Madeleine Olnek

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Madeleine Olnek
Olnek in 2014
Born
New York City, U.S.
Alma materNYU (BFA)
Brown University (MFA)
Columbia University (MFA)
Occupations

Madeleine Olnek is an American independent film director, producer, screenwriter, and playwright. She has written 24 plays and three feature films, including Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, The Foxy Merkins, and Wild Nights with Emily. Her feature films have been described as "madcap comedies with absurdist leanings" and are all centered around queer characters.[1]

Biography[edit]

Olnek was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. She studied drama at NYU and graduated in 1987, she received fellowships for an MFA in creative writing from Brown University, and the William Goldman Screenwriting Fellowship for an MFA in film from Columbia University.[2] She became a member of the advocacy group ACT UP in the early 90's.[3]

Olnek (right) with the cast of The Foxy Merkins at its Sundance Premiere in 2014

During her time at NYU, Olnek directed a comedy show called "The Follies" in which cast member and NYU classmate Molly Shannon created the basis for her Catholic schoolgirl persona, Mary Katherine Gallagher. Shannon credits Olnek with being "the midwife" to her signature sketch comedy character.[4] After graduating from NYU, Olnek was a downtown New York City playwright and director. She belonged to the Emerging Writers Group at New York's Public Theater and worked with the WOW Café theater in New York where she wrote and directed many plays including, Wild Nights with Emily (1999)[5] and Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (1992). Olnek began to realize that technological advances in the film industry were making it "the place of immediacy", so she began to focus on filmmaking.[6] She made her first short film Hold Up in 2006 and another Countertransference in 2009, both of which screened at the Sundance Film Festival.[7] Countertransference was awarded "Best Short Film Directed by a woman at Sundance" by Women in Film Los Angeles.[8]

In 2011, Olnek adapted one of her plays into her first feature film Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, which played at Sundance, MoMA, and The Viennale, and was nominated for the 2011 Gotham Independent Film Awards.[9] Her second feature film The Foxy Merkins, which also included some of the actors from Codependent, played at Sundance, The Moscow International Film Festival, and BAMcinemaFest. It was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Olnek received research grants from Harvard University Press and the Guggenheim Foundation to adapt another of her plays into her third feature, Wild Nights with Emily.[10] The film was the first ever on-screen portrayal of a queer Emily Dickinson. It starred Molly Shannon, premiered in 2018 at SXSW, and was nominated for the John Cassavetes Independent Spirit Award.[11] The Rotten Tomatoes editorial staff ranked it in the top ten of "The Best Comedies of 2019."[12]

Personal life[edit]

Madeleine Olnek considers herself a "lady homosexual"[13] and lives in New York City.[14] She likes to tell jokes.[15]

Filmography[edit]

Year Film Type Credit
2006 Hold Up[16] Short film Director
2006 Make Room for Phyllis[17] Short film Director
2009 Countertransference[18] Short film Director, Producer
2011 Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same Feature film Director, Writer, Producer
2013 The Foxy Merkins Feature film Director, Co-writer, Producer
2018 Wild Nights with Emily Feature film Director, Writer, Producer

Bibliography[edit]

Selected plays[edit]

  • Fan Mail (1987), co-written with Nancy Swartz[19]: 94 
  • Case Studies (1988), co-written with Dominique Dibbell and Nancy Swartz[20]
  • Double Awareness, Double Awareness (1991)[20]
  • Spookyworld (1992)[20]
  • Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (1992)[21][19]: 83 
  • The I'm Not Welcome Anywhere Christmas Special[22]
  • The Jewish Nun (1992)[22][20]
  • It's Not the Shoes (1992), an adaptation of The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Hans Christian Andersen for the Alternate Visions Theater Troupe of Youth Enrichment Services at the LGBT Center[20]
  • Disaster Area Nurse (1993)[20][23]
  • Destiny of Mimi (1994)[20]
  • How To Write While You Sleep (1998)[22]
  • Wild Nights with Emily (1999)[5]
  • Gay! Gay! Gay! (1999)[23]

