Charles F. Gordon, known professionally as OyamO, is an American dramatist, educator, and author. His most famous works are "The Resurrection of Lady Lester", "Famous Orpheus", "I Am a Man" and "Let Me Live".
Background
Charles F. Gordon was born on the 7th of September, 1943 in Elyria, Ohio, the United States, the son of Earnest and Bennie Gordon. When Earnest shipped out to fight in World War II, OyamO's mother moved the family to Lorain, Ohio in order to be nearer to her family. OyamO was raised in Lorain, where he began to write stories, poems, and plays, as well as articles for the school newspaper and letters to the editor of the local paper.
Education
OyamO entered Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1963, but after two and a half years, he dropped out, disappointed in the curriculum and what he felt was a very conservative atmosphere. He also attended New York University, Brooklyn College, and Harlem Youth Speaks/First Light Video Institute.
Charles received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of New Rochelle in 1979 and earned a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting from Yale University School of Drama in 1981.
Career
OyamO joined the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1966 and began to get involved in political activism. His interests led him to New York City in search of a broader, more multiracial audience for his message. It was in New York that he acquired his pseudonym when someone misread the front of his "Miami University of Ohio" shirt, and OyamO adopted the resulting word. OyamO then proceeded to join acting workshops at the New Lafayette Theatre in Harlem where he served as an assistant technical director in 1967-69, interested in improving upon his playwriting skills through an understanding of the actors point of view.
OyamO also was an assistant stage manager at American Place Theatre, New York in 1970. The same year he founded Black Magicians theatre company. OyamO served as a master electrician at Negro Ensemble Company in 1971.
OyamO began to teach in 1972 at Afro-American Cultural Center, Buffalo as a creative writing teacher. He held the same position at Street Theatre, Eastern Connecticut Correctional Institute, Napanoch in 1975-76, at Afro-American Cultural Center, New Haven in 1978, at College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle in 1979-82. He was a writer-in-residence at Emory University, Atlanta from 1982 to 1983 and at Playwrights Center, Minneapolis in 1984.
OyamO was a visiting lecturer at Princeton University, Princeton in 1986-87. He also was an adjunct associate professor of playwriting at University of Michigan in 1989-90 and associate professor in 1990. Nowadays OyamO is a Professor of Theatre and writer-in-residence at the University of Michigan.
OyamO's writing has always been his main focus, and he has written approximately one play each year since the 1960s, though not all of them have been produced. OyamO wrote a lot of plays such as “Chumpanzees”, “The Negroes”, “Outta Site”, “The Thieves” , “Willie Bignigga”, “The Last Party” in 1970, “The Lovers”, “The Advantage of Dope” in 1971, “His First Step in The Corner” in 1972, “The Breakout” in 1972, “The Juice Problem” in 1974, “Crazy Niggas” in 1975, “A Star Is Born Again” in 1978, “The Place of the Spirit Dance” in 1980, “The Resurrection of Lady Lester” in 1981,“Let Me Live” in 1991, “Famous Orpheus” in 1991, “I Am a Man” in 1995, “The White Black Man”, “Boundless Grace”, “Liyanja” in 1998, “Kickin Summit in Free Market” and “Harry and the Streetbeat” in 2001.
Membership
OyamO is a past member of the NEA Professional Nonprofit Theatre Panel and a current NEA Site Monitor, Dramatists Guild, New Dramatists, Writers' Guild of America East.