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Luke Yankee (born February 7, 1960)[1] is an American writer, playwright, and director.[7][8][9][10][11]
Early life and education
Yankee is the son of actress Eileen Heckart.[12] His father, Jack Yankee, was an insurance broker.[13][14] He studied at the University of California, Riverside, New York University, and at the Juilliard Drama School in New York. He has an MFA[15] in Playwriting and Screenwriting.[2] He is married to Don Hill, the Chair of Drama at the University of California, Irvine.
Career
Yankee worked as Producing Artistic Director of the Long Beach Civic Light Opera.[16] He assistant directed six Broadway plays for such directors as Harold Prince, Ellis Rabb, Brian Murray, and Gerald Freedman.[7] His play, The Last Lifeboat, has had 55 productions in North America.[17] His memoir Just Outside the Spotlight: Growing Up with Eileen Heckart was published in 2006 by Backstage Books. Michael Musto described it as "one of the most compassionate and illuminating showbiz books ever written."[18]
In 2010, his play The Jesus Hickey was staged and produced by the Katselas Theatre Company, starring Harry Hamlin.[19] The same play received both the TRU Voices Award, and the Joel and Phyllis Ehrlich Award.[20][21]
Yankee’s latest work is Marilyn, Mom & Me; a play about his mother’s intense friendship with Marilyn Monroe while shooting the film Bus Stop.[22] It was the recipient of the 2022 Stanley Award for Drama.[17]
^Gates, Anita (9 December 2007). "That Crazy Old Dude Is Chasing Windmills Again". The New York Times. although it is possible that Luke Yankee's otherwise fine direction may have misplaced some of their humor.
^Marchese, Eric (17 June 2017). "'Crimes of the Heart' in Long Beach shows playwright Beth Henley at her best". In director Luke Yankee's hands at International City Theatre, the 1978 seriocomedy is dryly funny and engagingly but never brittly dramatic, his well-chosen actors adroitly relaying both ends of the play's emotional and tonal continuums.
^Smith, Dinitia (2 April 2000). "Theater; At Last, Playing Grandma, She Gets to Be the Star". The couple had three sons, Mark, 47, a liquor salesman; Philip, 45, a stage manager for cruise ship theatrical productions, and Luke, 40, the director.
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