Changes: John Weidman

Revision as of 18:52, 11 August 2015

John Weidman is a playwright and president of the Dramatists Guild of America who has been a writer for Sesame Street since 1986. He has also written song lyrics, including several segments of Elmo the Musical.

The son of veteran Broadway "book" author Jerome Weidman, Weidman is a graduate of Yale law school and served as editor of The National Lampoon. In 1976, he wrote the book for the musical Pacific Overtures (1976), netting a Tony Award nomination, and in 1987, he wrote a completely new book for the revival of Anything Goes. Subsequent Broadway credits included books for the musical version of Big, Contact, and Assassins & Bounce (the latter two both with music by Stephen Sondheim).

During a 1999 event at Lincoln Center, Weidman spoke of his work on Sesame Street:

“I had a friend who wrote for the show and I called him up and said "how do you do this?" And he said, "well, there's an audition process". So I went through that process, and I became one of the dozen people who write scripts for Sesame Street. And when my kids were small, it was particularly satisfying, because I would take them to the set. And they would meet the puppets...it was great!

And I have continued to do it, depending on how much time I have. In part because I enjoy it. But also because I feel like it is honest work; it pleases me to do it. A lot of what people who work in the theater do or have to do to support themselves is not so great. You know, I feel like that's something I sort of fell into and I feel like it's honorable work. And I've enjoyed continuing to do it. And it's right across the street. Which helps, too.^[1]”

Sources

↑ A Conversation with John Weidman

External Links

IBDb

[1] A Conversation with John Weidman

[1]

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 [[Image:Johnweidman.jpg|frame]]
-'''John Weidman''' is a playwright and president of the Dramatists Guild of America who has been a writer for ''[[Sesame Street]]'' since [[1986]].
+'''John Weidman''' is a playwright and president of the Dramatists Guild of America who has been a writer for ''[[Sesame Street]]'' since [[1986]]. He has also written song lyrics, including several segments of ''[[Elmo the Musical]]''.
-The son of veteran [[Broadway]] "book" author Jerome Weidman, Weidman is a graduate of Yale law school and served as editor of ''The National Lampoon''. In [[1976]], he wrote the book for the musical ''Pacific Overtures'' ([[1976]]), netting a Tony Award nomination, and in [[1987]], he wrote a completely new book for the revival of ''Anything Goes''. Subsequent Broadway credits included books for the musical version of ''Big'', ''Contact'', and ''Assassins'' (with music by [[Stephen Sondheim]]). Weidman has also worked with Sondheim on ''Wise Guys'', a project which has been in development since the mid 1990s and has yet to make its stage debut.
+The son of veteran [[Broadway]] "book" author Jerome Weidman, Weidman is a graduate of Yale law school and served as editor of ''The National Lampoon''. In [[1976]], he wrote the book for the musical ''Pacific Overtures'' ([[1976]]), netting a Tony Award nomination, and in [[1987]], he wrote a completely new book for the revival of ''Anything Goes''. Subsequent Broadway credits included books for the musical version of ''Big'', ''Contact'', and ''Assassins'' & ''Bounce'' (the latter two both with music by [[Stephen Sondheim]]).
 During a [[1999]] event at Lincoln Center, Weidman spoke of his work on ''Sesame Street'':
-{{quote|I had a friend who wrote for the show and I called him up and said "how do you do this?" And he said, "well, there's an audition process". So I went through that process, and I became one of the dozen people who write scripts for ''Sesame Street''. And when my kids were small, it was particularly satisfying, because I would take them to the set. And they would meet the puppets...it was great!
+{{quote|I had a friend who wrote for the show and I called him up and said "how do you do this?" And he said, "well, there's an audition process". So I went through that process, and I became one of the dozen people who write scripts for ''Sesame Street''. And when my kids were small, it was particularly satisfying, because I would take them to the set. And they would meet the puppets...it was great!<br><br>And I have continued to do it, depending on how much time I have. In part because I enjoy it. But also because I feel like it is honest work; it pleases me to do it. A lot of what people who work in the theater do or have to do to support themselves is not so great. You know, I feel like that's something I sort of fell into and I feel like it's honorable work. And I've enjoyed continuing to do it. And it's right across the street.  Which helps, too.<ref>[http://www.lct.org/calendar/platform_detail.cfm?id_event=63910902 A Conversation with John Weidman]</ref>}}
-And I have continued to do it, depending on how much time I have. In part because I enjoy it. But also because I feel like it is honest work; it pleases me to do it. A lot of what people who work in the theater do or have to do to support themselves is not so great. You know, I feel like that's something I sort of fell into and I feel like it's honorable work. And I've enjoyed continuing to do it. And it's right across the street.  Which helps, too.<ref>[http://www.lct.org/calendar/platform_detail.cfm?id_event=63910902 A Conversation with John Weidman]</ref>}}
 ==Sources==
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 ==External Links==
-*[http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=6914 IBDb]
+*[http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=6914 IBDb]
-[[Category:Writers|Weidman, John]]
+{{DEFAULTSORT:Weidman, John}}
+[[Category:Writers]]
+[[Category:Composers]]