<p>From Broadway to Hollywood, prolific playwright and blockbuster screenwriter John Logan has mastered the art of storytelling for the stage and screen.</p>
<p>by Elizabeth Canning Blackwell
[Full</a> of Drama: Northwestern Magazine - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/winter2011/feature/full-of-drama.html]Full”>http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/winter2011/feature/full-of-drama.html)</p>
<p>As a Northwestern theater major, John Logan (C83) used to sneak into Annie May Swift Hall with his friends at night not to goof off or stir up trouble but to practice Shakespeare. This past fall Logan was back in that same building, meeting with students as part of the Hope Abelson Artist-in-Residence Program and sharing what hes learned as an award-winning playwright and in-demand Hollywood screenwriter. That career, he says, is a direct result of two defining influences: his familys love of literature and the training he received at Northwestern. </p>
<p>I arrived on campus at 18, not knowing what theater was, he says, and I was inspired and excited by what I found here. I met people who became my colleagues for life.</p>
<p>Animated and quick to smile, Logan, 50, exudes a boyish enthusiasm when he discusses projects that excite him; its easy to see why major filmmakers from Martin Scorsese to Tim Burton want to work with him. Logans interests are wide ranging from opera to football to history to Star Trek and when he latches onto a subject that intrigues him, hes willing to put in years of work to get a story right. </p>
<p>Logan has received three best screenplay nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for Gladiator (2000; co-writing credit with David Franzoni and William Nicholson), The Aviator (2004) and Hugo (2011, in the best adapted screenplay category. Northwestern went to press before the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony.)</p>
<p>Theater director Dennis Zacek (GC65, 70), who has known Logan for decades, says, In my opinion, its only a matter of time before he wins an Oscar.</p>
<p>cont’d…</p>