Special Thanks

Thanks to The Jocunda Festival, who presented a special live play reading of The Grace of God & The Man Machine, a Black Lives Matter play on Sunday, Oct. 25th to benefit The Riant Theatre

CLICK HERE to learn more…

Download the Press Release.

“The Naked House Painting Society”

“Easily the festival’s best. Riveting drama with genuine humor and intense relationships. Mystical in nature, the play turns on incisive philosophical dialogue.” — Winifred Walsh, The Baltimore Sun

“Slavery,” a play in one act

Ownership is the issue as two associates draft a patent at a huge law firm in Robert Bowie, Jr’s one‑act play “Slavery.”

“Crash & Burn PA”

“It’s pretty damned refreshing. Tightly woven, with comic prowess and a nicely fast pace. If you want a carefree night of fun and laughs, this is your ticket.” — Pandora Locks

“Witchcraft,” a play in one act

“‘Witchcraft’ offers the suspenseful flavor of Alfred Hitchcock show. The drama unfolds with many unanticipated twists and turns…” — Janet Stidman Evleth

Poet Laureate - Harvard Alumni Association

Robert is also an accomplished poet and HAA Poet Laureate. You can read some of his poems here.

Plays by Robert Bowie, Jr…

Sold-Out Shows, Rave Reviews!

Our FringeNYC premiere could not have gone better…

ONAJE sold out all five shows, the performances were riveting, and both audiences and critics were exceedingly positive. Check out these great reviews from onstageblog.com and Theatre is Easy (theasy.com) .

Thanks again to our incredible cast, crew, and creative team — and to everyone whose generous support helped bring ONAJE to life!

Recent Posts

Van’s Homegoing

Van’s Homegoing

For the blog today I am simply posting the memorial information for Van Dirk Fisher. Those who can attend should if they can and if not please consider joining me by sending a donation to Pamela Fisher, Van’s sister, via Zelle as posted in the invitation posted below.

Homegoing Celebration

Van Dirk Fisher

Saturday, October 23, 2021
10:00am Special Tribute by Family and Friends
(2 minutes per person)
11:00am – 12:00pm Memorial Service

The Abyssinian Baptist Church
132 Odell Clark Place
New York, NY 10030

In lieu of flowers please send donations to Pamela Fisher via Zelle to (917) 640-5731
Limited in-person seating – Virtual service available @ abyssinian.org

Sometimes the Unthinkable Just Happens

Six months after the pandemic shut the New York theaters in March of 2020, I met a remarkable man, Van Dirk Fisher on an introductory Zoom call. He had chosen my play, The Grace of God & The Man Machine, for a virtual performance at The Riant Theatre. From the...

A Little Humor About How We Live Free and Don’t Die

New Hampshire’s motto was and remains “Live free or die.” Back in the early 1960s, when I was ten, I came to believe it was America’s promise to itself. My parents took the family to the White Mountains in the wilds of the Presidential Mountain range, to a tiny house...

Thank You for Your Posts on My Birthday

The kindnesses of the birthday wishes which I received on the 24th are much more appreciated than might be immediately obvious. I want to briefly express my gratitude. Facebook was an afterthought to promote an unlikely second career as a professional playwright and...

Last Friday, nearly a year after Van Dirk Fisher d

Last Friday, nearly a year after Van Dirk Fisher directed @thegraceofgodandthemanmachine virtually, I finally received a text from the producer telling me the in-person production directed by Van would finally happen. The Grace of God & The Man Machine would open this spring off-Broadway. We were off and running and finally we would be working with Van in person.

Two days later I was surprised by a text message from Van‘s sister:

“Van passed yesterday at 3:49pm.”

When I called her in disbelief, she told me December of last year, he had been diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer but had fought it and continued to work.

A month or so ago, I contacted him to see if he was interested in working on a new play. He never revealed that he was sick.

Just as American theater is opening up and finally recognizing Black creators, this man and his future audiences will be deprived of his chance to show his considerable gifts.

I would be willing to bet that up until the very end, he believed he was going to beat cancer because that’s who he was.

