• MFA, Towson University
• M.A., Boston University
• B.S., Rochester Institute of Technology

Conley is an award-winning playwright who has published in American Theatre, The Deaf Way II Anthology, Deaf World, Stages of Transformation, Theatre For Young Audiences Today, The Tactile Mind, No Walls of Stone, and Deaf American Poetry. He has two books, Broken Spokes and the most recent one – Vignettes of the Deaf Character and Other Plays (http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/bookpage/VODCbookpage.html). His plays have had professional productions nationwide and internationally, including the Kennedy Center, the Boston Center for the Arts, ARBOS, the Boston Playwrights Theatre, Centerstage, the National Theatre of the Deaf, Imagination Stage, Olney Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Amaryllis Theatre, Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, Omaha Diner Theatre, and off-off Broadway. He has garnered awards from the VSA arts 2000 Playwrights Discovery Competition, the Sam Edwards Deaf Playwrights Competition, The American Deaf Drama Festival, the Baltimore Playwrights Festival, the ‘97 and ‘99 NeWorks Festival in Boston, the Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund, the Lamia Ink! International One-Page- Play Festival, a PEW/National Theatre Artist Residency grant, and the 2007-2008 Schaefer Professorship.

As an actor, Conley has performed with the National Theatre of the Deaf, Pilobolus Dance Theatre, LAByrinth Theatre Company, Amaryllis Theatre Company, Colonial Theatre, Shakespeare-in-the-Park in Westerly, Rhode Island, Fairmount Theatre of the Deaf, New York Deaf Theatre, Quest: Arts for Everyone, Sunshine Too, and CenterStage. He appeared in an episode (Silencer) of NBC's Law & Order: CI; other film/ TV appearances include: Wrong Game, Stille Liebe (Secret Love), and CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt.

He holds a B.S. degree in Biomedical Photographic Communication from R.I.T., a certification as a Registered Biological Photographer (#319), an M.A. in Creative Writing/Playwriting from Boston University (where he studied with Nobel Laureate, Derek Walcott), and an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary/Intercultural Theatre from Towson University. He is an Associate Artist with Center Stage, an Affiliate Artist with Quest: Arts for Everyone, and an Associate member of The Dramatists Guild.

Personal Website: http://www.willyconley.com

Publications:
Vignettes of the Deaf Character and Other Plays
Plays & Review
http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/bookpage/VODCbookpage.html
http://www.clercscar.com/?tag=edna-edith-sayers

Deaf American Poetry
Front cover photograph, poems
http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/excerpts/DAPtoc.html

Broken Spokes
Front cover photograph, play
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Spokes-Play-Seven-Scenes/dp/0971924821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358966950&sr=8-1&keywords=broken+spokes+willy+conley

Article in American Theatre: "From Lipreading Ants to Flying over Cuckoos Nests"
http://www.tcg.org/publications/at/2001/lip.cfm

No Walls of Stone
One-Act Play, short story, poem
http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/2855.html

The Deaf Way II Anthology
Poems & Short Story
http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/bookpage/DW2Abookpage.html

Signing the Body Poetic
Book Chapter – Visual Screaming: Willy Conley’s Deaf Theater and Charlie Chaplin’s Silent Cinema
http://anglophile.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520229761

34th Parallel
Front cover & interior photographs, interview

Urbanite
Short essay

Opening Stages, Kennedy Center
http://www.kennedy-center.org/text/accessibility/opening_stages/ issue14-March2005.pdf

Clerc Scar
Article/Short Story
http://www.clercscar.com/archives/20090812a.html
http://www.clercscar.com/?tag=willy-conley

Deaf Characters in Adolescent Literature
Interview

The Baltimore Sun
Article