"This is no industry showcase unless, of course, these people are completely out of their minds."
Steven Leigh Morris on Brad Mays' acclaimed and controversial 1997 production of
Euripides' The Bacchae which was nominated for three LA Weekly Theatre Awards
including Best Director.
The long and short of all this is that by 1982, Brad was living and working in New York City, where he directed a number of off-Broadway stage productions, including REQUIEM by Linda Chambers, DRAGON SLAYERS by Stanley Keyes, and the acclaimed THE WATER HEN by Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz. During this time he also produced and directed his first feature-length film, STAGE FRIGHT, which was premiered at the 1989 Berlin International Film Festival.
Since moving to Hollywood in 1991, Brad Mays has worked in a variety of capacities: screenwriter, script doctor, post production supervisor, producer, editor and director. He has also staged a number of highly-acclaimed and award-nominated theatrical productions: JOAN by Linda Chambers, MARAT/SADE by Peter Weiss, a highly controversial multimedia production of Anthony Burgess' A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, and the critially acclaimed 1997 hit production of Euripides' THE BACCHAE (which he adapted to film in 2002). In 2008, Brad completed work on the documentary film SING*ularity, a portrait of Ann Baltz's world-famous OperaWorks training program for classical vocalists. Mays' 2008 romantic comedy feature, THE WATERMELON, was featured at the 2008 San Diego Film Festival and is currently in national distribution. In 2009, Brad Mays finished work on the feature-length political documentary THE AUDACITY of DEMOCRACY, which followed the 2008 race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. Another project started that year, A WAY BACK IN, was finished in 2009 and subsequently awarded three Indie Fest Awards of Merit, for Short Film, Leading Actress, and Direction. The film was announced as an Official Selection of the 2010 Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema.
In 2009, Mays was invited by producer Annie Wong to participate - along with Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka, theatre scholar Richard Schechner, and acclaimed actor Alan Cumming - in a discussion about THE BACCHAE for an up-coming series "An Invitation to World Literature," which will launch on Annenberg Media's educational website in September, 2010. The series is also scheduled to be aired nationally on PBS through WGBH Boston, most likely in 2010. Mays is currently preparing to direct DEAD WEIGHT, a black comedy set in the American south, as well as a new dramatic web series FEATHERWEIGHT, which portrays the difficulties surrounding a woman trying to re-invent herself in the unforgiving world of boxing.
THE WATERMELON - Official Website
A WAY BACK IN - Official Website
Lincoln Center's Museum & Library of Performing Arts - Brad Mays page
Writer | Director | Editor
