Mark Medoff

He also received an Obie Award for his play When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? Medoff's feature film Refuge was released in 2010. When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? Was adapted into a film with a screenplay by Medoff in 1979.

• Name — Mark Medoff • Born — 18 March 1940 • Birthplace — Mount Carmel, Illinois, U.S. • Died — 23 April 2019 • Place of death — Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S. • Occupation — Playwright, screenwriter, film director, theater director, actor, professor • Education — * University of Miami • Stanford University • Notable Works — * Children of a Lesser God • When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? • Spouse — Stephanie Thorne Medoff (m. 1972) • Children — 3 • Awards — * Obie Award for Distinguished Play (1974) • Tony Award for Best Play (1980) • Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play (1981)

Medoff was born on March 18, 1940, in Mount Carmel, Illinois, to a Jewish family, the son of Thelma Irene (Butt), a psychologist, and Lawrence R. Medoff, a physician. He was raised in Miami Beach, Florida, and graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School. Medoff received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Miami and his Master's from Stanford University. Medoff also received an honorary degree in 1981 from Gallaudet University.

In 1967, while working as an instructor at the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute in Washington, D.C., he wrote his first play, The Wager. His first play to be staged in New York City was When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?, which won him the 1974 Drama Desk and Obie Awards for Outstanding New Playwright.

Medoff was married to second wife Stephanie Thorne from 1972 until his death in 2019; they had three daughters.

In April 2019, he entered hospice care after battling cancer in his later years and suffering a fall. He died on April 23, 2019, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, from complications at age 79.

• The Wager, 1966 • The Odyssey of Jeremy Jack, (w/ Carleene Johnson, 1973) • The Kramer, 1973 • When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?, 1974 • The Halloween Bandit, 1978 • The Conversion of Aaron Weiss, 1978 • Firekeeper, 1978 • The Last Chance Saloon, 1979 • The Froegle Dictum, 1980 • Children of a Lesser God, 1980 • The Majestic Kid, 1981 • The Hands of Its Enemy, 1984 • Kringle's Window, 1985. • The Heart Outright, 1986 • The Homage That Follows, 1995 • Showdown on Rio Road (with Ross Marks, 1998). • Crunch Time, (with Phil Treon, 1998). • Gila, 1996. • Gunfighter - A Gulf War Chronicle, 1997 • A Christmas Carousel, 1997. • Tommy J and Sally, 2000. • The Same Life Over, 2002. • Prymate, 2003. • The Dramaturgy of Mark Medoff, 2004. • Marilee and Baby Lamb: Assassination of an American Goddess, 2015.

• The Disintegration of Aaron Weiss, 1979 • The Last Chance Saloon, 1980

• Good Guys Wear Black, 1978 • When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder, 1979 • Off Beat, 1986 • Apology, 1986 • Children of a Lesser God, 1986 • Clara's Heart, 1987 • City of Joy, 1992 • Showdown on Rio Road, 1993 • Homage, 1995 • Santa Fe, 1997 • 100 MPG, 2006 • Refuge, 2010 • Walking with Herb, 2021

Medoff's theatre directing credits include Waiting for Godot, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Equus, and Hot L Baltimore. As an actor, he has appeared in the plays Marat/Sade, Black Comedy/White Lies, and Old Times, among others, and the films The Twilight of the Golds, Santa Fe, Homage, Red Ryder, and Clara's Heart.