Robert Chesley

Robert Chesley (March 22, 1943, Jersey City, New Jersey – December 5, 1990, San Francisco, California) was an American playwright, theater critic and musical composer.

Early life and education Chesley was born in Jersey City, New Jersey to a socialite mother and physician father. When his parents divorced in 1948, he, his mother, and his sister moved to Pasadena, California. In 1975, he had sex with a man for the first time. This experience pushed Chesley to divorce Rusch and to come out at work.

In 1984, his play Night Sweat was produced in New York City, becoming one of the first produced full-length plays to deal with AIDS.

The Robert Chesley Award for Lesbian and Gay Playwriting, given annually by Publishing Triangle, is named in his honor. The Robert Chesley/Victor Bumbalo Foundation was established in 1993 to support playwrights of LGBT theatre, and has been in partnership with the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico, since 2009 to annually award a residency at the Foundation and a stipend to a selected playwright.

Plays

Beatitudes (1984) Come Again: An Entertainment During The Siege (1987) Dog Plays (1989) Wild (Person, Tense) Dog The Deploration of Rover Hold Happy V.D. April First Arbor Day Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts The Scream A Christmas Card Hell, I Love You and Breaking Up: Fragments (1981) Madeleine de Lucien (1985) Jerker, or The Helping Hand: A Pornographic Elegy with Redeeming Social Value and a Hymn to the Queer Men of San Francisco in Twenty Telephone Calls, Many of Them Dirty (1986) A Dog's Life Maggie's Play Somebody's Little Boy The Lost Doll Laughter and Tears Et Tu, Lesbo Nocturnes (1983) Night Sweat (1983) Pigman: A Comedy in Three Acts (1985–6) Private Theatricals: Morning, Noon & Night (1990) Stray Dog Story : An Adventure In Ten Scenes (1981)