playwright | director | producer | activist
After launching his first play on PBS while still at university, John Binkley went to fight for civil rights in Lowndes County, Alabama from 1968 to 1970. He then went on to create and produce children's television for 25 years, with five series broadcast in more than twenty countries in seven languages. From 1996 to 2000, Binkley travelled to war zones producing a documentary, CHILDREN OF WAR, giving voice to teens in Northern Ireland, Israel/Gaza and urban America. Binkley then returned to writing and directing for the theatre.
TELEVISION CREDITS
NO MAN'S CHILD wrote & directed, play produced for television by K.Q.E.D./ San Francisco, broadcast on prime time PBS stations in all major U.S. cities in 1966.
NO ADULTS ALLOWED created & produced, 13 episode series for national British TV (ITV) and foreign distribution, 1984-1990.
THE PERKINS FAMILY created & produced, 13 episodes for WGBH for broadcast on PBS, 1987.
FIFTEEN created & produced, 13 episodes produced for Disney and Canadian television, 1986-1987.
65 episodes for NICKELODEON in the U.S. and YTV in Canada, plus foreign distribution; 1990-2000.
Licensed to Amazon Prime for 5 years, 2017.
THEATRE CREDITS
NO MAN'S CHILD premiered at The Nitery Theater, Stanford University, televised on PBS in major US cities, 1966.
SEIZE THE DAY workshop reading and four week Scotland tour, 2005 - 2006.
GANG OF FOUR showcase production at Presentation House, Vancouver, B.C., 2007.
PRESIDENTIAL SUITE private industry readings in Paris, New York City and The University of Virginia; twenty one day run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2012 - 2015.
German language version premiered by the Renaissance Theater in Berlin, October 2018, directed by Guntbert Warns.
Swiss German language version premiered by Theater Matte in Bern, October 2020, directed by Claudia Rippe.
Renaissance Theater (Berlin) production contracted to tour Germany and Austria, 2022, schedule to be determined.
See PRESS below: The Times of London + UVA article