John Charles Russell wrote the play “Stupid Kids,” which opened Off-Broadway in 1998, four years after his death at age 31 from AIDS. The play established Russell as a playwright of great unfulfilled promise, part of a vibrant New York City cultural scene that was critically diminished by the HIV epidemic of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s.
Russell grew up in Long Island, New York, graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio and earned his M.F.A. from Brown’s Graduate Writing Program in 1991. At Brown he studied with Paula Vogel and Edmund White. While in Vogel’s workshop and during summer fellowships at the MacDowell Colony he worked on “Stupid Kids,” as well as “Mother Clapp’s Molly House” (his thesis), “Gay ‘90’s: A Pop Song Trilogy,” ”Dante and Virgil Go Dancing,” and “A Gun, a Book, a Photograph, a Name.” He also wrote for Andy’s Summer Playhouse, a New Hampshire children’s theater that continues to offer the John C. Russell Playwrights’ and Directors’ Labs. His plays have been read and produced by the Joseph Papp Public Theater, BACA Downtown in Brooklyn, and Company One Theatre in Hartford. Russell was a member of New Dramatists, Circle Repertory’s Playwrights Project and the New Works Project.
John C. Russell died on April 23, 1994, in New York City.
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
John C. Russell papers, Ms. 2009.017, Brown University Library.
Although John C. Russell died young, he left a considerable literary legacy. His papers include twelve full-length plays, numerous short plays, monologues, radio plays, short stories, poems and essays, nearly all of them composed during the last six years of his life. Several scripts in the collection are present in multiple drafts, mapping the creative and collaborative process of staging a play.
The collection also contains Russell’s notebooks and class notes, along with promotional material and critical responses to his productions. There are several folders of correspondence and personal documents, including journals, photographs, resumes and remembrances.
The papers are arranged by genre.
The collection was donated to Brown University in September 2009.
Resources at Brown University:
Resources at other institutions:
Second draft
Production draft
MFA thesis, May 1991
With revisions
Draft of 1991 Feb 23 and Dramatists Play Service version, published 1999
Preproduction draft
First draft