ABOUT CLAUDE SOLNIK
Claude Solnik is an award-winning journalist, playwright and co-founder of the Textile Co. whose works are often inspired by true stories. He is playwright in residence at Theater for the New City, which has presented much of his work, which also has had productions at various locations in the United States, as well as abroad, winning awards and recognition. One of his plays was named among the ten best of the year by Theaterscene.net. Solnik got an MFA in dramatic writing from NYU, served as a reviewer and managing editor of a theater trade publication and has become one of the more frequently produced playwrights in New York City, with the help of Theater for the New City, which has been his spiritual and very real theatrical home.
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Along the way, his work has garnered numerous positive reviews from critics and audiences and been seen by thousands. The scripts include strong character, dialogue, drama, comedy and story, sometimes set in the past and sometimes in contemporary settings. He writes, rewrites and develops scripts through a process that leads to workshops, as they go through their paces, including some changes made as they go into production.
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HiHis work includes realistic, contemporary dramas, as well as more fanciful fictions. In Sex Shoplifitng and Rock and Roll, we see what happens when two people in their early twenties start robbing for a living. Their lives spin out of control and relationships become entangled as we approach a dramatic conclusion. In Takedown, a father and son clash as the son takes up wrestling following their mother's death. And in Fun and Games, a play about a dangerous con, we see what happens when a couple, to get thrills, play risky games with others, creating illusions that come back to haunt all involved.
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While the plays have strong, typically realistic dialogue and character, some are inspired by true, often little known or unknown stories about well known figures. Victoria Woodhull is about the first woman to run for president, taking audiences to a time when she ran before women in the United States had the right to vote. We meet the other Suffragettes who often separate themselves from her. The Suffragettes for the most part are writers, thinkers, intellectuals, while Victoria has a very different background, becoming the first woman to open a stock brokerage and then the first woman to testify before Congress. She often feuds with other Suffragettes, ending up nearly written out of history. When she runs for president, some show no interest in supporting her. In Year of the Iguana, we see Tennessee Williams' rise as his sister declines, even as he bases some of his most beloved characters (such as Blanche) on her while failing to protect her when things go wrong in her life. A Life in the Rye shows us J.D. Salinger's life, as his works go from inspiring admiration to inspiring violence and a character that, in a way, turns on him. Keats called a thing of beauty "a joy forever," but in Salinger's case, the writing often inspired the reverse.
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His work sometimes deals with Jews, World War II and the clashes that occurred. My Uncle in America is about a mother who tells her daughter fundamental lies, as she comes to America. When she arrives, the lies threaten to be revealed, disturbing all their lives. A Beautiful Baby is about a Jewish baby who won a beautiful baby contest in Nazi Germany, when a photographer submitted her pictures. It created potential chaos for the family, while undermining the very concept of Aryan superiority. His play The Diary, about Anne Frank's diary's journey from the attic floor to a book read around the world, recently was presented as a staged reading, but not a production, at the Dramatists Guild Foundation.
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He also writes stories rooted in fantasy and even mythology. Pandemonium is a sequel to Peter Pan following a family when Hook and Pan step out of the book and into their lives. Humor, even hilarity, ensues in this play that had two productions in New York City. Manhattan Myths is a series of one-acts inspired by Greek and Roman myths modernized and set in Manhattan. Divided into often comic scenes, this show lets us see Medea in a Manhattan restaurant, Cupid at a cocktail party and much more. Bedroom Farce shows us a night when a couple goes to bed, only to find a procession of significant people from one of their lives appear in their bedroom. While many people think about people before going to bed, this play shows us what happens when they all appear one after the other, emerging from beneath the bed, through the window and elsewhere. In the end of this show, with a crowd of ghosts reminiscent of the crowded room in A Night at the Opera, we find out why these figures appear that night.
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In The Caretaker of Corofin, we see a woman suspected of a murder in a small town in Ireland, as the town struggles with whether she is accused because of guilt, or because she is a stranger. In that play, inspired by a true story, the town weighs in on who did it and what should happen to the stranger. The Lady From Limerick, inspired by a true story, is about a woman who travels from Ireland to NY for plastic surgery only to find out that the doctor is more marketing than medicine, seeking clients abroad after facing problems at home. In Sandcastles, a family encounters a stranger on a tropical vacation, only to find out that he is much more than he appears.
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The inspiration for the plays come from a wide range of sources. The Bohemians, also presented Off Broadway at the Triad, is a comedy about a couple, their parents and their apartment. Inspired by a real apartment in Brooklyn, it goes off in directions that far exceed what happened in reality. What would inspire parents to rob their own children? That happens here, as they seek to convince them to move. In Grace is Good, we see someone suspected of sexual harassment in an office, but what really occurred? This looks at a topical issue through the lens of drama with fictional characters in an office.
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He also has written series of one acts around one theme, providing a window into various topics and quick bits of entertainment. Imagine is a series of scenes/skits/one acts inspired by Beatles songs and Around the World in Eight Plays is a series of scenes/one acts set around the world. In keeping with his interest in the Beatles, Nowhere Man is about someone hired as a double for Paul McCartney. What happens when someone who looks like Paul is tapped to pretend to be him, while he recovers from a car accident? A fictional story, it follows what "might have happened" if a variation on a certain myth about McCartney had been true.
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Some of his plays deal with particularly powerful, topical issues today, such as wrongful conviction. Pedro Castillo is Innocent, inspired by a true story, is about an innocent man in jail and his family. We see how he deals with incarceration and they deal with this situation and each other. The Fare is about a conflict between a cabbie from Pakistan and a banker who have a dispute in a cab that impacts both of their lives. His work also includes other plays which have had productions.
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Musicals include Stealing Mona Lisa, with music by Gary Edwards, based on the theft of the Mona Lisa, which increased the painting's fame. Mona Lisa comes to life as a character, as the world looks for her. A Stitch and Time also with Gary Edwars is the story of an emperor/king/president in Erehwon. Chas ensues as the leader passes decrees prohibiting essentially everything in this look at the comic, and serious, side of totalitarianism. The Christmas Express, with music by John Paul Louis and lyrics by Matthew Lightsey, is a Christmas story about what happens when Santa decides to power his sled by starlight.
He has had dozens of productions at theaters in New York City, Long Island, Philadelphia, Paris and other locations, in addition to readings of new work at the Dramatists Guild Foundation and elsewhere. For more information about any or all of these plays or for possible productions, contact claudesolnik@gmail.com
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