Gary Garrison’s (’78 M.F.A.) latest play, Caught, Without Candy, was produced as part of the Boston Theatre Marathon in May — just the latest in the long line of accomplishments for the author of more than a dozen plays and several playwriting books.
Also this year, he saw his play Verticals and Horizontals read at a New York City theatre and was invited to conduct a playwriting workshop at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Garrison, who has taught at New York University for more than two decades, also serves as executive director for The Dramatists Guild of America, a national service organization for theatre professionals.
He was drawn into writing as a doctoral student after studying acting and directing at North Texas, where he credits his professors for encouraging him to pursue a theatre career.
“We were taught — mostly by Ellyn Gersh and Brenda DeVore (’77 M.S.) — to believe in ourselves and our talent, to have a vision for our future and to engage our passion,” he says.
“That’s never, ever left me.”