BioClay McLeod Chapman
Clay McLeod Chapman is the creator of the rigorous storytelling session the Pumpkin Pie Show. In its ten years of existence, the award-winning Pumpkin Pie Show has toured extensively throughout the world – traveling to the Romanian Theatre Festival of Sibiu, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the New York International Fringe Festival, the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, the Edmonton Fringe Festival, the Minnesota Fringe Festival, the Dublin-based thisisnotashop art space, IGNITE 06 Festival, the Women Center Stage Festival and the Impact Theatre Festival, just to name a few – as well as such various venues as colleges, theatres, and theme parks in and around the country. The Pumpkin Pie Show continues to perform in New York City—including PS 122, the DR2 theatre, the Ohio Theatre, La Mama, the Red Room, the Kraine theatre, UNDER St. Marks Theatre, the CSV Cultural Center, the Zipper theatre, the Belt theatre, Culture Project, Galapagos Art Space, Speigeltent NY, the Bowery Poetry Club, the Brick Theatre, and Coney Island, USA. In literature, Chapman is the author of rest area, a collection of short stories, and miss corpus, a novel—both published by Hyperion books. miss corpus was recognized in part of The New Yorker's "Reading Glasses" series in 2003. He was a contributing author to One Ring Zero's "As Smart As We Are" album, featuring such writers as Paul Auster, Rick Moody, AM Homes, Margaret Atwood, among others. He wrote an introduction for Hugo Boss Prize-winning installation artist Pierre Huyghe's "Streamside Day Follies,” exhibited at the Dia: Chelsea gallery, the book of which will be published by JP Ringier. His short story “the battle of belle isle” is featured in Akashic Books’ infamous regional-noir anthology series “Richmond Noir.” Other stories have appeared in such literary journals as Hunger Mountain, Void Magazine, The Raconteur Reader, Blackbird, KGB Bar Lit, Edit Red, Lost Magazine, RVA Magazine, Opium, Feel the Word Magazine, and Sraboni Magazine. He has toured as a contributing author with “The Rolling Darkness Revue,” a roaming reading-series of horror writers created by Glen Hirshberg and Pete Atkins – culminating in the anthology At The Sign of the Snowman’s Skull published by Earthling Publications. Chapman’s short story "late bloomer" was adapted into film by director Craig Macneill and was an official selection at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival – as well as winning the audience award for best short at the Lake Placid Film Festival and the Brown Jenkins Award at the 12th Annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. Chapman is the author of such plays as teaser cow, bar flies, lee’s miserables, No Exitway, duct-tape to family-time, drinking games, redbird, jewish mothers, junta high, nested doll, the interstate and on, the cardiac shadow and volume of smoke. A stage version of his short story “birdfeeder” was selected for publication in The Best American Short Plays: 2007-2008 anthology. He has worked with the New Worlds Theatre Company on adapting turn-of-the-century Yiddish plays for a more contemporary audience, culminating in the published collection – Selected Yiddish Plays: Volume I: Works by Sholem Aleichem, Sholem Asch, I.D. Berkowitz and Peretz Hirshbein. Chapman has written the book for the musical HOSTAGE SONG with Obie-award winning Kyle Jarrow. He is currently working on writing the book for a new musical with Grammy-winner Bruce Hornsby, directed by Tony-winner Kathleen Marshal, titled SCKBSTD – as well as The Nitpicker, a new musical with rocker Mary McBride, directed by Scott Ellis. He is also on the writing-team for THE RIDE, a multi-media musical tour through New York City, produced by Counts Media, Inc. and Blue Man Group. As an educator, Chapman has traveled extensively throughout the country and beyond, teaching workshops in fiction writing, playwriting and performance. He has made stops at such various schools and institutions as Titan Theatre Academy, Norway (artist-in-residence 2005), thisisnotashop art gallery, Ireland (artist-in-residence 2006), St. Lawrence College (artist-in-residence 2008), Virginia Commonwealth University (artist-in-residence 2007), University of New Hampshire (artist-in-residence 2005), Laramie County Community College (artist-in-residence 2003), North Carolina School of the Arts (artist-in-residence 2003), San Francisco Art Institute (artist-in-residence 2000), Princeton University, Parsons School of Design, Brookdale Community College, Emerson College, Vassar College, The New School, Bard College, University of Richmond, Collegiate High School (VA), Rutgers Prepatory School (NJ), the Bronx Academy of Letters (NY), Wood River High School (ID), Telluride High School (CO), James River High School (VA), Locust Valley High School (NY), the Norfolk Governor’s School for the Arts (VA), the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School (VA), Midlothian High School (VA), the Telluride Writers Guild (CO), Sarah Lawrence College's summer playwriting intensive, Ensemble Studio Theatre summer writers conference at the Lexington Center for the Arts, Media Bistro’s 12-Week Novelist course, as well as the Idaho-based Company of Fool’s “New Voices” young playwrights program. Growing up in Virginia, Chapman was the recipient of the New Voices for the Theater award six years in a row – an annual statewide playwriting competition for students grades 6-12, which he has since served as playwright-in-residence for. He now sits on the advisory board for the James River Writers, a nonprofit organization whose signature event is the annual James River Writers Festival held in Richmond, Virginia. Chapman was educated at the North Carolina School of the Arts for Drama (Class of 1996), the Burren College of Art (1998-1999), and Sarah Lawrence College (Class of 2000). He now teaches writing at The Actors Studio MFA Program at Pace University.
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"If Chapman keeps up with the oddball characters, well-crafted stories, and critical plaudits, that Faulkner guy better watch out," the Village Voice’s Alexis Soloski wrote in a review of Clay McLeod Chapman’s Pumpkin Pie Show. Author Tom Robbins said of Chapman’s work, “Like a demonic angel on a skateboard, like a resurrected Artaud on methadrine, like a tattletale psychiatrist turned rodeo clown, Clay McLeod Chapman races back and forth along the serrated edges of everyday American madness, objectively recording each whimper of anguish, each whisper of skewed desire. This is strong stuff, intense stuff, sometimes disturbing stuff, but I think the many who admire Chuck Palahniuk will admire Chapman as well.”