Joshua Irving Gershick
Joshua Irving Gershick is a playwright, author, journalist, filmmaker & teacher whose work illuminates the lives of Queer Americans who’ve been hidden from history.
He is the author of two acclaimed oral histories, Gay Old Girls, winner of the ForeWord Book of the Year Award for LGBT Nonfiction, an American Library Association Book of the Year Nominee, and a Lambda Literary Award Finalist; and Secret Service: Untold Stories of Lesbians in the Military, winner of the ForeWord Book of the Year Award for LGBT Nonfiction and a C-SPAN Book TV featured title. Inspired by the work of the late oral historian Studs Terkel, Gershick began in the 1980s to collect and preserve first-person accounts of his Queer elders.
His latest works are the epistolary play Dear ONE: Love & Longing in Mid-Century Queer America – based on letters written in the 1950s & 60s, to L.A.’s ONE Magazine, the first openly gay & lesbian periodical in the United States – and the forthcoming book, Admitting Privileges.
Dear ONE was commissioned by the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at USC – the world’s largest repository of LGBT material – to honor its 60th anniversary. An audio version of Dear ONE, written and directed by Gershick and featuring the legendary George Takei, was produced by San Diego's Diversionary Theatre in 2020 to launch its AmeriQueer Series. The audiocast was winner of the San Diego Union-Tribune's Best Audiocast Award.
Gershick’s other plays include Bluebonnet Court, winner of the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Los Angeles Theatre, an NAACP Award for Theatre Excellence, and multiple L.A. Weekly and L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation nominations.
His short film Door Prize (starring Beth Grant) has screened at more than 125 film festivals worldwide and was winner of the Bloomington PRIDE Film Festival’s Alfred C. Kinsey Award, honoring film that furthers understanding of gender or sexuality. The film also was named Best GenderBender Short at the Hamburg International Queer Film Festival; Best Female Short at FilmOut: The San Diego Gay & Lesbian Film Festival; and Best Short at the Kansas City Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The film was used nationally by The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other non-profits to promote the full equality and inclusion
of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Gershick wrote the narration for the documentary film Tweakers, chronicling the methamphetamine epidemic in LGBTQ communities; and his comedy script Rozzie & Harriet (co-written with Marion Levine) was a finalist at Outfest.
His short fiction has appeared in the anthologies Best Lesbian Love Stories 2003 and Best Lesbian Love Stories 2004 (Alyson Books).
He is a former reporter for Newsweek, The Advocate and other newspapers and periodicals, and served for more than a decade as the frontline media liaison for USC, the West's largest private research university.
Gershick is a frequent speaker on LGBTQ history and transgender healthcare and has taught graduate and undergraduate writing at USC, Pasadena City College, Glendale Community College and Austin Community College.
A U.S. Army veteran and graduate of the Defense Information School, Gershick holds an MFA from the USC School of Dramatic Arts and a Master of Professional Writing (MPW) from the USC Dornsife College; and is a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts Summer Intensive in Documentary Filmmaking.
He is a member of the Authors Guild and the Dramatists Guild and a regular contributor to The Dramatist magazine.
He is the author of two acclaimed oral histories, Gay Old Girls, winner of the ForeWord Book of the Year Award for LGBT Nonfiction, an American Library Association Book of the Year Nominee, and a Lambda Literary Award Finalist; and Secret Service: Untold Stories of Lesbians in the Military, winner of the ForeWord Book of the Year Award for LGBT Nonfiction and a C-SPAN Book TV featured title. Inspired by the work of the late oral historian Studs Terkel, Gershick began in the 1980s to collect and preserve first-person accounts of his Queer elders.
His latest works are the epistolary play Dear ONE: Love & Longing in Mid-Century Queer America – based on letters written in the 1950s & 60s, to L.A.’s ONE Magazine, the first openly gay & lesbian periodical in the United States – and the forthcoming book, Admitting Privileges.
Dear ONE was commissioned by the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at USC – the world’s largest repository of LGBT material – to honor its 60th anniversary. An audio version of Dear ONE, written and directed by Gershick and featuring the legendary George Takei, was produced by San Diego's Diversionary Theatre in 2020 to launch its AmeriQueer Series. The audiocast was winner of the San Diego Union-Tribune's Best Audiocast Award.
Gershick’s other plays include Bluebonnet Court, winner of the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Los Angeles Theatre, an NAACP Award for Theatre Excellence, and multiple L.A. Weekly and L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation nominations.
His short film Door Prize (starring Beth Grant) has screened at more than 125 film festivals worldwide and was winner of the Bloomington PRIDE Film Festival’s Alfred C. Kinsey Award, honoring film that furthers understanding of gender or sexuality. The film also was named Best GenderBender Short at the Hamburg International Queer Film Festival; Best Female Short at FilmOut: The San Diego Gay & Lesbian Film Festival; and Best Short at the Kansas City Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The film was used nationally by The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other non-profits to promote the full equality and inclusion
of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Gershick wrote the narration for the documentary film Tweakers, chronicling the methamphetamine epidemic in LGBTQ communities; and his comedy script Rozzie & Harriet (co-written with Marion Levine) was a finalist at Outfest.
His short fiction has appeared in the anthologies Best Lesbian Love Stories 2003 and Best Lesbian Love Stories 2004 (Alyson Books).
He is a former reporter for Newsweek, The Advocate and other newspapers and periodicals, and served for more than a decade as the frontline media liaison for USC, the West's largest private research university.
Gershick is a frequent speaker on LGBTQ history and transgender healthcare and has taught graduate and undergraduate writing at USC, Pasadena City College, Glendale Community College and Austin Community College.
A U.S. Army veteran and graduate of the Defense Information School, Gershick holds an MFA from the USC School of Dramatic Arts and a Master of Professional Writing (MPW) from the USC Dornsife College; and is a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts Summer Intensive in Documentary Filmmaking.
He is a member of the Authors Guild and the Dramatists Guild and a regular contributor to The Dramatist magazine.
