Playwright / Screenwriter

For Circus Theatricals: playwright and director of The Circle, The Job which won the Stanley Award & Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Ted Shmidtt Award for "World Premiere of an Outstanding New Play."

Shem Bitterman is a graduate of University of Iowa Playwright's Workshop and alumnus of The Juilliard School where he studied acting. His play The Job (produced by Circus Theatricals in Los Angeles and N.Y.C.), won the 1997 Stanley Award. The Job also won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Ted Schmidt Award for "World Premiere of Outstanding New Play."

His play Ten Below played at The W.P.A. Theatre with Kevin Conway and Anthony Edwards starring. Other produced plays include; Survivors at the Mark Taper Forum, Buffalo Hunters at the Mark Taper Forum, Peephole at Geva, Justice at the Padua Hills Playwright's Festival, Night-side at Actor's Theatre of Louisville, Humana Festival, The Ramp at South Coast Rep and Temple University in Philadelphia (where it was named the best dramatic production of the year by The Philadelphia Inquirer), Self Storage (co-authored with Tony Spiridakis) at the Mark Taper Forum and The Odyessey, Beiging Legends at The Mark Taper Forum and Pacific Jewish Theatre and IowaBoys at The Actor's Studio. Children's plays include; Gulliver's Travels and Robinson and Crusoe, both for ITP. Radio plays include; Timon of Athens for National Public Radio.

He has had plays developed at The Sundance Institute, Midwest Playlabs, Steppenwolf, A.S.K., The Playwright's Kitchen Ensemble and The Mark Taper Forum. He has won The California PIaywrights Competition, The CBS/FDG New Plays Award, The Mixed Blood Versus America Award, The National Play Award, The White Dove Award and The Fund For New American Plays. He has developed films for Dustin Hoffman at Punch Productions and also at Warner Brothers and Disney. His produced films include "Halloween 5", "Out Of The Rain" with Bndgit Fonda, "Peephole" which he directed, and "Tinsletown" (co-writer with Tony Spiridakis and co-produced, to be released by Goldwyn in January) with Ron Perlman, Joe Pantehano and Kristy Swanson. He is currently at work on three independent film projects; "The Job." "Iowa Boys" and "The Last Resort". In addition to his writing and directing, he has acted in plays by Han Ong, Conrad Bishop and Elizebeth Fuller and Ernest Joselovjtz and films by Han Ong and Tony Spiridakis.

He has taught theatre arts and screenwriting and playwriting in various universities and venues, including Circus Theatricals, Lancaster State Prison, The People's Theatre in Beijing, Canton University and the University of Iowa. He is a rnember of Equity, S.A.G., the W.G.A. and the Writer's Group at the Mark Taper Forum.