When this play goes up off-Broadway, there will be a tip of the hat in the program to him and his indomitable spirit.

I only knew him through Zoom calls but now he won’t even be there for us virtually. I never got a chance to meet him and shake his hand but I know he will be there with us when the play opens.

He will be with us live!
.
.
.
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
#newblog #acting #actor #actors #actorslife #author #behindthescenes #beproductive #creativelife #director #drama #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmproduction #instawriter #playwright #playwrightfestival #playwrights #playwrightsfestival #playwrightsofig #playwrightsofinstagram #poetry #theater #theatre #writer #writerscommunity #10kstoriesofrbb

Six months after the pandemic shut the New York th

Six months after the pandemic shut the New York theaters in March of 2020, I met a remarkable man, Van Dirk Fisher on an introductory Zoom call.

He had chosen my play, @thegraceofgodandthemanmachine for a virtual performance at @rianttheatre.

From the start, I was skeptical about a virtual performance, but I was impressed by Van’s tenacity and remarkable creative energy.

He would not let me say no. Less than a month after that call — and a year ago this October 25th — Van directed a highly creative virtual performance of the play.

The producers and I watched him direct the brilliant cast he had assembled and shape the virtual performance. He completely understood the play and he almost seem to inhabit it.

Read my latest blog, a tribute to Van, at the #linkinbio.
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
#acting #actor #actors #actorslife #author #behindthescenes #beproductive #creativelife #director #drama #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmproduction #instawriter #novelist #painter #playwright #playwrightfestival #playwrights #playwrightsfestival #playwrightsofig #playwrightsofinstagram #theater #theatre #writer #writerscommunity #10kstoriesofrbb

As I grew older and watched the passage of civil r

As I grew older and watched the passage of civil rights legislation and protests to end the Vietnam War on black and white TV, and the rise of “Me Too” and “Black Live Matter” on the web, I always returned to my childhood memories and to that motto that I believed was America’s promise to itself.

I try to keep imagining what the residents of Randolph, New Hampshire back then would have done if the telephone company was quietly gathering everything from purchasing information to political beliefs to sell to secondary consumer markets and even to political parties, and if politicians used this information to make marketing calls, agitating these customers to increase profits.

So, must I now reconcile this my old memory of the respect for personal privacy, which was honored at the request of my father on a party line by our neighbors who also welcomed us into their picnics and to celebrate our democracy?

Would the citizens of Randolph have been quite as complacent as America is now?

Would they have required a whistleblower to go to Congress to explain Facebook‘s assault on their privacy?

No, that’s been obvious all along.
.
.
.
#amblogging #writingcommunity #writingcommunityofinstagram #metoo #blacklivesmatter #writersofinstagram #civilrights #history #facebook #facebookwhistleblower #10kstoriesofrbb

New #blog: New Hampshire’s motto was and remai

New #blog:

New Hampshire’s motto was and remains “Live free or die.” Back in the early 1960s, when I was ten, I came to believe it was America’s promise to itself.

My parents took the family to the White Mountains in the wilds of the Presidential Mountain range, to a tiny house that looked up into Tuckerman’s Ravine near the little town of Randolph in northern New Hampshire.

The morning after we arrived, our family dog came back after a night out with a mouth full of porcupine quills.

When we arrived the night before, we had discovered that the only phone was affixed to the wall in the kitchen and was a party line. So, the next morning, we had to ask the operator to give us the number for the veterinarian and we had to count the rings to know if her return call was for us or someone else when she connected us.

We soon learned that the party line did not stop people from picking up the phone and eavesdropping. My father would preface a conversation by constantly asking “please get off the line… Please get off the line.” Eavesdropping on the phone was a social event but — when requested — the clicks could be heard and the line would become clear. It was part of the social code.
.
.
.
#amwriting #amblogging #newhampshire #livefreeordie #patriotism #facebook #facebookdown #facebookwhistleblower #10kstoriesofrbb

In light of the #facebookwhistleblower and #facebo

In light of the #facebookwhistleblower and #facebookdown, I found myself thinking back to a childhood vacation to #NewHampshire, whose motto is "Live Free or Die."

