2007 Graduation - Baccalaureate Ceremony

Citation: John Patrick Shanley, Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award

John Patrick Shanley, I am thrilled to honor you today before the deans, the faculty, and the Steinhardt graduating class of 2007.

While this award today may be just another among a collection of highly coveted prizes in your career as a writer - among them an Oscar, a Tony, a Pulitzer and a Writers Guild of America Award - for the Steinhardt School it is an important occasion to celebrate you, as one of the most influential writers in American society.

You began writing at the age of 11 and showed early signs of talent, winning a New York statewide essay contest with your entry entitled, "How Catholic Teenagers Can Win Awards for Christ."

While some may view your early life, from childhood through adolescence, as somewhat of a difficult period, we understand only now that it was all a part of your master plan - a grand scheme to live the experiences of conflict, defiance, and contradiction, only to beautifully pen those experiences into compelling stories that continue to captivate audiences worldwide.

One such example of this is when you enrolled at New York University's Steinhardt School in 1971. After one year, were placed on academic probation. 2 years later after brief service in the Marine Corps, you returned to NYU and graduated as valedictorian of your class. You said of your experience at NYU, " I made my teachers work ...... If I .... thought their arguments had an ill-conceived point, I was very quick to point it out ..... I was paying for my college education. This wasn't some "pass the time" and then go on to life in the real world. [I was there] because I wanted an education."

After graduation, you held a variety of jobs, including elevator operator, house painter, furniture mover, locksmith, bartender, and sandwich maker - perhaps a mixture of avocations that would ultimately lead to your true vocation as a prolific writer.

Among your noted screenplays are: Five Corners, which won the Jury Prize for Best Screenplay; Live from Baghdad, which received an Emmy award nomination; and Moonstruck, for which you received an Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1987.

Your plays have been no less impressive. Your 23 plays, have been translated into as many as 15 languages, performed in 17 countries and been given in about 80 productions a year in the United States and Canada alone.

Three years ago, you took the theatre world by storm with 3 plays simultaneously in production: "Sailor's Song" at The Public Theatre, a revival of "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea" at Second Stage Theatre, and "Doubt," which moved from the Manhattan Theatre Club to Broadway. The first in a planned trilogy, "Doubt" became the most highly acclaimed play of 2005, garnering both the Drama Desk and Tony Awards for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

One year later, the second part of the trilogy, "Defiance," was staged in New York. And while you currently are working on the screen adaptation for "Doubt," audiences are eagerly anticipating the final part of your trilogy.

Another NYU alumnus and award-winning playwright in his own right, Tony Kushner, once said of you: "What I admire most are that his plays are beautifully well made, economical, sharp, and coherent. I like the toughness of his writing a lot. He's ... in pursuit of why people behave as badly as they do along with having great compassion for them. That's an unusual and interesting combination."

John Patrick Shanley, it gives me great pleasure to award you the 2007 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award.