influence/inspiration
Carl Hancock Rux, (b. March 24th, 1971, Harlem, New York) is an African American poet, playwright, novelist, recording artist, and essayist who crosses and fuses disciplines in his art. His writing and spoken word performances incorporate the rhythms and oral traditions of the African American diaspora while being grounded in the classical Western canon. He is the author of the Village Voice Literary prize winning collection of poetry, Pagan Operetta the novel Asphalt and the OBIE award winning play Talk. Rux is also Head of the MFA Playwrights Program at California Institute of the Arts.
Born Carl Stephen Hancock in Harlem, New York, Carl Hancock Rux’s biological mother was institutionalized for schizophrenia while he was still an infant. After his grandmother died when he was four, he and his brothers would grow up separately in foster homes. He was eventually adopted by his maternal uncle and aunt, who legally added Rux (of German/French Huguenot derivation) to his name. A graduate of the LaGuardia High School (where he studied both visual art and voice), and an alumnus of Columbia University, Carl Hancock Rux began his career as a playwright with Song of Sad Young Men, produced off-Broadway in 1990 at the Producer’s Club Theater, directed by Tony award winning actress Trazana Beverly and starring actor Isaiah Washington (ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy). The play, a social commentary on the effect of AIDS and homelessness on the African American community, was written in response to Rux’s older brother’s death from AIDS in 1989. Carl Hancock Rux is among several poets and spoken word artists to emerge in the early 90s from the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe on New York’s Lower East (Paul Beatty, Tracie Morris, Dael Orlandersmith, Willie Perdomo, Kevin Powell, Maggie Estep, Reg E. Gaines, Edwin Torres, Saul Williams, Tish Benson). In 1994, after the release of the anthology, Voices From the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Rux was selected by the New York Times Magazine as One of Thirty Artists Under The Age Of Thirty Most Likely to Influence Culture Over The Next Thirty Years(others included Academy Award winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Pulitzer prize winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, choreographer Ron Brown, rapper Nas, singer Audra McDonald,pop music DJ Moby, and theater composer Adam Guettel). In 1998, upon the publication of his first book of poetry, Pagan Operetta, he received the Village Voice Literary prize and was featured on the weekly’s cover story; Eight Writers on the Verge of (Impacting) the Literary Landscape. In 2004, upon publication of his first novel, Asphalt, Rux was featured on the cover of the New York Times magazine.is a recipient of the Village Voice Literary Prize, Fresh Poet Award, National Endowment for the Arts/Theater Communication Group Playwright in Residence fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts Gregory Millard fellowship, NYFA Prize, Herb Alpert Award in the Arts (CalArts), Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) 10 Arts & Artists in Progress Award. He is the subject of the Voices of America television documentary, “Carl Hancock Rux, Coming of Age”, (Larry Clamage/Richard Maniscalo producers) was the recipient of the CINE Golden Eagle Award. A frequent radio essayist and guest host (XM Radio’s The Bob Edwards Show; WNYC “Soundcheck”) Rux co-wrote and narrated the radio documentary, “Walt Whitman; Songs of Myself” (Elena Park/Curtis Fox producers), awarded the 2006 New York Press Club Journalism Award for Entertainment News.