From my #blog:

"I have to get over my childish imagined ever-growing flotilla of tractors with extra pitchforks for other patriots rolling out of Randolph, gathering in its assault on Washington.

I have to get over my childish imagination that they would have already left town and gone to defend the Capitol back in January after it was assaulted.

They would be there, defending the Capitol, and who knows? Once they figured out what was happening, perhaps they would’ve attacked the White House. Or maybe they went down to protect voting rights or protest political parties that grow more radical, unifying a misinformed public in order to maintain their own political power.

Once I gave up these childhood memories it is now good to realize we struggle everyday to be free. It is the imperfect process which we must follow. It is what we must do."

.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
#usa #blogger #playwright #blog #whitemountains #writersofinstagram #blacklivesmatter #bloggersofinstagram #liberty #equalityforeveryone #freedom #metoo #nojusticenopeace #civilrights #amblogging #writingcommunity #socialjustice #writerscommunity #bloggers #livefreeordie #bloglife #empowerment #writer #10kstoriesofrbb

My Tuesday 3:00 pm (ET) Facebook posts and a webpa

My Tuesday 3:00 pm (ET) Facebook posts and a webpage, created by new friends, developed into a blog, Instagram and Twitter accounts. Over the last five years I have been able to gather with my old friends and meet new friends in this new world which I would never have met but for these platforms.

Slowly over the last five years the unexpected has happened. I have received support and welcome criticism and the credibility I had hoped for because of the friends I have made or remade here.

I am very fortunate, because of you, to be happily living that dream I was previously too shy to express.

.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
#birthdayvibes #birthdaytime #friends #smile #birthday #birthdayfun #happybirthday #selfdevelopment #author #writersofinstagram #playwright #writerscommunity #poet #playwrightssupportplaywrights #creativelife #writer #playwrights #theatre #playwrightsofinstagram #playwrighting #theater #10kstoriesofrbb

The kindnesses of the birthday wishes which I rece

The kindnesses of the birthday wishes which I received on the 24th are much more appreciated than might be immediately obvious.

I want to briefly express my gratitude.

Facebook was an afterthought to promote an unlikely second career as a professional playwright and poet, which I have always half dreamed about but never had the courage to expressed to others.

When I started on this new career I fully recognized that the biggest problem I had was I had little or no credibility in this my new profession.

I had wonderful friends from high school and college but they were scattered across sixty years and several continents and I had wonderful friends from my prior career. I also had the invaluable friends I had made from the Baltimore theater community as a board member and amateur Playwright.

My Tuesday 3:00 pm (ET) Facebook posts and a webpage, created by new friends, developed into a blog, Instagram and Twitter accounts. Over the last five years I have been able to gather with my old friends and meet new friends in this new world which I would never have met but for these platforms.

Slowly over the last five years the unexpected has happened. I have received support and welcome criticism and the credibility I had hoped for because of the friends I have made or remade here.

I am very fortunate, because of you, to be happily living that dream I was previously too shy to express.

Thank You!

.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
#birthdayvibes #birthdaytime #friends #smile #birthday #birthdayfun #happybirthday #selfdevelopment #author #writersofinstagram #playwright #writerscommunity #poet #playwrightssupportplaywrights #creativelife #writer #playwrights #theatre #playwrightsofinstagram #playwrighting #theater #10kstoriesofrbb

it would be easy for those who want an excuse to b

Last Sunday, @nytimes theatre section reported th

Last Sunday, @nytimes theatre section reported that seven plays by Black authors would open on Broadway this fall: “Chicken & Biscuits,” “Trouble in Mind,” “Lackawanna Blues,” “Clyde’s”, “Skeleton Crew,” “Pass Over,” and “Thoughts of a Colored Man.”

Broadway’s pre-pandemic theater season featured two plays by Black authors. The previous season, there had been just one play and in the season before there had been none.

All seven plays in varying degrees have been time tested off-Broadway, whether it be recently or in the past. They are all interesting and worthy based on their past history and past reviews. Along with @lynnnottage, who is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, they all offer new voices about the human condition.

