reviews_and_ramblings | Joe Pintauro (born November 22, 1930)

Joseph T. Pintauro was born in Ozone Park (New York) on November 22, 1930. After studying at Manhattan College, he earned a degree in American literature at Fordham University, then a degree in Philosophy at Saint Jeromes College (Ontario), after which he attended for four years the Faculty of Theology at Niagara University. From the beginning, his books of poetry are published by Harper & Row also in collaborations with artists such as Corita Kent and Norman Laliberte. Pintauro has also written short stories and novels: it must be remembered the quartet called Rainbow Box. He worked for eight years as an advertisement executive for the Young and Rubicam.

His three-act plays about the life of Italian-Americans in New York, named Cacciatore, was his first critical acclaim. Snow Orchid, his first long work, was later produced with Olympia Dukakis, Peter Boyle and Robert Lupone at Circle Rep. The work was brought to London with Jude Law and Paola di Ognisotti. His fondness for the one-act has given birth to many works as American Divine, staged in Chicago, and Moving Targets, staged at Vineyard Theatre in New York.

Among the works in two acts it has to be remembered Beside Herself played by William Hurt, Lois Smith, Calista Flockhart and Melissa Joan Hart; Raft of the Medusa, which was staged at the Minetta Lane and then at the Gate (Notting Hill), London (with the title Salvation). Men's Life is an adaptation of the book by Mattheissen, work chosen for the inauguration of the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor. The Dead Boy on faith and trauma suffered today by the Catholic clergy, was a laboratory work for the Royal Court in London under the direction of Stephen Daldry and again with Ian McKellen. Pintauro has directed this work in the German version in the Netherlands with the title Dode Jongen, with Anton Lutz. The work was presented in its final form in 2004 with Roy Scheider and Mercedes Ruehl.

The collection of his 40 one-act plays called Metropolitan Operas (brought on stage in New York by Dramatists Play Service) was then shown around the world in various languages: also to be remembered the transposition in the form of Commedia dell'Arte, in Venice with Carla Poli.

The trilogy By the Sea, By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea in collaboration with Terrence McNally and Landfrod Wilson, was staged for The Bay Street Film Festival and later for The Manhattan Theatre Club. Heaven and Earth, a work on American rural life, is also produced by Bay Street and was directed by Jack Hofsiss.

Pintauro has also written the screenplay for Beautiful Dreamer, a film about the civil war and the only woman ever to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Source: http://www.arcadiateatro.com/authors/100

Joe Pintauro, 1980, by Robert Giard (http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/dl_crosscollex/brbldl_getrec.asp?fld=img&id=1124020)

American photographer Robert Giard is renowned for his portraits of American poets and writers; his particular focus was on gay and lesbian writers. Some of his photographs of the American gay and lesbian literary community appear in his groundbreaking book Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers, published by MIT Press in 1997. Giard’s stated mission was to define the literary history and cultural identity of gays and lesbians for the mainstream of American society, which perceived them as disparate, marginal individuals possessing neither. In all, he photographed more than 600 writers. (http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/giard.html)

Further Readings:

Plays By Joe Pintauro: Full Length Plays by Joe Pintauro
Paperback: 180 pages
Publisher: Broadway Play Pub (July 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 088145270X
ISBN-13: 978-0881452709
Amazon: Plays By Joe Pintauro: Full Length Plays

Pintauro has fully inherited the best tradition of American playwriting; his post-Ibsen use of symbols and metaphors from the natural world, his lyricism and his wit make him resemble Tennesee Williams in particular. --Alastair Macaulay, Financial Times (London)

Reeks of passion and authenticity and is slap bang in the American tradition of LONG DAY'S JOURNEY. --Michael Coveny, The Observer (London)

Pintauro reveals a talent for dramatizing grand passions with almost operatic vigor. He unleashes a volcanic uproar of affection, obscenities and physical abuse worthy of Raging Bull. --Frank Rich, The New York Times

Reeks of passion and authenticity and is slap bang in the American tradition of LONG DAY'S JOURNEY. --Michael Coveny, The Observer (London)

Pintauro reveals a talent for dramatizing grand passions with almost operatic vigor. He unleashes a volcanic uproar of affection, obscenities and physical abuse worthy of Raging Bull. --Frank Rich, The New York Times

More Particular Voices at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Particular Voices