Marcus Gardley is a proud Oakland-born playwright-poet whom the New Yorker calls “the heir to Garcia Lorca, Pirandello and Tennessee Williams.” His play, X: Or, Betty Shabazz v. The Nation was a New York Times Critic Pic and was remounted off-Broadway in the Spring of 2018. His play The House That Will Not Stand opened off-Broadway in the summer of 2018 to rave reviews and a sold-out extension with 8 AUDELCO nominations, winning 4 including Best Play. It is now being adapted into a motion picture written by Gardley. He is the recipient of the 2019 Doris Duke Artist Award and the 2019 San Francisco Library Laureate Award. Gardley received the 2018 Guiding Light Award presented by Cal Shakes and won the 2017 Special Citation Theater Award for his play black odyssey, which swept the Theater Bay Area Awards garnering 6 other prizes including Best Production and a special playwrighting award. He is the 2015 Glickman Award for The House That Will Not Stand and the 2013 USA James Baldwin Fellow. He was the 2011 PEN Laura Pels award winner for Mid- Career Playwright. His work has been produced across the country with several productions in England and France. Upcoming productions include: a musical called Paradise Square with choreography by Bill T. Jones and directed by Moises Kaufman slated for Broadway. Currently, Gardley is writing a biopic about Marvin Gaye produced by Dr. Dre, and a film adaptation of 12 Angry Men and developing a TV series with OWN and HBO as well as F/X and a TV series with Michael B. Jordan about Mansa Musa.