Biography

Gordon attended the University of Wisconsin and soon after formed Screw Theater. In March 1967 Gordon produced The Game Show at the UW Memorial Union. The play, intended to be an attack on apathy, locked the audience in the theater and seemingly humiliated, beat and raped them (audience plants were used.) Every performance ended with the audience rioting and stopping the show. He then formed Screw Theater in the summer of 1968 and produced and directed four shows, the final one, in the fall of 1968, a political version of Peter Pan that got him and his future wife arrested for obscenity. The story made national headlines until the charges were dropped in November 1968. As Gordon described it in a 2001 interview:

I had been protesting against the war in Viet Nam, and got tear-gassed by the Chicago police, and it suddenly struck me that you could take Peter Pan and turn it into a political cartoon about the whole situation. So, Peter Pan became the leader of the hippies and yippies, Captain Hook became Mayor Daley, and the pirates became the Chicago police. We left all of the James Barrie dialogue intact, so when they all went off to Neverland they sprinkled pixie dust on themselves and think lovely thoughts, and up they go. That was an acid trip, which was visualized by a psychedelic light show that was projected onto the bodies of seven naked young ladies...

After the University of Wisconsin demanded future theatrical productions by Screw Theater be overseen by a University Professor, Gordon cut his University ties to form Broom Street Theater. Its first production, the new translation of the risque Lysistrata, premiered in May 1969.

Gordon is married to Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, whom he frequently casts and often murders in his movies. Together in 1969, they founded the Chicago Organic Theater Company, for which Gordon also served as artistic director. With the company, he produced and directed thirty-seven plays, among them the world premieres of The Warp Trilogy, (Warp! was later adapted into a comic book by First Comics), David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Bleacher Bums, E-R, Bloody Bess-A Tale of Piracy and Revenge and a two part adaptation of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

He is also the father of three daughters- Suzanna, Jillian, and Margaret.

In 2009, he directed the one-man theatrical show, Nevermore...An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe which reunited him with Re-Animator alumnus Jeffrey Combs and writer Dennis Paoli. Recently nominated for a Saturn award, the show enjoyed much success at its premiere in Los Angeles and is now in the process of touring the country. In 2011 Gordon produced, directed and co-wrote the book for Re-Animator: The Musical. It played to sold out houses, rave reviews and standing ovations for six months at the Steve Allen Theater. In 2012, it was performed at the New York Musical Theater Festival (NYMF) and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Gordon's next play Taste, premiered at Los Angeles' Sacred Fools Theater Company in April 2014. The play, based on the true story of Armin Meiwes, the Rotenburg Cannibal, was written by Benjamin Brand.

He also directed "Eater", an episode of Fear Itself, for NBC in 2008.
Stuart Gordon has also been a contributor to Blu-ray/DVD extras content (liner notes) for cult film distributors Grindhouse Releasing/Box Office Spectaculars on one of his favorite films, Frank and Eleanor Perry's The Swimmer starring Burt Lancaster.

Filmography

As director

• Bleacher Bums (1979)
• Re-Animator (1985)
• From Beyond (1986)
• Dolls (1987)
• Kid Safe: The Video (1988)
• Robot Jox (1989)
• Daughter of Darkness (1990)
• The Pit and the Pendulum (1991)
• Fortress (1992)
• Castle Freak (1995)
• Space Truckers (1996)
• The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show (episode "Honey, Let's Trick or Treat") (1998)
• Dagon (2001)
• King of the Ants (2003)
• Edmond (2005)
• Masters of Horror TV Series (episode "Dreams In the Witch-House") (2005)
• Masters of Horror TV Series (episode "The Black Cat") (2007)
• Stuck (2007)
• Fear Itself (2008) TV Series (Episode "Eater")
• Nevermore...An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe (2009-14) (stage production)
• Re-Animator: The Musical (2011-) (stage production)
• Tastel (2014-) (stage production)

As writer

• Bleacher Bums (1979)
• Re-Animator (1985)
• From Beyond (1986)
• Kid Safe: The Video (1988)
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
• Body Snatchers (1993)
• Castle Freak (1995)
• The Dentist (1996)
• Space Truckers (1996)
• Progeny (1998)
• Masters of Horror (episode "Dreams In the Witch-House") (2005)
• Masters of Horror (episode "The Black Cat" (2007)
• Re-Animator: The Musical (2011) (stage production)

As producer

• Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992)
• Space Truckers (1996)
• The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)
• Progeny (1998)
• Snail Boy (2000)
• Bleacher Bums (2002)
• Deathbed (2002)
• King of the Ants (2003)
• Edmond (2005)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]