Mike Geither
Playwriting | Cleveland State University
Contact
Phone | (216) 687-3955
Email | m.geither@csuohio.edu
Recent Publications
SELECTED PRODUCTIONS
Tattooed Shirtless Smoking Cosmonaut (full-length play, in development). Zuppa Theatre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2020.
Teiresias, Black-Belt Savior (full-length play, in development). Theatre La Catapulte, Ottawa, ON, 2019/2020.
Heirloom (solo performance, in development). Convergence-Continuum, September 2019.
Ismene (adaptation). University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, November 2017.
The Events of the Warren County Fair as Observed by a Young Astronaut (fifty-minute toy theatre play). Independent Production, July 2016–present, performed in private residences and non-traditional theatre settings. Carnegie Mellon University Drama Department, September 2017.
Objectively/Reasonable: A Community response to the Shooting of Tamir Rice, 11/22/14 (collaborating playwright). Playwrights Local, August/September 2016 & February/March, 2017.
Creation Myth (full-length devised play). Convergence Continuum – Tweener Series, June 2016.
Flame Puppy (full-length play for voices). Playwrights Local 4181, Cleveland, OH November 2015.
Tear It Off (full-length play). Convergence Continuum, Cleveland, OH, August 2015.
Loki and Lucy (play for children). Talespinner Children’s Theatre, Cleveland, OH, September/October 2014.
About Mike
Mike Geither’s plays and solo performances have been staged in San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, New York and London. He is a four-time Ohio Arts Council fellow and has served as a resident artist at Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito and as Playwright-in-Residence at Cleveland Public Theatre. Recent works include Heirloom (2021, 2019), The Events of the Warren County Fair as Observed by a Young Astronaut (2016–2019), Ismene (2017), Objectively/Reasonable: A Community Response to the Shooting of Tamir Rice (2017), Creation Myth (2016), and Flame Puppy (2015).
Where did you grow up?
Parma, Ohio, he said sheepishly.
What is one of your favorite places in Cleveland?
The best place in the world is Cleveland’s West Side Market where vendors are constantly telling you why their produce is the best and and wondering aloud as to why you’re not buying it.
Your most awkward moment with a famous writer?
Holly Hughes after a performance in Cleveland. She was easily the most important writer to me in my MFA years and I was chanting to myself, “I’m not going to gush. I’m not going to gush” just as I opened with, “You’re the most important writer in my life.”
Your best piece of advice for a young writer?
There are two:
1. Don’t hoard ideas. If you’re thinking about something you should be writing about it.
2. Indulge your obsessions. Write through them. They’re your friends and they won’t always be around.
What’s your secret talent?
I can whistle crazy-ornate songs. I can do Flight of the Bumble Bee and also make it sound like a robot is whistling it.
How do you respond when someone challenges the role of the MFA in creative writing?
My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
What is your AWP advice to a first-time attendee?
Be ready. There will be every press you ever wanted to be published in. There will be panels in every time slot that you want to attend. There will be amazing readings and amazing readers.
In two sentences or less what does the NEOMFA mean to you?
It means writers in different forms sharing the same classroom.
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English Department
Cleveland State University
2121 Euclid Ave., RT 1815
Cleveland, Ohio 44115