MICHAEL DOWNEY, PhD
Michael Downey holds a Ph.D. in Dramatic Art from the University of California at Santa Barbara,and taught for 28 years in the Department of Theatre Arts at Santa Barbara City College.
As a dancer he performed in various companies based in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara that operated in the 1980s. For the last fifteen years he has worked in the Department of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, leading groups for patients in creativity and self-care. His autobiographical video performance, The War Shirt is his most recent theater endeavor.
The War Shirt
(Video performance of one-person play,
One hour and ten minutes long.
Please view at www.luketheatre.org)
THE WAR SHIRT is a video performance of a one-person play that I wrote in response to the exceptional closure I experienced with my father when he died in 1994. What were the dynamics that moved our lifelong encounters from fear and conflict to mutual respect? This major theme interfaces with my reflections on my sexuality as a gay African American man coming into adulthood amid the turbulent events of the 1960s. THE WAR SHIRT is also a tribute to my ancestors, whose influence has always impacted me through my grandmother's stories.