Biography
Over three decades, Havis has had his plays produced at theatres across the country and in Europe, including San Diego Rep, Old Globe, Seattle's ACT, Odyssey, Long Wharf, South Coast Rep, American Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Virginia Stage, WPA, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Trapdoor Theatre, Coral Gable’s New Theatre, Interact Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Co. and Rowholt Theater-Verlag (National German Radio).
Works commissioned by England's Chichester Festival, Sundance, San Diego Rep, Ted Danson's Anasazi Productions, South Coast Rep, Mixed Blood, CSC Rep, Malashock Dance, Carolina Chamber Chorale, National Foundation for Jewish Culture, and University of California, San Diego. Twenty one published plays including Morocco,
Hospitality and The Haunting of Jim Crow: Penguin/Mentor, Theatre Communications Group, Broadway Play Publishing, Applause Books, Smith & Kraus publishing. University of Illinois Press published his edited volume: American Political Plays in 2001. Southern Illinois University Press published in 2010 his second edited volume of American Political Plays After 9/11. Bloomsbury/Methuen in 2019 published American Political Plays in the Age of Terrorism.
His novels, Clear Blue Silence, Ktav Publishing 2022, Maddie Q, Willow River Press 2023, and Architects of the Taj Mahal, Willow River Press, 2024, opened new literary horizons during and after the Covid era. Harper/Collins published his children's novel Albert the Astronomer in 1978 and Goodreads Press published the sequel novel Albert Down a Wormhole in 2019.
His book on ninety years of cinema, Cult Films: Taboo & Transgression, was published by University Press of America.
In collaboration with composer Anthony Davis, his play Lilith was re-imagined as a chamber opera, premiering at UC San Diego’s Conrad Prebys Music Center December 2009 and showcased at Qualcomm Institute/UC San Diego 2015. His next collaboration with Mr. Davis was Lear on the 2nd Floor, which premiered as a work-in-process March 2012 at Princeton University, and a full length piece at UC San Diego's Conrad Prebys Music Center March 2013. Both operas can be viewed online at UCSD TV. His third opera with composer Joseph Waters, St. Francis de los Barrios was presented in showcase at Qualcomm Institute/UC San Diego 2017. His fourth opera with composer Michael Roth, The Golem of La Jolla, was presented as a concert showcase in La Jolla Playhouse's 2019 WoW Fest. His newest opera commission - again in partnership with composer Anthony Davis - Pancho Rabbit & Coyote, will premiere in 2026, Bodhi Tree Concerts/San Diego.
Recipient of Guggenheim, Rockefeller, Kennedy Center/American Express, CBS, HBO, National Endowment for the Arts Awards, San Diego Theatre Critics Circle 2003 Outstanding New Play for Nuevo California (co-written with Bernardo Solano) and San Diego’s 2008 Patté Best Play award for The Tutor. He has headed the MFA playwriting program at University of California San Diego and was Provost of Marshall College/UC San Diego 2006-2016. He was also Chair of Theatre & Dance Department, UC San Diego 2018-2020. He holds an MFA from Yale Drama School. http://theatre.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/allanhavis/
