Trav S.D.

Donald Travis Stewart (born 1965), known professionally as Trav S.D., is an American author, journalist, playwright and stage performer. He has been called a leading figure[1] in the New Vaudeville and Indie Theater movements.

Trav S.D.
Born
Donald Travis Stewart

1965
OccupationStage actor, director, journalist, author

Career

Originally from Rhode Island, Trav S.D. started out as a stand-up comedian[2] and studied at Trinity Rep Conservatory in Providence before moving to New York City in 1988 to self-produce and perform in his own plays. In 1990 he worked as a personal and administrative assistant to the singer Tony Bennett.[3] Following two years in the development office of the Big Apple Circus in 1995, he founded his company Mountebanks, a platform for producing original theatre pieces and vaudeville shows. He first began to attract notice in 1998[4][5] as one of a number of Lower East Side “performance comedians” colloquially known as Art Stars, working at alternative night clubs and theatres such as Surf Reality, Collective Unconscious, Todo Con Nada and The Present Company. In 2001, he was featured in an Adam Gopnik article for The New Yorker[6] about New Burlesque.

Journalist

In 1999, Trav S.D. began publishing regular features and reviews in the Village Voice [7], Time Out New York [8], and American Theatre (where he was an Affiliated Writing Fellow in 2001, leading the magazine’s 9-11 coverage)[9]. He has also written for the New York Times [10], New York Sun, and Reason. In 2008 he launched the arts and culture blog Travalanche in 2008, which features biographies of vaudeville, burlesque, circus, sideshow and other variety arts performers and professionals, as well as related news, reviews, and commentary.

Author

Trav S.D.'s first book No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, was released by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2005[11], followed by Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, published by Bear Manor Media in 2013.[12]

Playwright/Dramatic Stage

Trav S.D.'s original plays have been produced at Joe's Pub, La Mama, Theater for the New City, Dixon Place, Metropolitan Playhouse, , The Brick Theater, and HERE Arts Center. As a stage actor he appeared in numerous productions with Untitled Theatre Company #61, including the 2006 American premiere of Vaclav Havel's Guardian Angel, Edward Einhorn's 2010 adaptation of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and the titular role in 2018's The Resistible Rise of J.R. Brinkley. [13]

In 2014, Trav S.D. directed and produced the first-ever revival of the Marx Brothers' musical I'll Say She Is, in the New York International Fringe Festival.

References
  1. Cullen, Frank (2006). Vaudeville Old and New. United KIngdom: Routledge. p. 1125. ISBN 0415938538.
  2. Cullen, Frank (2006). Vaudeville Old and New. United Kingdom: Routledge. p. 1125. ISBN 0415938538.
  3. "On Tony Bennett". Travalanche.
  4. THEATER REVIEW; Sometimes Delightful, Never Easy: It's Fringe
  5. SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 1998: THEATER; No Chickens Will Be Harmed
  7. "Trav S.D. | Authors | The Village Voice". www.villagevoice.com. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  8. "Trav S.D. | Authors | Macmillan". US Macmillan. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  9. "9/11: America's Theatres Respond; from Broadway Closings to West Coast Relief Efforts, the Catastrophe Is Reflected on U.S. Stages". American Theatre. Vol. 18 no. 9. November 2001. Retrieved 2020-05-27 – via Questia.
  10. S.D, Trav (2012-06-21). "Theater Talkback: Boxers on Broadway". ArtsBeat. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  11. "No Applause--Just Throw Money | Trav S.D. | Macmillan". US Macmillan. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  12. Trav S. D., 1965-. Chain of fools : silent comedy and its legacies from nickelodeons to YouTube. Duncan, OK. ISBN 1-59393-240-5. OCLC 834977009.
  13. "The Resistible Rise of JR Brinkley | Untitled Theater Company #61". www.untitledtheater.com. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
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