Martin Zimmerman
Core Apprentices 2008 // Jerome Fellowships 2012
Martín Zimmerman is a multi-ethnic, bilingual playwright whose work spans a wide variety of styles, but always aspires to a seamless unity of aesthetic and story. His plays include White Tie Ball, The Making of a Modern Folk Hero, Seven Spots on the Sun, and Treading Steady, Treading True, On the Solid Sand Below and have been produced or developed at the Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, the Playwrights' Center, Alliance Theatre, American Theater Company, The Theatre @ Boston Court, Chicago Dramatists, Primary Stages, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs, Theatre Row, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Borderlands Theater, Source Festival, The Gift, Red Tape, the University of Texas at Austin, and Duke University. Upcoming projects include readings at Teatro Vista, Goodman Theatre, and ACT (Seattle) as well as workshops at PlayPenn and Icicle Creek Theatre Festival. A recipient of the Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellowship, the National New Play Network's Smith Prize, and a Core Apprenticeship at the Playwrights' Center, Martín is a member of the 2011-2012 Playwrights' Unit at Goodman Theatre, where he is currently under commission, a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, and has been a finalist for the Kendeda Competition, the Jerome Fellowship, the Heideman Award, and Bay Area Playwrights Festival. He has also been a semi-finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference, the Julie Harris Playwright Award, and WordBridge Playwrights Lab. M.F.A. in Playwriting: The University of Texas at Austin. B.A. in Theater Studies, B.S. in Economics: Duke University.
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The Stranger Play
DescriptionWhite Tie Ball
Download Script SampleDescription
After being elected the first Latino Pima County Attorney in half a century, Edward Moreno's bond with his brother Beto is the strongest it has been in years. But when one of Beto's former friends kills an on-duty police officer as she breaks into the friend's home without identifying herself, Edward has to prosecute the case. The decisions Edward faces about what charges to pursue not only put his career in jeopardy; they also re-ignite long-suppressed tensions between Edward and Beto, who share the same parents but not the same skin color.
The Making of a Modern Folk Hero
Description
A congressman entices an old friend (and washed-up actor) to portray a superhero in a publicity stunt designed to stop the unjust bulldozing of a public housing complex. That first stunt proves successful and leaves the crowd enthralled, but what happens when the character the politician created goes rogue? This graphic novel for the stage employs a seamless blend of live actors and shadow puppets to investigate the passions, hopes, and fears that call people to yearn for and believe in the possibility of superheroes.
Seven Spots on the Sun
Download Script SampleDescription
The village of San Isidro has been without its doctor for eighteen months. Moisés has remained a recluse, refusing to even look at a patient, since the day the army took his wife away during the country's civil war. But when a mysterious plague begins to ravage the countryside around San Isidro, the local parish priest convinces Moisés to take action. And when Moisés examines his first patient, he discovers he has the miraculous power to heal this plague with the touch of his hand. But among the thousands of pilgrims who flock to San Isidro, Moisés is forced to confront his past, and San Isidro the violence that tore it apart. A meditation on mourning, redemption, and revenge, Seven Spots on the Sun follows each character’s attempt to come to terms with the extraordinary loss they have suffered and the miracles they have witnessed.
Treading Steady, Treading True, On the Solid Sand Below
Description
When Julian Flores enlists in the Army rather than serve a prison sentence for assault, he finds himself in Iraq as soon as he completes Basic Training. Early in his deployment, Julian comes up with elaborate schemes to avoid combat. But during his first combat mission, an IED goes off while his unit is on patrol, and the ensuing insurgent ambush completely changes Julian's life. Julian finds meaning and unflinching purpose in the intensity of the combat experience. Treading Steady, Treading True, On the Solid Sand Below follows Julian's attempts to re-capture that fleeting sense of purpose on his remaining combat missions and after returning home from his deployment.