In this week's #blog, I celebrate this long-awaited accomplishment, and the conversations it will spark between the work and the public. #linkinbio👆
.
.⁣
.⁣
#theaterlife #broadwayfan #broadwayworld #theatre #theaters #broadwayforlife #playwright #playwrightssupportplaywrights #broadwaylover #blackplaywrights #broadway #broadwaytheatre #theaterlover #playwrightlife #theater #makingitonbroadway #playwrightsofig #theatergeek #newblog #10kstoriesofrbb

@coloredmanplay @roundaboutnyc @mtc_nyc @passoverbway

I'm spending time with my family this week, so no

I'm spending time with my family this week, so no new blog. But I wanted to share The Shield of Achilles. I've always loved this poem and poet. #whauden

Hear him read it at the #linkinbio👆
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#poetryofig #poetryofinstagram #poetryloving #poetsofig #writing #poetryislife #poetryoftheday #spilledinkpoetry #writerscommunity #writersofig #poetrycommunity #writer #poetsofinstagram #writersofinstagram #poem #poetrydaily #poetryofinsta #poetry #poetrylovers #bymepoetry #writingcommunity #poetrychallenge #poetryisnotdead

#Throwback to my previous blog "Don’t be grouchy

#Throwback to my previous blog "Don’t be grouchy about the Fauci Ouchi"

I felt even better when I concluded that it was patriotic to be vaccinated.

René F. Najera, DrPH, the editor of the History of Vaccines, an online project by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, reported that there is good evidence that the United States won the War of Independence because of vaccine’s precursor: inoculation.

Among the Continental regulars in the American Revolution, 90 percent of deaths were caused by disease, and Variola — the small pox virus — was the most vicious of them all.

On the 6th of January 1777, George Washington wrote to Dr. William Shippen Jr., ordering him to inoculate all of the forces that came through Philadelphia. As he explained:

“Finding the Small pox to be spreading much and fearing that no precaution can prevent it from running through the whole of our Army, I have determined that the troops shall be inoculated… Necessity not only authorizes but seems to require the measure, for should the disorder infect the Army… we should have more to dread from it, than from the Sword of the Enemy.”
.
.
.
#sciencesaveslives #igottheshot #vaccinessavelives #coronavaccine #vaccination #thisisourshot #science #trustscience #hopeforthefuture #covid19vaccine #vaccines #writerscommunity #vaccinated #survivingcovid19 #vaccinated4humanity #coronavirusvaccine #thankful #vaxxed💉 #vaccine #rabies #smallpox #getthatjab #covidvaccine #10kstoriesofrbb

Can't wait to see what my friends at @mindthearten

Can't wait to see what my friends at @mindtheartentertainment are up to! We're so ready to make art again!
.
.
.
.
#theatrearts #play #theaterlife #art #fringetheater #stage #broadwaytheatre #onstage #producer #thankfulgratefulblessed #happiness #quarantinelife #theaterlover #theater #grateful #director #broadwayworld #love #writing #begrateful #lockdown2020 #actor #nyc #10kstoriesofrbb

Load More... Follow on Instagram

About Robert Bowie, Jr.

Playwright and Poet Robert Bowie, Jr. of Baltimore, Maryland has had ten plays produced, including “Onaje,” which was selected for professional production at FringeNYC in October 2018. Its five sold-out FringeNYC performances received rave reviews. Other plays include “There Ain’t No Wyoming” and “Naked House Painting Society,” which were produced through The Baltimore Playwrights Festival. Bowie’s political farce “Crash & Burn P.A.” was the only submission selected by the 2016 Festival Committee for a full production at Theatrical Mining Company, Baltimore.

Currently, Bowie is working on a operetta in partnership with Mind The Art Entertainment. Entitled “Vox Populi,” it is a comical, interactive tale about the deadly sin of pride.

Bowie’s plays are focused on social justice and span a broad spectrum between drama and comedy. His subject matter ranges from plays about racial prejudice and civil rights to political farce.

Bowie is a graduate of Harvard University and is the Poet Laureate of The Harvard Alumni Association (HAA).

“Without the arts, we are a rudderless boat.”
— Robert Bowie, Jr.