedicated to new play development, and making their productions accessible to young audiences through presentations that include a talk-back session with the actors and study guides for teachers.