Bill Pearlman Papers, 1957-2013 (MSS 789)

William (Bill) Dennis Pearlman was born in 1943 in Los Angeles, California. He attended Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, California, obtained a B.A. in English Literature and Theatre Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles, and went on to earn his M.A. in English Literature from the University of New Mexico. In addition to literature and theatre, Pearlman had a lifelong interest in athletics. He played football at both Mira Costa High School and UCLA, and was an All-American volleyball player.

After graduate school, Pearlman trained extensively in Jungian psychotherapy, psychodrama and family therapy, and became a licensed professional counselor and substance abuse therapist in the state of New Mexico. In 1987, combining his interest in psychology and theatre, Pearlman founded the Institute for Archetypal Drama, and for several years as Director, he developed and conducted innovative educational workshops for college students and adults in drama therapy.

Pearlman taught workshops and classes on a variety of subjects relating to theatre, drama therapy, English literature and poetry at several institutions throughout the course of his professional career: He was on the faculty of Southwestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico; was an Instructor of English Literature at the Writing Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara; and was the Program Director of the graduate level Archetypal Drama Therapy program at Ottawa University in Phoenix. Pearlman, a multi-linguist, also taught drama therapy workshops in Portuguese in Brazil, and in Spanish in Mexico and Spain. In 1992, Pearlman presented at the national ASGPP Psychodrama Conference in New York and the National Association for Drama Therapy in San Francisco.

In addition to teaching drama, Pearlman was a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Actors' Equity Association and had small rolls in feature films and television, including: Falcon Crest (1989); Lazarus Man (1995); and East Meets West (Japanese Production, 1996). He acted in several plays, including: Waiting for Godot at the Vortex Theatre (1976); Figaro Gets a Divorce at the La Jolla Playhouse (1986); Glengarry Glen Ross at the Arizona Theatre Co. (1987); Caine Mutiny Court Martial at the Actors Lab, Arizona (1988); and directed Samuel Beckett's Krapps Last Tape at the Zócalo Theatre in New Mexico (1982).

Pearlman wrote in a variety of genres, often combining his interested in poetry, archetypes and the dramatic arts and published several books including: Surfing Off the Ark (Poems 1965-1969) by Grasshopper Press (1970); Inzorbital: A Novel published by Duende Press (1974); Elegy for Prefontaine and Other Track Poems (1977); Characters of the Sacred: The World of Archetypal Drama published by Duende Press (1995); Flareup of Twosomes, Poems by La Alameda Press (1996); Brazilian Incarnation, New and Selected Poems by Rough Road Press (2000); and was part of the poetry anthology, In Company: Anthology of New Mexico Poets, (University of New Mexico Press, 2004).

Pearlman passed away in 2016 in San Miguel, New Mexico.