Arthur M. Jolly (he/him), shares the typical playwright background of starting in the NY film industry as a stunt performer and special effects artist; then becoming a pilot and flying helicopters for the US Army in Alabama; and later flying tourists from Las Vegas into the Grand Canyon. Given such a predictable trajectory, his decision to quit flying and move to Los Angeles to write is all too familiar. Feature screenplays include Where We Disappear on Amazon Prime. Jolly was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting, and winner of the Hammond House International Literary Prize for a Screenplay.
As the playwright of 75 produced plays, Jolly won the Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award, the Region IV David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award, and was a finalist for the Woodward/Newman Drama Award. In 2019, Jolly was invited to participate in the inaugural Alley Theatre at Ucross Residency. Published works include A Gulag Mouse, The Ithaca Ladies Read Medea, The Lady Demands Satisfaction, Long Joan Silver, Mrs. Dilber’s Christmas Carol, Past Curfew, Rising, There Is No Play, Trash and two collections of short plays Guilty Moments and Thin Lines.
Jolly is a proud member of The Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights and The Dramatists Guild.
Plays
In 1953, after interrogation by the House Unamerican Activities Committee, five university wives meet for their monthly play reading knowing one of them betrayed the others.
Published by Next Stage Press.
A woman's arrival at a Siberian Gulag destroys the intricate web of hierarchy, alliance and treachery among the other four inmates of her bunkhouse.
Matthew and Tina's marriage is already on the rocks when Tina's friend Christopher moves in with a secret agenda to get Tina out of the picture and steal Matt's heart once and for all.
Two estranged sisters clash when they attempt to recover their mother's dying message - a letter that has been thrown out with the trash and now resides in a municipal dump.
Years of bitter conflicts erupt as a single mother and her teenage daughter confront the unspoken issues between them in a night of vicious headgames.
Long Joan Silver and her all-female crew take on discrimination and inequality as well as Squire Trelawney, Jim Hawkins and all the regular characters in this hysterical new version of the classic adventure story Treasure Island.
A new fairy tale for all ages - a spoiled Princess must find three magical christmas gifts for her parents if she is to escape an arranged marriage to the world's stupidest Prince.
A full length farce - winner of the Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award and the Joining Sword and Pen Competition; finalist: Inkslinger Playwriting Competition, Austin Playhouse New Plays Festival; semi-finalist: Judith Royer Award for Excellence in Playwriting from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, and the Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival.
When a young maiden who has never touched a sword learns she must defend her inheritance in a duel, she struggles with a milksop suitor, a servant girl posing as a Prussian fencing master, a Prussian fencing master who thinks he is there to marry her, a stodgy lawyer and her domineering aunt – the finest blade anywhere - to save her house and lands.
Photo by Edward T. Morris
Successes
Arthur M. Jolly's The Lady Demands Satisfaction won the Region IV David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award.
Member Arthur M. Jolly has been invited to join Tony Award winner Tony Askins, Vichet Chum, Claire Kiechel, and Molly Beach Murphy at the new Alley at Ucross Residency, a partnership between the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas, and Ucross.
Arthur M. Jolly's The Lady Demands Satisfaction won the Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award.
SALES OF A DEAD MAN, a short workplace comedy about irascible coworkers clashing over who will get the sales commissions of a deceased colleague, won First Place in the Tree City Playhouse 10 Minute Play Competition, and will be produced in Sylvania, Ohio, May 4th-6th, 2018.
Houston playwright Arthur M. Jolly's one act play Rising, about seven students trapped in their classroom by the rising floodwaters of Hurricane Harvey, has been published by YouthPLAYS. All author proceeds from the play will be donated to hurricane relief charities.