Plays In 1992, while living in
San Francisco, Gomolvilas began writing plays. His plays include ''Big Hunk o' Burnin' Love
(1998), The Theory of Everything
(2000), winner of the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild/Julie Harris Playwright Award, the International Herald Tribune/SRT Playwriting Award, and the PEN Center USA West Literary Award for Drama, Bee
(2001), and the stage adaptation of Mysterious Skin'' (2003), which is based on the
novel by
Scott Heim. In collaboration with musician
Brandon Patton, Gomolvilas wrote
Jukebox Stories, in which he also performs in. A self-described "storytelling/song-singing/bingo-playing theatrical extravaganza," the three, different full-length shows ran in 2006 as
Jukebox Stories, in 2008 as
Jukebox Stories: The Case of The Creamy Foam and in 2013 as
Jukebox Stories: The Secrets of Forking. The initial runs of the shows were at the Impact Theater in
Berkeley, California, but eventually expanded to a wide array of venues including other theaters, coffee shops, bars, colleges, comedy clubs, music venues and more in Boston, Los Angeles, Middletown (CT), Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Smithfield (RI), and Washington (DC), as well as the National Asian American Theater Festival. The show received strong reviews in the
East Bay Express and the
San Francisco Chronicle, was also an "Editor's Pick" in Theatre Bay Area magazine. Gomolvilas' other plays include
Seat Belts and Big Fat Buddhas (1999),
Debunking Love' (2000),
Boyz of All Nationz: The Rise and Fall of a Multi-Ethnic Boy Band (2002), and
The Fabulous Adventures of Captain Queer (2006). He frequently writes comedies with a supernatural twist. Gomolvilas also developed at TheatreWorks in the San Francisco Bay Area the short plays
Oskar: The Kid That Could (which encourages students to embrace reading and writing),
Oskar and the Big Bully Battle (which confronts the issue of bullying), and
Oskar and the Last Straw (which tackles issues of self-worth and resiliency). These three plays have been touring elementary schools throughout the Bay Area since 2006. The Alley Theatre in Houston began touring
Oskar and the Big Bully Battle in 2014, and has commissioned Gomolvilas to write
Oskar and the Curiously Colorful Clash, a play about diversity that will start touring in 2015. To supplement the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, the New Conservatory Theatre Center's YouthAware Educational Theatre in San Francisco commissioned Prince to research, develop, and write the play
Outspoken, which explores the many reasons teenagers feel ostracized and which has been touring to middle schools and high schools throughout Northern and Central California since 2005. Recurring themes in his work include the contemporary Asian-American experience, the tension between immigrants and their offspring, queer identity, race relations in the United States, the trauma of displacement, and the complexities of loss and grief.
Short plays His short plays include
Cause and Effect on Clement Street (Actors' Theatre, Santa Cruz, 1997),
Donut Holes in Orbit (Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York City, 1998), Cyclops (Theatre Rhinoceros, San Francisco, 2001),
Bridges (City Lights Theatre Company, San Jose, 2002),
The Last Gayorcism (Chalk Repertory Theatre, Los Angeles, 2010),
Chunky Mary (Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company, San Francisco, 2010),
ATM (
East West Players' Studio Lab Project, Los Angeles, 2011), and
Heteronesia (Impact Theatre, Berkeley, 2014).
Awards For his play,
The Theory of Everything (2000), Gomolvilas won the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Drama, the Julie Harris/Janet and Maxwell Salter Playwright Award from the Beverly Hills Theater Guild, and the International Herald Tribune/SRT Playwriting Award. For his other plays, Gomolvilas received the
East West Players' Made in America Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for the Asian Pacific Islander Community. Gomolvilas has received grants from the
National Endowment for the Arts and Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation. He has also received new-play commissions from the
South Coast Repertory, the Alley Theatre, the Asian Stories in America Theatre, TheaterWorks, the Impact Theatre, the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, the New Conservatory Theatre Center, the Playwrights Foundation, and the
Center Theatre Group's Asian Theatre Workshop. His plays has also been developed at American Conservatory Theater, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Bear Arts Foundation's ColorFest, Center Theatre Group, Chalk Repertory Theatre, Ford Amphitheatre, Lark Play Development Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, and South Coast Repertory, the Asian Stories in America Theatre, The Drill Hall, DueEast Theatre Company, East West Players, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Orlando International Fringe Festival, Pork Filled Players, Rude Guerrilla Theater Company, Singapore Repertory Theatre, SIS Productions, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, and Vertigo Theatre Productions. Geographically, his plays have been produced around the United States in such cities as Arlington, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Portland, San Francisco, Santa Ana, Seattle, and Washington (DC), as well as in Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Singapore. ==Films==