Kevin Willmott
Assistant Professor

Kevin Willmott grew up in Junction City, Kansas and received his BA in Drama from Marymount College in Salina, Kansas. After graduation, he returned home and worked as a peace and civil rights activist, fighting for the rights of the poor, creating two Catholic Worker shelters for the homeless, and forcing the integration of several long standing segregated institutions. He attended graduate studies at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, receiving several writing awards and his M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing.

The play, T-Money and Wolf, co-written with Ric Averill, which deals with the holocaust and contemporary gang violence, was selected as part of the New Vision/New Voices series produced by the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. The play is published by Dramatic Publishing.

As a screenwriter Willmott co-wrote Shields Green and the Gospel Of John Brown with Mitch Brian. The script was purchased by Chris Columbus’ 1492 Productions for 20th Century Fox. He also co-wrote Civilized Tribes for Producer Robert Lawrence and 20th Century Fox. Producer and director Oliver Stone hired Willmott to co-write Little Brown Brothers about the Philippine Insurrection. He also adapted the book Marching To Valhalla by Michael Blake for Oliver Stone.

For television, Willmott co-wrote with Brian House of Getty and The 70’s, both mini-series for NBC. The 70’s aired in May of 2000.

Ninth Street, an independent feature film starring Martin Sheen and Isaac Hayes, was written, produced, and co-directed by Willmott. He also played the role of “Huddie” one of the films main characters. Ninth Street is a comedy/drama based on Willmott’s experiences growing up in the small town of Junction City, Kansas that is adjacent to an army base. Set in 1968, the film deals with the last days of one of the most notorious streets in the nation. It is distributed by Ideal and was released in November of 1999 on video and DVD.

Most recently Willmott authored Colored Men about the Houston riot of 1917. He also adapted “The Watsons Go to Birmingham” for CBS, Columbia Tri-Star, and Executive Producer Whoopi Goldberg. His current film, CSA: The Confederate States Of America, is about the United States had the South won the Civil War.

Willmott is an Assistant Professor in the Film Studies Department of Kansas University.

The University of Kansas
Department of Theatre and Film
Oldfather Studios
1621 W. 9th Street, Room 218
Lawrence, KS 66044
Phone: 785-864-1350
Fax: 785-331-2671
email: willmott@ku.edu

 

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