JAN SHAPIN
Jan Shapin has been writing plays and screenplays for over twenty years. More recently she has turned her attention to fiction. She has studied playwriting at Catholic University in Washington, DC, screenwriting at the Film and Television Workshop and University of Southern California, and fiction writing at a variety of locations including Brown University, Barnard's Writers on Writing seminar, Sewanee Writers' Conference and Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. She has two grown children and lives in Newport, RI with her husband, a photographer. She can be reached via email at jshapin.writer@verizon.net
Novels:
A Snug Life Somewhere, PublishAmerica, 2006 - A coming of age novel set amid Seattle's labor unrest and radical politics, 1916-1920.
A Desire Path - completed 2009
Plays:
Ambassadors of God: Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day - A homeless man touched by God directs a young woman to open Houses of Hospitality for those in need and this evolves into the Cahtolic Worker movement. Produced under a grant from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities. A revised version to be produced by STAGERight Productions, Newport RI in the 2010 season.
A Christmas Carol - An updated musical version of the classic set in a New England mill town in 1890. Produced for five consecutive seasons at the Colonial Theatre, Westerly, RI.
An Elephant Murder - A young woman gets pregnant by elephant handler. Her mother has another match planned. Her father mortgages the house to buy a half share in the elephant. What's a girl to do? Produced at the Charlotte Repertory Theatre New Plays Festival and as staged eadings at the RI Playwrights' Festival and New Playwrights' Theatre, Washington, DC. .
The Frog King - Danny is a composer who would rather play poker and work shady real estate deals than write music. His wife and his boss collide over possession of his soul. Produced as a reading at Playwrights' Platform in Boston, MA.
Leona - Radical politics in the 1970s. A black deputy mayor finds herself caught between an old love and her demagogue employer. Produced as a reading by Fourth Friday Playwrights, New York
Screenplays:
Schwab - A woman seduces the protege of Andrew Carnegie in order to wreak revenge in J.P. Morgan.
Bishop's Light - A bipolar TV commentator decides to solve the problems of an18th century ghost while wooing a gold digger he picked up in a bar.
Jan Shapin's plays and screenplays are available for review by interested parties. Contact her at jshapin.writer@verizon.net.
