Tim Blake Nelson is a jack of all things theatrical (maybe except dancing). In addition to his fame in numerous stage and film roles, he's a playwright. His acclaimed 1997 film, "Eye of God," a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner, comes to Theater Row's Kirk in a new stage adaptation on October 2, 2009 (opening, October 7), presented by Theatre East.
The 90-minute drama is set in Nelson's home state of Oklahoma against the backdrop of a boy who witnesses a murder. It is described as "a love story between the lonely, the troubled, the forgotten, and the radical believer who can save them."
Acting coach Lisa Devine (a Chicago Joseph Jefferson nom for Eye of God's premiere), will direct the 11-member cast - a large one for Off Broadway. Christa Kimlicko Jones is assistant director and, along with Joseph Parks and Daryl Wendy Strauss, a producer. Judson Jones is T.E.'s A.D.
Nelson wrote, among others, MCC's 1996's Lortel Award-winning holocaust drama, The Grey Zone, directed by Doug Hughes. He appeared at the Delacorte for the NYSF in their 2007 Midsummer Night's Dream and 1995's Troilus and Cressida, as Shakespeare in New York Theater Workshop's Drama Desk-nominated, 2003 Beard of Avon, and at CSC with Frances McDormand and Billy Crudup in Oedipus. In addition to MTC and Playwrights Horizons, he's worked regionally at Yale Rep and Portland Stage.
He's acted in over 35 films. Following his featured role in Michael Almereyda's all-star 2000 Hamlet, one of Nelson's most memorable roles was as Delmar, opposite George Clooney and John Turturro, in Joel Cohen's "serious comedy," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," Ethan Cohen's loose adaptation of Homer's "Odyssey," set in the 30s deep South.
In addition to playing a supporting role, he wrote, directed and co-produced the comedy/thriller, "Leaves of Grass" -- no! not that one (by Whitman) but the one about an Ivy League professor lured back to Oklahoma, where his twin brother, a small-time pot grower, attempts to take down a drug lord. Starring Edward Norton (as the brothers), Susan Sarandon, Richard Dreyfuss and Kerri Russell, it just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.
Nelson wrote/directed the film adaptation of "The Grey Zone" (starring Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi and Mira Sorvino). He was awarded Best Director at the Seattle Film Festival for 2001's "O," a contemporary adaptation of Othello (starring Martin Sheen, Julia Stiles and Josh Hartnett).
