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 Gustavo Ott(Caracas, Venezuela, 1963). Playwright and journalist with a B.A. in Mass Communications from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (Caracas, 1991), participant in the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa(1993), the Residence Internationale Aux Recollets in Paris (2006) and Cité Internationale des Arts de Paris Residency(2010). Recipient of numerous playwriting awards, including: the Tirso de Molina International Playwriting Prize (1998, Spain) for “80 Teeth, 4 Feet & 500 Pounds”; the Ricardo López Aranda International Playwriting Prize(2003, Spain) for “Your Molotov Kisses”; Nominated for the Helen Hayes Award/ The Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical (2009, Washington, D.C.) for “Mummy in the Closet; the Return of Eva Perón” ; Prix Ville de Paris/Etc_Caraïbe for ““Mademoiselle et Madame” ("Miss & Madame”); 2nd place, National Contest for Contemporary Creation and Innovative Playwriting of the Institute of Performing Artsand Music (2006, Venezuela) for “120 Lives a Minute”; Second Place, Torreperogil Playwriting Prize (2007, Spain) for “Monsters in the Closet, Ogres Under the Bed”; Venezuelan Ministry of Culture and Theatre Prize(Caracas, 2007) for “Proyecto Padre: Obras José”and Third BID Award “Hispanics in USA 2010”(Washington) for “Juanita Claxton”. First Finalist of Madrid-Sur Award for Plays, 2011 for "Three Five Dogs Nights".
Chosen in 2002 and 2003 to participate in the “New Work Now!” program at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in New York, with "80 Teeth…” and “Two Loves and a Creature," both translated by Heather McKay, as well as the Playwriting Program of La Mousson D’Ete in France and "La Mousson a Paris" in the Comedie Française, with “Photomaton”, translated by Françoise Thanas and directed by Michel Didym. In 2005 “Deux amours et une petitte Bette” was presented again in the Studio of the Comedie Française, also translated by Thanas, under the direction of Vicent Colin (Lecture Semaine de la Caraïbe). “Photomaton” was published in France by Les Solitaires Intempestifs de Paris.
In 1988 “Teatro Cinco” was published in Venezuela with the plays "Los peces crecen con la luna"(1983, "Red Sky At Night") "El Siglo de las luces,"(1986) and "Passport"(1988), which explores the loss of identity due to arbitrariness and lack of communication. Ott’s stage premiere, by the group TextoTeatro, came in 1989 with “Divorcées, Evangelists, and Vegetarians”, a comedy about women’s friendship. Other comedies followed, such as "Apostando a Elisa"(1990) and "Cielito lindo"(1990).The 1991 premiere of “Pavlov: Two Seconds Before the Crime”, showcased Ott’s hallmark “cruel and unusual humor” , GALA’s (Washington, D.C.) production of this play in 1995, under the direction of Abel Lopez, marked Ott’s debut on the American stage.
During those years, Ott wrote plays with social issues for wide audiences, with pieces like “Whoever Said I was a Good Girl? (1992), a play on youth gang violence, also produced in the U.S. by GALA. With “Good Girl…” Ott founded the Teatro San Martín de Caracas (TSMC), while that same year Madrid’s Cuarta Pared inaugurated its Lavapies Theater with “Passport", directed by Javier Yagüe. “Linda gatita”(“Minor Leagues”) also opened that year, chronicling the search for affection in relations between North and South America. “The Very Thought of You” (Quiéreme Mucho) followed at TSMC (1993), with parallel stories of immigration and love in two different generations symmetrically structured as an Escher painting. It opened in Caracas in 1994 directed by the author.
In 1996 Avispa Editorial(Madrid) published two volumes with six plays covering Ott’s early work. In 1997 "Las piezas del mal" was published in Caracas, collecting "Pavlov; 2 Seconds Before Crime", (1986) a play about crime, media and conditional reflexes;"Gorditas” ( “Fat Chicks”, 1993) a play for a female cast on the subject of ambition, and "Corazón pornográfico"(1995), a comedy that analyzes crime in a style that ranges from realism to comic book. In 1996 Ott began his most important group of plays to that date, which he called “Pentagram,” comprised of five plays in what he dubbed “the Latin American macabre style.” These include "Comegato,” (1997) a work on the dilemma between decency and crime, stage in Caracas in 1998 directed by the author; "Fotomatón” (1995), an autopsy of the Latin American soul, stage in Caracas in 1999 directed by the author; “80 Teeth, 4 Feet & 500 Pounds” (1996), an epic piece on the subject of guilt; “Tres esqueletos y medio” (1997), a play on the macabre intersection between transcendence and the criminal present, stage in Caracas in 2000 directed by the author; and “Miss” (1999) an epic piece on Latin American ambition, stage in Caracas in 2002 directed by the author.
In 2002 Casa de América in Madrid published "Dos amores y un bicho”(“Two Loves and a Creature”),a play that inaugurated a new period in Ott’s style, with few ties to his previous work, particularly in its use of form, subject and language. This play about hatred was quickly translated to English, French, German, and Creole, and premiered in Caracas in 2004, under direction of the author. As "Deux amours et une petite bette”, the play opened in December 2003 in Lyon, France. That year, Ott’s one-man show “Bandolero y malasangre,” (Brigand et Filou) translated by Françoise Thanas, premiered in Potiers, France by Scene Nationale and later opened in Catalan by the group Diverbia in Valencia, Spain. Conjunto (Cuba) published the play in 2004.
