Robert Patrick (playwright)

Robert Patrick (born Robert Patrick O'Connor; September 27, 1937 – April 23, 2023) was an American playwright, poet, lyricist, short story writer, and novelist.

Patrick was a prolific playwright, with more than 300 productions of his plays staged in New York City, including Broadway venues.

O'Connor was born in Kilgore, Texas, to migrant workers.

Because his parents constantly moved around the southwestern United States looking for work, he never went to one school for a full year until his senior year of high school, in Roswell, New Mexico.

Books, film, and radio were the only constants in his early life.

His mother made sure he learned to read, and arranged for him to start school a year early.

He lacked friendships due to the constant moving, and didn't do well in school.

He dropped out of college after two years.

He did not experience live theater, beyond a few school productions, until he was working one summer as a dishwasher at the Kennebunkport Playhouse in Kennebunkport, Maine and fell in love with the theater.

Patrick was a prolific pioneer in Off-Off-Broadway and gay theatre, with over 300 productions of his plays during the 1960s in New York City alone.

Patrick stopped in New York City on his way back to Roswell from Maine and happened upon the Caffe Cino, the first Off-Off Broadway theatre, on September 14, 1961.

He stayed in New York, working for free at the Caffe Cino, La Mama ETC, and other early Off-Off Broadway theaters in any capacity, and supported himself with temporary typing jobs while observing and participating in dozens of productions, including Lanford Wilson's So Long at the Fair.

He had already been writing poetry, and in 1964 wrote his first play, The Haunted Host.

The play was soon produced at Caffe Cino, and playwriting became his main focus.

Patrick wrote and published over sixty plays.

His first play, The Haunted Host, premiered at Caffe Cino in 1964.

Patrick denied Neil Flanagan, the Caffe Cino's star performer, the title role (because Flanagan had recently played Lanford Wilson's gay character, Lady Bright), and after other prominent Off-Off actors refused the role because they feared playing a gay character might damage their careers, Patrick appeared in the play himself alongside fellow playwright William M. Hoffman.

Patrick also worked at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, another of the first Off-Off-Broadway theatres.

Neil Flanagan directed a production of Patrick's play Mirage at La MaMa in July 1965.

In November 1965, Patrick was production coordinator for BbAaNnGg, a benefit to raise money for electrical work at La MaMa's 122 Second Avenue theatre, which included plays, spoken word, performance art, and film by many prominent Off-Off artists.

In 1969, he won the Show Business magazine Best Play Award for Joyce Dynel, Salvation Army, and Fog.

Also in 1969, his play Camera Obscura was produced on PBS, starring Marge Champion, and was chosen to be in the well-known playwright revue "Collision Course".

Patrick directed a production of his own play, The Richest Girl in the World Finds Happiness, at La MaMa in 1970.

Patrick directed holiday shows at La MaMa in 1971, 1972, and 1974.

The 1971 production was called La MaMa Christmas Show, the 1972 production was Play-by-Play, and the 1974 production was Play-by-Play: A Spectacle of Ourselves.

In 1972, the publisher and licensing company Samuel French called Patrick "New York's Most-Produced Playwright".

He directed his own plays, Valentine Rainbow at La MaMa and The Golden Circle at 119 Spring Street, both in 1972.

In 1973, he directed Paul Foster's Silver Queen, which featured music by John Braden, at La MaMa.

In 1973, Patrick's Kennedy's Children had an obscure opening in the back of a London pub theatre called the King's Head, in Islington.

The production was instantly successful and was signed for the West End and other international productions.

1974 was the first season of gay theatre in the United Kingdom, to which Patrick contributed three plays.

His play Cleaning House was produced in California during the summer of 1974.

A 1974 Boston production of The Haunted Host was the first time Harvey Fierstein appeared on the professional stage as a man.

Years later, Fierstein included a recording of Patrick's monologue "Pouf Positive" on his compact disc This Is Not Going to Be Pretty.

The 1975 Broadway production of Kennedy's Children earned Shirley Knight a 1976 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.

In 1976, Marlo Thomas commissioned Patrick to write My Cup Ranneth Over for her and Lily Tomlin.

Although they never performed in the play, it would become Patrick's most produced work.

She reprised her role in the 1979 CBS production of the play.

Patrick traveled widely, from Anchorage to Cape Town, to see productions of Kennedy's Children. For ten years, he visited high schools and high school theatre conventions nationwide on behalf of the International Thespian Society.

"Pouf Positive" was also filmed by Dov Hechtman in 1989.