Robert O'Hara facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Robert O'Hara
Robert O'Hara in September 2014
Born	c. 1970 (age 54–55) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Education	Tufts University (BA) Columbia University (MFA)
Occupation	Playwright director
Years active	1996–present

Robert O'Hara (born around 1970) is an American writer and director for the stage. He is known for plays like Insurrection: Holding History and The ... Play. Insurrection is a play that travels through time to explore identity and history. The ... Play is a series of funny scenes about a young African American man growing up. This play won an award called the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Drama. In 2020, O'Hara was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for his work on Slave Play.

Early Life and Education

Robert O'Hara was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He grew up with his mother and his step-father. When he was in third grade, he started attending a Catholic school. He was one of the few African-American students there.

He went to Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati. This was a well-known public school where he was very active in the theater program. After high school, he attended Tufts University in Boston, graduating in 1992. He first planned to study political science and become a lawyer. However, he soon found he was much more interested in theatre. He changed his major to drama.

At Tufts, he started the Tufts Black Theatre Company. He directed and wrote plays for this group. After Tufts, he earned a master's degree in directing from Columbia University in 1996. While at Columbia, O'Hara worked at the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Joseph Papp Public Theater. There, he learned a lot from the famous African-American playwright George C. Wolfe.

Career in Theatre and Film

Robert O'Hara is well-known in the theater world for his work as a playwright and director.

In 2011, he became a member of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. In 2013, he received a special grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This made him the playwright in residence at Woolly Mammoth from 2013 to 2015.

In October 2020, O'Hara was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play. This was for his direction of Slave Play.

Film Projects

In the mid-1990s, O'Hara wrote a movie script about the life of comedian Richard Pryor. The movie was called Live and was planned to be directed by Martin Scorsese. However, the film was never made.

O'Hara also wrote a script for a movie called Micheaux. This film was about the life of African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. It was planned to be directed by Spike Lee.

In 2011, O'Hara directed his first film, a thriller called The Inheritance. He also wrote the script for this movie. The film is about a group of cousins who meet to receive their family's inheritance. But they soon discover a dangerous secret.

Notable Plays

Insurrection: Holding History

Insurrection: Holding History tells the story of a young African-American man named Ron. He travels back in time with his 189-year-old grandfather. They go to the time of Nat Turner's Rebellion, a historical event. The play explores themes of identity as Ron learns about his ancestors' past and his own place in the world.

O'Hara wrote Insurrection while he was working at the Public Theatre. It was chosen for a new play reading series in 1995. O'Hara later directed it for his master's degree project at Columbia. His student production gained a lot of attention. It helped the New York theater community notice O'Hara's work. In 1996, the play won the Newsday Oppenheimer Award for Best New American Play. The play officially opened at the Public Theatre on October 11, 1996. It was produced by O'Hara's former mentor, George C. Wolfe.

Brave Blood

Brave Blood takes place in the home of Ms. Anne, a psychiatrist. She helps a group of women who are in difficult situations. But when a murder happens, the house becomes very chaotic. The play explores how difficult experiences can affect a person's identity.

O'Hara directed the play's first performance in 2001. It was at the Transparent Theatre Company in Berkeley, California.

-14: An American Maul

-14: An American Maul is set in a future America. A new type of cotton is created that needs people to pick it by hand. Because of this, the President removes a part of the Fourteenth Amendment. This effectively brings back a system where people are forced to work without pay.

This play was produced while O'Hara was working at the American Conservatory Theater.

Antebellum

Antebellum explores themes of unfairness in society. It tells two different stories at the same time. One story is in Atlanta in 1939. It is about a young Jewish couple living in the South. They dress up in old Civil War clothes to go to the movie premiere of Gone with the Wind. The other story is in Germany in 1936. It shows an officer at a very sad place who is in love with a performer. But he still allows the performer to be treated very badly.

The play first opened at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 2009.

The Etiquette of Vigilance

The Etiquette of Vigilance is a modern version of Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun. It follows the story of Travis, the youngest male character from the original play, and his daughter Lorraine. Lorraine is about to be the first in her family to go to college. She feels the pressure of her family's long-held dream to achieve success in America.

The play first opened at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on October 22, 2010.

The ... Play

The ... Play is a series of connected short scenes. They are often funny and use satire to explore what it means to be an African American man in America. O'Hara first wrote these as twelve separate short plays. He later connected them into one play, with the character of Sutter appearing in most of the scenes. O'Hara has said that while the play is like his own life in many ways, it doesn't tell his exact life story.

The play first opened at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2011. It then moved to Playwrights Horizons Theater Company from August 22 to October 19, 2014. Here, it won a special award called the Obie Award. O'Hara shared this award with the actors in the play.

Barbecue

Barbecue is about the O'Mallerys, a family of siblings. They gather for a park barbecue to help their sister Barbara, who is going through a difficult situation. However, there are actually two O'Mallery families in the play, one white and one black. Each family appears in similar scenes. These scenes are put side-by-side to create a discussion about family and social issues.

The play first opened at the Public Theatre in New York, NY, on September 22, 2015.

Awards and Recognition

Robert O'Hara has received several awards for his work: