(Above) Bruce Graham performing in his play The Philly Fan - at the Hedgerow Theatre October 2023.
The Philly Fan was originally written for Graham's friend, the late Tom McCarthy. Though created in 2004 during a period when local sports teams were particularly hapless, by 2023 the script had to be rewritten to take into account some recent successes. A story in the Inquirer noted that during the run of the show, he sometimes had to perform during actual Philadelphia Phillies playoff games - which was difficult for him and for fans in the audience.
Over the years, in fact, "Philadelphia's Favorite Playwright," Bruce Graham has been the subject of countless feature articles, penned by arts reporters for the city newspapers and magazines.
Usually these stories were accompanied by photos of the playwright, either posing on the set of his latest production, or else sitting in his home office, looking completely unconcerned about his appearance - the average Philly guy, who just happened to have a great gig writing plays. Reporters seem to know that Graham could always be counted on for some Good Copy - a mordant quip, a sly observation, or a self-deprecating remark.
Here is a sampling from some of those feature stories and photos:
(Below) December 4, 1986: "Rainbow's End: Playwright Shepherds Eight-Year Effort of Annenberg Stage." By Will Thompson, Inquirer Staff Writer.
Bruce Graham of Ridley Township sat in a corner of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Center, exuding an uncanny likeness of actor Jack Nicholson about to go into one of his crazy acts.
Graham's dark hair recedes at the temples, for example, with a Napoleonic flap of it over the broad forehead. Dark alert eyes and a tight impish gring are surrounded by a short growth of beard.
"Yeah," he said as he stretched the grin to quiet amusement. "People say I look like him." . . He got up and walked a short distance inside to the theater auditorium. "How do you like the stage setting?" he asked. "I think it's pretty neat. Just the way I wanted it." . . . The play ["Last Evening at the Rainbow Bar and Grille"] is about what happens while a small group of people sit together in a bar, waiting for the world to end . .
Graham said he started writing his play . . . about "eight years ago, when I was a senior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Originally, it was bad. I think I rewrote it about six times of over an eight-year period."
(Right) May 5, 1988: "A local playwright on evil and friendship," Douglas Keating about the play Minor Demons, in the Inquirer.
His tie is nearly always askew; his loose-fitting clothes have a rumpled lool. During an interview over drinks at a restaurant near the Annenberg Center, where Minor Demons was rehearsing, he wore a baseball cap bearing the legend "ABC Olympics." He said he always wears a hat for good luck during rehearsals
In conversation, he affects a breezy, casual air. Asked how he got into writing for television, he said, "I have an agent who knows I'll do anything for a buck. I can write sitcom stuff. It's easy. I sell one script and I can live for a year. . . What I wrote was crap, and they crapped it up even more."
Graham isn't particularly reverent about his playwriting either. "I always know who I'm ripping off when I write a play," he said. "'Devious Means' is my John Guare play. 'Rainbow' is Neil Simon, I guess. 'Burkie' was Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams."
(Below) March 26, 1990: "Glad Tidings For 'Family's' Favorite Son." William B. Collins in the Inquirer.
Taking the new in order of importance: 1) Bruce Graham's [wife] Stephanie is pregnant with their first child. 2) Bruce Graham won the first Dennis McIntyre Playwriting Award. 3) Bruce Graham's new play, "The Belmont Avenue Social Club, was cited by the city's Commission on Human Relations for attacking 'the moral evil of racism and discrimination.'
. . This may be the first time a play has been pronounced good before anyone had even seen it. Opening Night of the Festival Theater production is still a couple of weeks off. But a letter to Graham from the commission chairman . . . goes all out, saying, "We hope that your play will receive the public acclaim it deserves!"
[But] . . . Graham warned the audience not to expect another raffish comedy. . . . Noting that he alternates light plays with serious one, he said, "This is the year of the ugly play."
(Below) October 29, 1993:
(Above) April 12, 2009: "Act 1 - Playwright in Repose." Howard Shapiro in the Inquirer.
The dean of Philadelphia dramatists has recently been sprawling across a cot normally reserved for actors at the Arden Theatre Company in Old City – highly casual for a guy just days away from his next world premiere . . "Something Intangible," about two Hollywood brother who vaguely resemble Walt and Roy Disney. . . . "He's been lying there during rehearsals, listening to the rhythm of the play," explains Terrence J. Nolen, head of the Arden. . .
. . ."This is typical Graham," Nolen recounts. "I get a phone call one Sunday morning: 'Do you want to do my new play? I stuck it in your mailbox.' I walked down to the mailbox. There was the play. I sat down and read it and two hour later called and said. 'We'd love to do it.'"
Which is how Bruce Graham ended up sprawled but unasleep on a cot at the Arden.
Philadelphia Festival Theatre - Episode 110
