William Cameron is a playwright, director, actor, and educator. His plays have been performed at venues around the country, including Theatre 40 in Los Angeles, the Harold Clurman Theatre in NYC, and the Curious Theatre Company in Denver.
Bill’s plays include Violet Sharp, a prize-winning drama of the Lindbergh kidnapping (Concord Theatricals); Truth Be Told (Stanley Drama Award, 2020), a drama confronting the mass shooting epidemic; and Every Livin’ Soul (Winner, Dayton Playhouse FutureFest 2022), a tale of Depression era crime and redemption.
In his thirty-one-year tenure as a professor of theatre and communication arts at Washington & Jefferson College, William founded the College’s first academic theatre program and directed over 40 student productions.
Plays
Winner, Ashland New Plays Festival, 2020
Winner of the 2020 Stanley Drama Award, presented by Wagner College
Winner of the W Keith Hedrick Playwriting Contest, HRC Showcase Theatre
Kathleen Abedon’s teenage son Julian carries an automatic weapon into his workplace and opens fire. When the smoke clears, fourteen people are dead, Julian among them. One year later, when true-crime writer Jo Hunter comes to town to interview Kathleen for a book on the shooting, the grief-stricken mother seeks to convince the skeptical journalist that Julian has been framed for the shooting. At a time in our history when the truth is under attack on a daily basis, Truth Be Told explores the nature of objective truth and the ways in which we manipulate and distort it to serve our own ends.
Freddy’s in love with Angie and she’s in love with him. The problem? Angie’s married to Spencer, Freddy’s older brother. This sets off a series of comical yet criminal misadventures, putting the whole family in the sights of Detective Lieutenant Alice Ford, who’s got issues of her own. Criminal Mischief takes a humorous look at love and sex, family and forgiveness, crime and punishment.
Based on the true story of the 1932 Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, Violet Sharp is named for the young British maid working at the home of Anne Lindbergh’s mother. In the wake of the historic kidnapping of beloved aviator Charles Lindbergh’s 20-month-old son, Violet raises the suspicion of the police with a contradictory testimony about her whereabouts to police investigator Officer Walsh. Under pressure from her own personal demons as well as the police, Violet’s efforts to clear her name cannot seem to overpower a growing reputation of guilt.
PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL FRENCH
VIOLET SHARP may use double casting. The playwright suggests the following but other combinations are certainly possible and are left to the discretion of the director:
Actress 1: Violet Sharp
Actress 2: Betty Gow
Actress 3: Adela
Actress 4: Anne Lindbergh, Edna Sharp, Laura Hughes, Nurse
Actor 1: Harry Walsh
Actor 2: Charles Lindbergh
Actor 3: Norman Schwarzkopf, Septimus Banks
Actor 4: John McGrath, Miller
In the darkest days of the Depression, a stranger finds refuge in an Ohio farmhouse. He begs a meal from Hannah, the widowed owner, and the two form a kinship. For Hannah, this handsome young man might be the harbinger of a brighter future. As her husband used to say, “There’s a little bit of good in every livin’ soul.” But when the stranger’s perilous secret is revealed, Hannah finds herself in a struggle for her family’s very existence.
Inspired by actual events, Every Livin’ Soul celebrates the resilience of hope in the face of desperation and heartbreak.
David Bradford is brought to trial for treason for his role as a rebel leader of the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. His lawyer, Daniel Redick, must fight the considerable powers of the United States government to save his client from the gallows. Commissioned by the Whiskey Rebellion Festival in Washington, Pennsylvania, The Trial of David Bradford will receive its world premiere in July 2021.
Patricia Krenwinkel, convicted for her role in the 1969 Tate and LaBianca murders, has now served 38 years of a life sentence and is up for parole. As she attempts to convince the parole board of her suitability for release, Krenwinkel is inevitably drawn back into the events of her troubled past—her childhood, her first meeting with Charles Manson, her life with the 'Family'" and, ultimately, her participation in the infamous murders. Cease to Exist takes us inside the tormented mind of Patricia Krenwinkel as she recounts her crimes and, ultimately, comes face to face with the sister of her most famous victim.
In the midst of the final dress rehearsal for her new play, director/playwright Dana is devastated when her fiancée Cliff, incensed and embarrassed that the character based on him comes off as a hapless buffoon, storms out. Distraught, Dana turns to Alice and Beck, her two actors, for comfort but they have issues of their own. Trapped in a loveless marriage with an older man, Alice has stumbled into a secret affair with Beck, her leading man. After some soul searching by all involved, Cliff stumbles back in with yet another crisis that brings everything to a head.
Published by Norman Maine Plays
Successes
"Every Livin' Soul", William Cameron's Depression-era drama, was named Best Play of the 2020 Dayton Playhouse FutureFest. The play was also voted audience favorite of the Festival.
The Wagner College Theatre has announced that the winner of this year’s Stanley Drama Award is William Cameron for his play, “Truth Be Told.”
My one-act, Speak the Speech, I Pray You..., which won the Nantucket Short Play Competition way back in 1996, has been published in Volume 1 of the Nantucket Short Play Anthologies. This short comedy ultimately became the basis for my full-length comedy, Thespians.
Violet Sharp, winner of the 2007 Julie Harris Playwriting Prize, is available for production through Samuel French.