Wellman, Mac

Playwright and poet, Mac Wellman was born John McDowell Wellman on March 7, 1945 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Wellman family already included several inventors, and Mac grew into an inventor and innovator of language. His use of language is often compared to that of Gertrude Stein and John Ashbery.

After earning a degree in International Relations from the American University and marrying his first wife Nancy Roesch (1967), Wellman focused on poetry at the University of Wisconsin. He earned his Masters degree in English and taught for a few years, but it was a chance meeting while touring Europe that put his career on track. While traveling in the Netherlands, Wellman had the good fortune to meet Annemarie Prins, a Dutch theatrical director/producer. A friendship blossomed and the two began creating radio plays together. The first was based on a long poem of Wellman’s, Nobody, followed by The Memory Theatre of Giordano Bruno . In 1975 the team directed their first stage production, Fama Combinatoria, at Theatre de Brakke Grand in Amsterdam.

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