NICHOLAS A. PATRICCA (Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Educator) is professor emeritus at Loyola University Chicago (Theology and Fine Arts); playwright emeritus at Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago; ensemble member, TOSOS Theatre Collective, New York City; a contributing columnist at Windy City Times, Chicago. Nick holds a Ph.D. (1972) from the University of Chicago, is an active member of the Dramatists Guild, president of Chicago Network for Justice and Peace, a member of the Writers in Prison (Freedom to Write) Committee, PEN International (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Chapter). Nick’s two most recent major literary awards are: ‘The Oscar Wilde Award,’ Dublin, Ireland, May 2006, for his play Oh, Holy Allen Ginsberg; and an ‘Alexander S. Onassis Distinction Prize’ in the III International Cultural Competition for his play The Defiant Muse, Athens, Greece, August 2006. [The Defiant Muse, World Premiere production at Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago, Autumn, 2007.] Nick’s plays and performance poetry, produced internationally as well as throughout the USA, are translated into Spanish, French, Italian and Japanese, and published by the Dramatic Publishing Company (USA, England, Australia, New Zealand).