Noted Author-Playwright-Director to Speak at ISU April 30

Adam Rapp will present a free lecture about his work at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 30, in the Center for the Visual Arts room 151.  Rapp, who was a writer and creative consultant for HBO television's "The L Word," is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, director and novelist.                  

Among Rapp's critically acclaimed novels for young adults are "33 Snowfish," "Under the Wolf" and "Copper Elephant."  His plays include "Blackbird," "Red Light Winter," "Stone Cold Dead Serious," "Nocturne," "Finer Noble Gases," "Essential Self-Defense," "Gompers" and "Animals and Plants."

The Chicago-born, Joliet-raised Rapp wrote and directed the film "Winter Passing" in 2005 starring Ed Harris, Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel.  The movie received its world premiere as an official selection of the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. As if that isn't enough, Rapp is a member of the band, Less the Band, which released a CD, "Bear," in April 2006.

Rapp has been the recipient of the Brodkin Scholarship, two Lincoln Center Awards, a fellowship to the Camargo Foundation in France, the 1999 Princess Grace Award for Playwriting, a 2000 Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, a 2000 Suite Residency with Mabou Mines theatre, the 2001 Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, Citation from the American Theatre Critics Association, a Lucille Lortel Nomination for Best New Play and two OBIE Awards.