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Joshua Ravetch

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Name
  
Joshua Ravetch

Role
  
Writer

Shows
  
Joan of Arcadia


Joshua Ravetch imagesbwwstaticcomheadshots9390smjpg

Education
  
Stella Adler Studio of Acting

Joshua Ravetch is an American writer/director born in Los Angeles, California who co-created and directed Carrie Fisher's one-woman show Wishful Drinking, which had a successful run on Broadway. He also co-wrote and directed Dick Van Dyke in his first-ever one man show, "Step in Time! A Musical Memoir," which premiered at The Geffen Playhouse. Ravetch, a graduate of the Stella Adler Conservatory in Manhattan, took over Ms. Adler's signature script-interpretation classes before assuming the post as artistic director at the Stella Adler Conservatory West.

Work

Ravetch wrote and directed The Astronomer, which was performed at The Pasadena Playhouse with Academy Award winner Shirley Jones in the title role (after receiving a workshop production at the NoHo Arts Center Theatre). The play came on the heels of the whimsical project Ravetch co-wrote with stage and screen icon Dick Van Dyke, Step in Time! A Musical Memoir. Ravetch directed the world premiere production of the play at The Geffen Playhouse with Van Dyke starring. Ravetch collaborated with actress/writer Carrie Fisher, co-creating and directing her in Wishful Drinking Ms. Fisher's one-woman-show at Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse. It enjoyed an extended run on Broadway at Studio 54 and was adapted into a special for HBO. Mr. Ravetch was collaborating with Ms. Fisher on the sequel to Wishful Drinking that was to be titled, Wishful Drinking Strikes Back, a Geffen Playhouse commission at the time of her death.

Ravetch recently wrote and directed a workshop production of his new play, Chasing Mem'ries: A Play With Music, collaborating with legendary lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Tyne Daly and Robert Forster starred in the production. Norman Lear said, "If there were a Tony Award for a yet-to-be-fully-produced-play, “Chasing Mem’ries” would have my vote. In the play, Tyne Daly earns my Tony of the Decade award. This is a touching, luscious, triumphant piece of theater!” Chasing Mem'ries was just awarded the 2017 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and is to receive a world premiere production at the Geffen Playhouse in November of this year.

Ravetch also co-created and directed Onward: The Diana Nyad Story, chronicling the life of long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad as she ultimately succeeded in being the only person ever to swim 111 miles from Cuba to Florida. The play opened in Key West at The Studios of Key West, just one mile from where Diana made landfall at Smathers Beach after the fifty-four-hour non-stop swim. Diana Nyad performed live in the play, which is to tour next year. Ravetch also wrote and directed Go Figure!, starring Olympic champion ice skater Randy Gardner and featuring his lifelong skating partner Tai Babilonia, with ice skating royalty Dorothy Hamill. The play was hailed as an astonishing and riveting look at the world of Olympic ice skating during the Cold War. Gardner, Babilonia, and Hamill are taking the play to the Delaware Theatre Company later this year. In addition, Ravetch's critically acclaimed play, One November Yankee, performed by Loretta Swit and Harry Hamlin, was optioned as a movie by Pam Williams Productions.

Also at The Geffen Playhouse, Ravetch wrote and directed a workshop production of his play Writer's Cramp with Oscar nominee Robert Forster, Emmy winner and Tony nominee Holland Taylor, and Tony nominee Douglas Sills. His other credits include Periscope Up directed by Star Trek veteran, Jonathan Frakes. Ravetch also directed Clifford Odets' The Big Knife; Thomas Babe's Prayer For My Daughter; John Patrick's Hasty Heart and Ira Levin's Deathtrap which garnered five Drama Logue Awards including awards for Director and Production.

Ravetch's other playwriting credits include Girders at Los Angeles' Coast Playhouse starring Robert Forster, which won the coveted Odets Award. Forster also starred in workshop productions of Ravetch's plays Off Sides with Olympia Dukakis and Beacon with Brooke Shields.

His other plays include Invention with Stefanie Powers at the NoHo Arts Center, and he co-wrote One From the Hart, Powers' one-woman show which opened at the Orange County Performing Arts Centre. Also at The Coast Playhouse, Ravetch directed Bart Baker's play, Love Acts, with actress/supermodel Beverly Johnson. Johnson was nominated for the NAACP Image award for her performance.

Ravetch's television credits include CBS' Joan of Arcadia, Titan for TNT, Horseshoe Bay for Warner Brothers, and Yesterday for Laura Ziskin Productions. Miramax recently purchased his play Off Sides as a feature film.

In addition to his writing life, Ravetch held the post of SVP of Production Resources at New Line Cinema and is currently working with Amblin Partners and Alcon Pictures. In all, Ravetch has worked on over 100 feature films in his capacity as the head of Production Resources including Mission Impossible, the Austin Powers trilogy, The Wolf of Wallstreet, World War Z, The Guilt Trip, Sex and the City, Office Christmas Party, and is currently working on Ghost in the Shell with Scarlett Johansson and Blade Runner 2049 with Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling.

References

Joshua Ravetch Wikipedia