Textbooks[edit]

  • A Practical Handbook for the Actor by Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Nathaniel Pollack, Robert Previtio, Scott Zigler, and David Mamet

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Dry, Judy (11 March 2018). "'Wild Nights With Emily' Review: Molly Shannon Is Emily Dickinson in the Best Lesbian Comedy in Years — SXSW". IndieWire. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  2. ^ Ambroff-Tahan, James (30 August 2018). "Filmmaker Madeleine Olnek Gives Voice to Women's Stories". Adobe Create Magazine. Adobe Inc. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  3. ^ Esposito, Cameron (5 May 2019). "Episode 85: Madeleine Olnek". Queery with Cameron Esposito (podcast). Event occurs at 48:36. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  4. ^ Dry, Jude (2019-04-13). "Molly Shannon Beat the Post-'SNL' Slump By Being Her Weird and Wonderful Self". IndieWire. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  5. ^ a b "Circus Catch". Village Voice. 15 June 1999. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  6. ^ Luers, Erik (5 December 2014). ""85% of Protagonists in Film and Television are Male": Madeleine Olnek on The Foxy Merkins". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  7. ^ "Catching up with Madeleine Olnek". Curve Magazine. 13 January 2011. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  8. ^ "Gale General OneFile - Document - Women in Film Hosts Sundance Panel, Award Event". go.gale.com. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  9. ^ Guerrasio, Jason (November 17, 2011). "Check Out Gothams' Best Film Not Playing At A Theater Near You Nominees at MOMA This Weekend". Filmmaker Magazine. IFP. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  10. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (26 November 2018). "Emily Dickinson SXSW Comedy 'Wild Nights With Emily' Set At Greenwich". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  11. ^ "Two Films by Columbia Filmmakers Nominated for 2020 Independent Spirit Awards". Columbia - School of the Arts. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  12. ^ "The Best Comedies of 2019 - Funniest Comedy Movies of the Year". Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  13. ^ Pedersen, Hans (15 January 2015). "The Foxy Merkins". Echo Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019. No, we're all out, and we've all paid a price.
  14. ^ "Wild Nights with Emily". Cucalorus Film Festival. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  15. ^ "QUEERY with Cameron Esposito: Madeleine Olnek on Apple Podcasts - Event Occurs at 1:03:20". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  16. ^ Kilday, Gregg (6 December 2005). "Sundance Fest Picks 73 Shorts". Backstage. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  17. ^ "Make Room for Phyllis". Nashville Film Festival / Agile Ticketing Solutions. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  18. ^ Silverstein, Melissa (20 January 2014). "Sundance Women Directors: Meet Madeleine Olnek". IndieWire. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  19. ^ a b Hughes, Holly; Tropicana, Carmelita; Dolan, Jill (30 November 2015). Memories of the Revolution: The First Ten Years of the WOW Café Theater. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472068630. Retrieved 2 February 2019 – via GoogleBooks.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g Davy, Kate (2010). Lady Dicks and Lesbian Brothers: Staging the Unimaginable at the WOW Café Theatre. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472071227. Retrieved 2 February 2019 – via GoogleBooks.
  21. ^ Johns, Merryn (March–April 2016). "A world of women: celebrating the WOW Cafe, New York City's legendary lesbian theater space". Curve. p. 54+. Retrieved 2 February 2019 – via General OneFile. Madeleine Olnek, for example, wrote the funny-yet-political Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same while at WOW.
  22. ^ a b c Lefkowitz, David (22 May 1998). "Last Chance To Write While You Sleep in Soho, to May 24". Playbill. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  23. ^ a b Ehren, Christine (11 October 2011). "Co-dependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same in San Francisco, Oct. 11-28". Playbill. Retrieved 2 February 2019.

External links[edit]

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