Rich Amada Biography

I was born in a little log cabin hospital in the backwoods of Newark, New Jersey...

by Rich Amada © 2009

Too much?...Well, look at it this way-when you're writing your own biography, you've got to start off with something that'll draw 'em in. And starting off by mentioning the Emmy I won might come off a little too much like, well, you know...bragging. And I'm never comfortable doing that. But autobiographies are sort of a form of bragging, unless you also include with your triumphs all the times you fell flat on your face. (Honest, I thought that "Barbers on Ice" show was gonna work.)

My career as a dramatist started when I saw an advertisement for a playwriting competition in Tucson, Arizona. Saying to myself, "Hey, I can write something as good as that last piece of crap I saw on stage," I decided to give it a try. My very first play, a one-act comedy titled "The Dividing Line," was a winner in that contest, and, inspired by that early success, I've continued to write plays of varying lengths, styles and genres, ever since.

One particular production that I'm especially proud of was when I staged a performance of my play, "The Judicial Murder of Mrs. Surratt," in the Washington, D.C., building that was the title character's actual boarding house back during the time of the Civil War. Mrs. Surratt was implicated in the Lincoln assassination conspiracy, and she holds the dubious distinction of being the first woman judicially executed by the United States government. The performance took place on the 140th anniversary of her hanging, and scenes in the play were dramatizations of things that actually happened there 140 years before. Pretty cool, eh?

Other notable plays I've authored include: "The Link," which I believe may feature the first gay monster in a serious drama; "The Viola's Love Song," which is a quirky love triangle involving classical musicians whose instruments are somewhat representative of their characters; and "Face in a Window," a 15-minute boy-meets-girl story that has no audible dialogue whatsoever and that requires all the acting to take place within two "window frames." (It's kind of like watching a silent movie.)

In 2007, I became a D.C./Baltimore regional representative for the Dramatists Guild of America. Additionally, I've acted in various stage productions, have been on various arts related councils and committees, and also have served two terms as the president of The Old Pueblo Playwrights, an organization dedicated to helping writers improve their craft.

In addition to playwriting-and don't all of us have to do something in addition to playwriting if we're fond of eating?-I'm an attorney practicing in D.C. (I know what you're thinking. A lawyer in Washington? What're the odds?) I have my own law practice, Amada Law Office. I also author The Artful Jurist, a blog dedicated to law as it relates to the arts and entertainment fields. And, as if that weren't enough, before all of that I was in mass communications. For ten years I was a TV news reporter and won a half-dozen broadcast journalism awards. Did I mention the Emmy?

I've also had my share of awards as a playwright. About eight of them, if memory serves, including an individual artist award from the Maryland State Arts Council and a fellowship from the Arizona Commission on the Arts....Now, see? This sounds so much like bragging that I'm embarrassed by the immodesty.

Did I mention the Emmy?