Bio
Recommendations from Individuals
Rave Reviews from the Press
Publicity Photos
Bio:
Download Steve's bio as a PDF.
Recommendations from Individuals:
"What I love about Steve’s work is watching a performance and seeing how wonderfully it connects with the audience. His characters contain many delicious nuances, making his plays fun to direct, fun to act in and fun to watch.
Steve is a treasure and his work was a highlight of each OutCharlotte LGBT Cultural Festival during the 1996-2001 festivals. In February 2007, through a grant from The James Irvine Foundation New Connections Fund, we brought Steve to San Diego for a staged reading of “Passing Ceremonies” as part of our ‘Queer Theatre-Taking Center Stage’ festival. The readings were a wonderful success – the post-show discussions, facilitated with grace and deference by Steve, allowed the audience to share their memories of the portrayed artists and of their personal connections to those lost to AIDS."
~ Dan Kirsch, Executive & Artistic Director
Diversionary Theatre, San Diego,CA, www.diversionary.org
“Steve brought a special atmosphere to the classroom which enabled all of us the freedom to express ideas and present our work in a safe environment. He offered his opinions, yet never demanded that his suggestions had to be used in our final work. He served as a guide and sounding board to our own creativity and taught us to be that for our classmates as well. Every assignment and every class engaged us in a learning opportunity which stretched our creativity as well as our intellect.”
~ Paula Wilder, Class of ‘09, English Major, Guilford College
Greensboro, North Carolina
“Everyone I spoke with so impressed with your work, and grateful that they had come…”
~ Becca Cragin, Graduate Student, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 1997
"…one of the highlights of our convention…wonderful material. Jeff in Good Sense is everyone’s good-old-boy next door caught in a very human dilemma. Playwright/director Steve Willis has a wonderful talent for capturing North Carolina speech and characters."
~ Dr, Wesley Root, Chair, 17th Annual National Black and White Men Together Convention, Charlotte, NC
1997
"A hearty thanks…for bringing to our campus the wonderful performance of Good Sense…a wonderful personal yet non-threatening way for us to bring to our campus important human issues."
~ Dr. Diane Edwards, Assistant Dean of Students, The University of North Carolina at Wilmington
1998
Rave Reviews from the Press:
“In revealing the personalities and feelings of people who live outside the prevailing culture, Willis’ writing recalls Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. The playwright and the novelist both recognize that society is finally measured by the way it treats its minorities, the ‘different’ people within it.”
~ Abe Jones, News and Record, Greensboro, NC
1997
"[Steve Willis] is noted for creating dialogue and monologues that sound just the way people speak. Capturing their mispronunciations as well as their eloquence, Willis puts audiences in people's kitchens and on their front porches."
~ Cathy Gant-Hill, News and Record, Greensboro, NC 1999
“Steve Willis' lyrical one-hour work [Passing Ceremonies] has something to offer anyone who's passionate about language and the place of art in today's world.
~ JoAnn Grose, The Charlotte Observer 2000
"[The Jeff Trilogy] is a play full of interesting, familiar characters and ideas, made enthralling by Willis and a wonderful cast."
~ Tina Jones, News and Record, Greensboro, NC 1999
"Filled with humor and poignancy, rich in local idiom, Good Sense introduces Jeff, a young gay man living in rural North Carolina. On a warm October night, Jeff welcomes the audience into his world of chicken farming, home 'fix-it' projects and sleeping out under the stars. He shares the story of 'coming out' to his conservative family and his ongoing search for acceptance and support."
~ Vicki Knopfler, High Point Enterprise, High Point, NC 1998
"A sensitive and human portrait of a handful of small-town 'everyday' folk who in their unassuming candor and humor are really quite extraordinary. The show is both funny and touching. Despite our expectations, Notso Plain Folks surprises us with the truth."
~ Frank O'Neill, Triad Style 1999
"By Her Side, magnificently written by Steve Willis, is one of those plays that acts as proof this festival doesn’t just cater to gay men in the 30s… [It is] a sensitive piece, revealing the fears of aging for LGBT people."
~ Jade Esteban Estrada, Off-Off-Broadway Review, New York City 2002 www.oobr.com
"In By Her Side, Willis’ character Ida transported me through a wide range of memory and emotion. I felt as though the rural woman on stage was the culmination of the generations of women from my Southern family. The regional witticisms and language…evoked laughter, pain, joy and tears."
~ OUTCharlotte, Charlotte, NC 1997
"Willis' We Never Close is a simple, charming and well-acted tale of two people who meet in an all-night diner."
~ Savannah Morning News, Savannah, Georgia 1999
"Steve Willis has made a very moving play [Whitney’s Grace] from the story 'Amazing Grace: The Whitney Leftwich Story'... [he] has kept the development clear and the characters well-drawn... The conclusion is deeply stirring."
~ Abe Jones, News and Record, Greensboro, NC 2001
"[Falling So Slowly] is certainly a well-written play, and receives sympathetic treatment at the hands of director Robert Chuter. The actors, Christopher Pender, Brian Davison and Nicholas Opolski, perform with a commitment to their subject and an admirable panache…"
~ Helen Thomson, The Age, Melbourne, Australia, January 21, 2005
"Falling So Slowly is about re-directing life and finding meaning through relationships and, for most its 90 minutes, is closer to Chekhov than jerk-off. The appeal of the play is its depiction of what is at stake in the pending relationship for Bobby, salvaging the wreck his life is heading towards. Very realistic [and a] highly accomplished production."
~ Michael Magnusson, InPress Magazine, February 2, 2005
"Stunning… In Good Sense, author and director Steve Willis has created a unique theatre piece. In Tim Austin’s capable hands, Jeff’s simple story is both moving and quite unique.”
~ InTheatre Magazine, New York City 1998
"What makes [Good Sense] unique and refreshing is that, instead of moving to the nearest major city, Jeff decides to stay living in the back woods to help make a better life for queer kids growing up in this rural county. It is the common man as hero… With an after-school special feel to the show, this would leave any liberal feeling cozy."
~ James A. Lopata, Off-Off-Broadway Review, New York City 1998 www.oobr.com
Publicity Photos:
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