James Engelhardt holds an M.F.A. from the Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago and a Certificate from Studio '68 of Theatre Arts, London. His plays and musicals have been produced internationally. The Fir Tree, a Theatre School premiere (with music and lyrics by Carol Weiss), was published by Dramatic Publishing in 1986. In 1990 he traveled to the Republic of South Africa for the premiere of Slave Trade, the first play about race relations to be imported to that country. He has created and written productions for the Ice Capades, Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Caesar's Hotel in Atlantic City and Radio City Music Hall. He has served as associate producer on the development of theme parks and has written various industrial shows. Engelhardt is the creator and writer of five television series for young people on CBS, WNBC, ON/SELEC TV, and videocassette and has written material for PBS. As a distinguished alumnus of The Theatre School (formerly the Goodman) at DePaul University, Chicago, he was specially commissioned to write his retelling of Androcles and the Lion (Dramatic Publishing, 1999) in celebration of the school's 70th anniversary season in 1995.
