Faculty Bio
![]() | Richard WesleyChair, Department of Dramatic Writing |
Biography
Education
Howard University, BFA, 1967
Biography
Richard
Wesley,
Associate Professor in Playwriting and Screenwriting, was educated at
Howard University in Washington, DC, graduating with a
BFA in 1967. His plays include, The Black Terror, a Drama Desk winner, produced at the New York Shakespeare Festival's Public Theatre, in 1971; The Mighty Gents,
an Audelco Award winner, premiered on Broadway in 1978. The 1970s also
saw Prof. Wesley embark on a motion picture career, penning screenplays
for the motion pictures, Uptown Saturday Night (Warner Bros. 1974), Let's Do It Again (Warner Bros., 1975), Native Son (American Playhouse, Cinecom, 1984) and Fast Forward (Columbia Pictures, 1985).
In television, Prof. Wesley's teleplays include, Murder Without Motive (NBC, 1991), Mandela And De Klerk (Showtime, 1997), and Bojangles (Showtime, 2000). Professor Wesley has also written episodes for the television series, Fallen Angels (Showtime) and 100 Centre Street (A&E).
In the past, Prof. Wesley served as an Adjunct at the following
institutions: Manhattanville College, Wesleyan University, Borough of
Manhattan Community College and Rutgers University. Affiliations
include the Writers Guild of America, East Executive Council, The
National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress and the
Selection Committee of the Newark Museum Black Film Festival of Newark,
New Jersey.







