JOHN FISHER 
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF




IN CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD WOLINSKY

John Fisher (Playwright/Director) has been the Executive Director of The GLAAD Media Award Winning Theatre Rhinoceros since 2002. He is also a nationally produced playwright and director. His plays include The Joy of Gay Sex, which was performed in New York City, and Medea: The Musical which was produced on HBO. Recent projects include Ishi: The Last of the YahiSex Rev, and Fighting Mac at Theatre Rhino and Red Scare on Sunset at ACT. John is the only two-time winner of the Will Glickman Playwright Award, and a recipient of the NEA Grant, a GLAAD Media Award for Medea: the Musical, two L.A. Weekly Awards, a Garland Award, two Cable Car Awards, a San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie Award, and ten Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Awards. John holds a Ph.D. in Dramatic Art from the University of California, Berkeley and has taught at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and, for the past two years, at the Yale School of Drama. He makes his home in the Haight-Ashbury District with his life-partner Michael.  

Theatre Rhinoceros, the world's oldest continuously producing professional queer theater, was founded in San Francisco, in August 1977, by the late Allan B. Estes, Jr. Its first play, The West Street Gang by Doric Wilson, was staged in a South of Market leather bar, The Black and Blue. Now in its twenty-ninth year, Theatre Rhinoceros remains committed to Allan Estes’ original vision of developing and producing works of theatre that enlighten, enrich, and explore both the ordinary and extraordinary aspects of our queer community.   
About the interviewer: 

RICHARD WOLINSKY hosts "Bookwaves on Cover to Cover" heard every Thursday at 3:00 pm on KPFA-FM in Berkeley and "Arts-Waves on Cover to Cover" every Monday at 3:00 pm on KPFA-FM, along with the Radio Wolinsky and Bay Area Theater podcasts at kpfa.org 

Other interviews related to theatre and the performing arts
Bookwaves 
John Fisher
 June 26, 2017  A discussion with John Fisher of Theatre Rhino about its productions or Priscilla 
Queen of the Desert and King Lear, 
aired on the program Arts-Waves

EARLIER INTERVIEWS

November 18, 2005  A discussion with John Fisher of Theatre Rhino and Ed Decker, Artistic Director of New Conservatory Theatre concerning both companies as well as Queer Theatre in general, aired on the program Open Book

February 25, 2008  John Fisher of Theatre Rhino talks about the history of the company and his own biograhy in this interview, originally aired on the KPFA Morning Program. (in mp3 format only)

April 24, 2009   John Fisher discusses the 2009-2010 Theatre Rhino season, comments on workshopping his play A Necessary Evil, and talks about his early work as a director and playwright
Extended Web Edit. 35-minute version of the 2009 interview.(in mp3 format only)

June 10, 2011  John Fisher discusses the 2011-2012 Theatre Rhino season and discusses in depth his latest work, Fighting Mac, at The Thick in San Francisco through June 19, 2011
Extended Web Edit  34-minute version of the 2009 inteview (in mp3 format only)

June 14, 2013  John Fisher discusses the 2013-2014 Theatre Rhino season and discusses his latest work as director, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You by Caryl Churchill, at the Costume Shop through June 23, 2013



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