Aram Saroyan

Aram Saroyan
Birthplace	New York
Birth date	25 September 1943
Lived in	New York, Bolinas, Santa Monica
Languages	English
Ethnicities	Armenian, American
Ancestral villages	Bitlis
Spouses	Gailyn Saroyan
Children	Strawberry Saroyan, Cream Saroyan, Armenak Saroyan
Relatives	William Saroyan, Walter Matthau

Son of William Saroyan.

ARAM SAROYAN is an internationally known poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist and playwright. His poetry has been widely anthologized and appears in many textbooks. Among the collections of his poetry are ARAM SAROYAN and PAGES (both Random House). His largest collection, DAY AND NIGHT:BOLINAS POEMS, was published by Black Sparrow Press in 1999.

Saroyan's prose books include GENESIS ANGELS: THE SAGA OF LEW WELCH AND THE BEAT GENERATION; LAST RITES, a book about the death of his father, the playwright and short story writer William Saroyan; TRIO: PORTRAIT OF AN INTIMATE FRIENDSHIP; THE ROMANTIC, a novel that was a Los Angeles Times Book Review Critics' Choice selection; a memoir, FRIENDS IN THE WORLD: THE EDUCATION OF A WRITER; and the true crime Literary Guild selection RANCHO MIRAGE: AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY OF MANNERS, MADNESS AND MURDER. Selected essays, STARTING OUT IN THE SIXTIES, appeared in 2001, and ARTISTS IN TROUBLE: NEW STORIES in early 2002. The world premiere of his play AT THE BEACH HOUSE, starring Orson Bean and Lisa Glass, is scheduled for the fall of 2005 in Los Angeles.

The recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts poetry awards (one of them for his controversial one-word poem "lighght"). Saroyan is a past president of PEN USA West and a current faculty member of the Masters of Professional Writing Program at USC. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the painter Gailyn Saroyan.

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Play by Aram Saroyan Performs At The Lost Studio in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES - Aram Saroyan's play "AT THE BEACH HOUSE" takes us deep into the movie-star world that, as the son of writer William Saroyan and the stepson of Walter Matthau, the playwright came to know first hand in his own family. Starring Orson Bean, the play will have its world premiere at The Lost Studio in Los Angeles on October 21 2005 and will run through November 27.

"AT THE BEACH HOUSE" charts a day in the life of the extended family of a movie star and his wife, Clyde and Wanda Harrow, at their second home in Malibu. Director Marcia Rodd gives her directorial spin to this harrowing and funny family portrait.

In a review of Saroyan's most recent book, Artists in Trouble, Publishers Weekly wrote: "Hollywood has certainly been skewered by some talented writers, but Aram Saroyan's probing, funny glimpse into that unique universe can stand with the best of them."

In addition to Orson Bean as the movie star patriarch, the play features Lisa Glass, Nancy Jeris, Dena Dietrich, Jake Eberle, Brian Gleason, Reed Rudy, Troy Dunn, Ben Baker and Michael C. Ford.

"AT THE BEACH HOUSE" opened at The Lost Studio on Oct. 21 and runs throughSunday, November 27, with performances on Friday & Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 7 p.m.

The Lost Studio is located at 130 South La Brea, Los Angeles, (between First and Second Streets). Street and valet parking are available. There are no assigned seats.

General admission is $20.. $15 for students and seniors. To Reserve: Call (323) 960-772.

L.A. City Beat's "Stage Critic's Choice"

It's a small and seemingly rarefied world for the protagonists of At the Beach House, author Aram Saroyan's first play. Yet the more we see it, the more it feels familiar. On a gorgeous day at the Malibu second home of movie star Clyde Harrow (Orson Bean) and wife Wanda (Nancy Jeris) their blended family swirls uneasily around sardonic, drug-addicted daughter Angela (Lisa Glass), until a more immediate incident demands their attention. Saroyan--son of writer William Saroyan and stepson of Walter Matthau--knows about growing up with fame, and he distills his understanding into observations alternately hilarious and poignant. Angela's ex-boyfriend and brothers have their say about her condition, and Bean's second-act speech on What Matters in Life provides a moment of reflective calm. But the funniest and most powerful interactions belong to the women: Angela, Wanda, and Angela's grandma (Dena Dietrich), who bicker and banter but come to a (perhaps fleeting) solidarity. Saroyan digs past the trappings of cynical celebrity to get at the heart of family bonds, which--as we all know--can provide a surprisingly resilient safety net in which to fall.

Natalie Nichols

Additional information may be found online at: http://www.aramsaroyan.com

California Courier, November 3, 2005