Mark Scharf


Mark Scharf, is an American playwright, actor and teacher. His plays have received readings and productions across the United States and internationally in England, Mainland China, Australia, Canada and Singapore.

Biography

Mark Scharf was born in New Albany, Indiana but moved while young with his family to Seaford, Delaware where he lived until graduating from Seaford High School in 1974. Mark then moved to Richmond, Virginia where he attended Virginia Commonwealth University and began his theatre career as an actor. He left Richmond in 1979 and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia where he played in two bands, The Motive and then The Monarchs, before enrolling as a graduate student in Playwriting at the University of Virginia. While attending U.Va., Mark appeared in several shows produced by the Virginia Players and in two seasons with the Heritage Repertory Theatre.
After receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting in 1984, Mark moved to the DC area where he initially worked as publicity director for The Source Theatre Company. In 2014, Mark moved to Baltimore, MD, where many of his plays premiered at various theatres beginning in 1994. Mark continues to work as a playwright, actor and teacher in the Baltimore/DC area.
Scharf’s plays Off the Grid, The Last Ten, Like White on Rice, and his adaptation of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow are published by Brooklyn Publishing. His plays Memory Garden, The Machine and his adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein are published by Pioneer Drama. His plays Our Place, Wilderness, Monument,, and Grey Hair and Zits are published by Greenroom Scripts LLC. His plays Fortune's Child, Get Stuffed, Lizard Brains and Keeping Faith are published by Original Works Publishing, and his play Replay is published by Heurer Publishing. His play The Quickening, his adaptations of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau are published by Steele Spring Stage Rights. A monologue from Mark’s play The Mean Reds is published in One on One: The Best Men’s Monologues for the Twenty-First Century by Applause Books. Also, a monologue from his play Last Night at the Owl Bar appears in the 2009 The Theatre Audition Book 2 and a monologue from his play The Whispers of Saints appears in the 2011 Volume 3, Young Women's Monologues from Contemporary Plays, both published by Meriwether Publishing, Ltd.
Scharf was a contributing participant in playwriting at the 2014 Sewanee Writers Conference. He also was selected as a Playlab Playwright for the 2010 Great Plains Theatre Conference. His awards include the 2009 Maryland State Theatre Festival's Award for Best Original Script, the 2008 Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence, the 2006 Arts and Letters Prize in Drama, selected by Gary Garrison, 2nd Place in the Hinton Battle Theatre Lab’s 2005 Reading Works Series, both the 1st Place Best Play and 1st Place Best Production Awards in the 2002 Baltimore Playwrights Festival and five Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships in Playwriting.
Scharf taught Playwriting at Howard Community College in Maryland in 2015, at the University of Mary Washington in 1994, 2001 and from 2004-2013, and was asked to serve as a Thesis Advisor for the Johns Hopkins University 2005/2006 M.A. in Writing program. He has also served as Playwright-in-Residence for Theatre Virginia’s New Voices for the Theatre and served three terms as Chairman of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival. He served as Playwright-in-Residence for the Twin Beach Players of North Beach, Maryland from 2012 to 2018. Scharf is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Awards