John Mailer

Before graduating from Wesleyan University with a BA in theater, John Buffalo Mailer published his first novella, Hello Herman, in The Reading Room, vol. 1. The story centered around a 16-year-old mass murderer from a small suburban town in Iowa, and the cocky young journalist, trying to run from his own dark past, who is hired to interview him.

After graduating, Mailer founded Back House Productions in New York City with three other Wesleyan grads and Back House became the resident theater company of The Drama Bookshop's Arthur Seelan Theater. In 2001, his first play, an adaptation of Hello Herman premiered in New York.

Mailer took a hiatus from Back House and theater in general to accept the position of Executive Editor for the infamous High Times magazine. Hired by Richard Stratton to help re-launch the magazine as an independent, outlaw version of Vanity Fair, Stratton, Mailer, and Annie Nocenti, the Editor, made national headlines with the stories they published. While there, he became active in the protest movement centering around the Republican National Convention. In addition to producing the High Times Activist's Guide to the RNC, he also interviewed his father, Norman Mailer, for New York Magazine, on the possible dangers and benefits of the protest.

His second play, Crazy Eyes, recently had its world premiere in Athens, Greece, in March of 2005. Crazy Eyes, which takes place in October of 2001, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, centers on an actor, a day trader, an AIDS researcher, a bag of white powder, and a Palestinian American who owns the 99 cent store.

Mailer is a member of The Dramatists' Guild Actor's Equity Association, and The Playwright/Director's Group of The Actors Studio. He has lectured at the University of Notre Dame, Wesleyan, and the University of Athens. He is also the American Cultural Dramaturge for Israeli actress Meital Dohan's one-woman show, Bath Party. In addition to HeIlo Herman and Crazy Eyes, he has written several screenplays, one short play, and freelanced for Playboy, New York, Stop Smiling, and Lid Magazines.