Also in 2004, in Santander, Spain, “Your Molotov Kisses”, a play on the interrelation of intolerance and terrorism, was published. “Molotov” premiered the same year in the Teatro Cuyás of la Palma on Grand Canary Island, sand also in Argentina (CELCIT, 2006), and has been performed in Mexico (Teatro Xola, DF, 2006), Portugal (AL-MaSRAH Teatro, Algarve), Washington, D.C. (GALA, 2008), Colombia (Teatro Nacional, 2008), California (Teatro de las Américas, 2008), Caracas (2009) and participate in the The Kitchen Dog Theater of Dallas as part of its “New Plays” stage reading program in 2007.
In 2006 Ott opened his first comedy in 10 years, "Pony", on deception and the elections process. That same year, the Quartiers D´Ivry program in Paris presented “Deux amours…” and “Photomaton”, stage readings directed by Elizabeth Chailloux. “120 Lives minute”, a piece on catastrophe and the meaning of art and country, premiered in Caracas, under direction of the author in 2007, following the English production at Ohio Northern University, directed by Otto Minera.
In 2008 Spain’s Asociación de Autores de Teatro published “Monstruos en el closet, ogros bajo la cama” (“Monsters in the closet, Ogres Under the Bed”), a piece on the victims of 9/11, while Mexico’s Paso de Gato published “Passport” in its “Cuadernos de Dramaturgia Internacional”. That same year, Lagoudera Publishers in Athens published“Your Molotov´s Kisess” translated by Stamatis Polenakis and “Chat”(2008), a play about collective perversity in virtual communication, translated by Stamatis Polenakis, D. Siuva, Cleopatra Eleotriviari, S. Cufopulu, A. Sarafi, C. Tsocalidu and I. Lasopulu.
“Chat” opened at the Teatro San Martín de Caracas in April 2009, while GALA’s Tivoli Theatre saw the premiere of Ott’s musical “Mummy in the Closet: The Return of Eva Perón”(2008), on the beginnings of the macabre and the dirty war in South America. “Fotomatón” was included in the Performing Arts Marathon 2009 of Teatro IATI in New York, and “Your Molotov´s Kisess” and “Pony”, both directed by John Rodaz were performed in both Spanish and English at the Arena Stage in Miami. In 2009 under the direction of Tlaloc Rivas, CUNY staged a reading of “Miss and Madame” (2008), which explores hatred and admiration during the twentieth century through the rivalry between Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden. This play has been translated to English and French and was premiered at the Teatro San Martín de Caracas in 2010, winning Best Play Award (Premio Municipal de Teatro-Dramaturgia). Also, in French, "Miss and Madame" ( “Mademoiselle et Madame”) was presented at Limoges Festival (Limosin, Francia, 2010), and selected to participate at the Mardis Midi Program by Theatre du Rond Point in Paris (2011) both directed by Daniel Gouchard.
In the 2010 he recieved the 3rd BID Award "Hispanics in the USA" for "Juanita Claxton", (2007) translated into English by Heather Mckay, a play about the necessity of being rescued using 2005 hurricane Katrina as metaphor. In 2011 "Lírica" (2010) was premiered at the Teatro San Martín de Caracas, a play about poetry and friendship as an antidote for hatred and violence.
Also, in the 2011, Monte Avila Editores published his first fiction novel: "Yo no sé matar, pero voy a aprender", (I don´t know how to kill, but I will learn). As a novelist he also won the "Salvador Garmendia Fiction Novel Award 2011" for "Ella no merece ninguna piedad"
Meriwether Publishing in the U.S. has published selections from Ott’s plays in English translation by Heather McKay in “Audition Monologs for Student Actors” (1999); International Plays for Young Audiences (2000); “Audition Monologs for Student Actors II” (2001) and “New Audition Scenes and Monologues from Contemporary Playwrights: The Best New Cuttings From Around the World” (2003, 2005 and 2007).
Ott has won other awards, including: Juana Sujo (Caracas, 1990); the McLaren Comedy Playwriting Competition (Finalist), for "I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat" (USA, 1995); Puerto Rico’s Critics’ Award, for "Los peces crecen con la luna"; Best Play, Karzinbarcika Festival (Hungary) and Liverpool Festival (Canada) for "Pavlov"; Best Play, MB-Prague Festival 2003 for "Passport"; Best Play, Yakumo Festival 2007 (Japan) for “Wet Dog Waiting”(Bandolero y Malasangre); Venezuela’s Writers’ Circle Award (2001) and First Runner-up, Princess Grace Award-New York (2001) for "80 Teeth, 4 Feet & 500 Pounds"; CELCIT Award (2002) for "80 Dientes..."; "Miss" and Panama’s Escenas Award (Best Play of 2007) for “Divorciadas, evangélicas y vegetarianas”; and from 1990 six Municipal Theater Awards (Caracas, Venezuela), including Best Director in 1998.
Ott’s plays have been translated into English, Portuguese, German, French, Danish, Greek, Russian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Japanese, Galician, Catalan and Creole.
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