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Sherwood Kiraly ’07

Associate Professor of English & Theatre, Writer-in-Residence

Sherwood Kiraly

Meet Professor Kiraly

Years at Knox: 2011 to present

"Good writing, on page, stage or screen, has provoked, consoled, delighted, moved and inspired me all my life, so creating it -- or helping someone else do so -- is the best way I can think of to justify myself.

It's easy to spot the ingredients in strong creative writing - story and style; simple - but when we try to put them together ourselves it becomes a mystery only occasionally solved. Having worked in several forms, including fiction, playwriting and screenwriting, I've become familiar with the demands of each, and working through them with Knox students is exhilarating for me and, I hope, helpful for some of them. They surprised me with their writing in 2010; I'm looking forward to further surprises.

As for my own material: I was struck years ago by the attributed deathbed maxim of the actor Edmund Gwenn that dying is hard, but comedy is harder, so my personal blend is a serious situation marbled with character humor. When it works, it's like life, only just a little better."

Education

B.A., Theatre, 1972, Knox College.

Teaching Interests

Creative writing.

Selected Professional Accomplishments

Honors/Grants

  • Laguna Beach Artist of the Year Award (Laguna Beach Alliance for the Arts, Third Annual Art-Star Awards), Laguna Beach, California, 2009.
  • Best Feature Film Nomination for Diminished Capacity, Midwest Independent Film Festival, Chicago, Illinois, 2008.
  • Backstage West Honorable Mention for the play Who's Hot/Who's Not, 2001.
  • Knox College Alumni Achievement Award "in recognition of his outstanding achievements as a Novelist," 2000.

Publications

Wrote the "What's So Funny" column for the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot (Tribune Co.), 2002-2009.

Adapted Diminished Capacity into a screenplay which was filmed in 2007 as a co-production of Plum Pictures and Steppenwolf Films, starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Alda, Virginia Madsen, Dylan Baker, Louis CK, Lois Smith, Jim True-Frost and Bobby Cannavale and directed by Terry Kinney, 2008.

Adapted Who's Hot/Who's Not into a play which received its Equity premiere at the Laguna Beach Playhouse in California, 2001.

Who's Hot/Who's Not (Berkley), 1998.

Big Babies (Berkley), 1996.

Diminished Capacity (Berkley), 1995.

California Rush, published by Macmillan, 1990.

With Joe Martin, co-wrote an episode of "E/R," a CBS sitcom starring Elliott Gould, Mary McDonnell and George Clooney, 1984.

Performances

Writer in Residence: wrote and performed, as actor and musician, the full-length play Hug It Out, the final production of the second Knox New Plays Festival in Spring 2016.

Workshopped and acted in a new comedy, Scared Money, in Laguna Beach, staged by Gallimaufry Performing Arts, 2009.

What Students Say

  • Sherwood Kiraly genuinely takes an interest in his students -- not just as students, but as artists and as human beings. He always makes himself accessible to discuss their writing or any ideas they have for future pieces, and always has the perfect anecdotes to share. He has even collaborated with his students on projects, such as participating in a reading of a student-written play. He has a wonderful respect for the works that his students create . . . and is there to guide them every step of the way as they write. Taking a class with, talking to, or even just seeing Sherwood in passing is always a treat.

    Alyssa Gill

    Theatre Major