HINES, Alan 1951-

PERSONAL:

Born March 19, 1951, in Dallas, TX; son of Marshall A. (an attorney) and Lois M. (McCaslin) Hines. Education: City College of New York, B.A., 1977; Brooklyn College, M.F.A., 1980.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Drexel University, College of Media Arts and Design, 3141 Chestnut St., Nesbitt, 200, Philadelphia, PA 19104. E-mail—ahines@radenet.net.

CAREER:

Writer. Scholastic Inc., New York, NY, editor; Drexel University, College of Media Arts and Design, Philadelphia, PA, adjunct professor.

MEMBER:

Authors Guild.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Yukio Mishma Award for short fiction, 1977; D.H. Lawrence Fellowship; Educational Press Award.

WRITINGS:

Square Dance, Harper & Row (New York, NY), 1984.

Articles have also been published in various magazines. Also author of screenplays including, A Stranger in the Kingdom, United Artists and O'Keefe and Stieglitz, American Playhouse. Also wrote screenplays for television movies, including In Sickness and In Health, CBS; Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story, ABC; Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story, USA.

ADAPTATIONS:

Square Dance, was adapted for film by Alan Hines and released by Island Films, 1987.

SIDELIGHTS:

Alan Hines has had an extensive career as an editor and author of educational publications. He has written several screenplays and a work of fiction called Square Dance, which he also wrote the screenplay for. Square Dance, the movie, was released in 1987, starring Jason Robards, Rob Lowe, Jane Alexander, and Winona Ryder.

Square Dance is about a 13-year old girl named Gemma, who is being raised by her bitter, contentious old grandfather. Gemma was abandoned by her mother and told that her father died in Vietnam. Hines told CA: "Square Dance is only autobiographical in terms of sensibility. Certain events and stories were passed down through my family. My mother did drive her near-sighted father over back country roads. She did bring him home from a cousin's house so late one night that he had to sit on the hood of their car with a flashlight.

"My work is strongly influenced by family tales, by Texas, and by folklore. Details from small town life and the people who make up those vanishing communities are special considerations. Passing along this information no longer exists the way it once did. To preserve some sense of tradition, both in family and in community, is important to me maybe because as a 1950s child I was born into a world just beginning a rapid, irreversible course of change. Families grow up; they break up. Neighbors are no longer life-time friends with mutual concerns. Since both of my parents were first-generation city people, right off the farm, I grew up with an awareness of the difference between the accelerated course we were being launched into and the modest-paced, rich lives of my relatives."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, February 20, 1987, Michael Wilmington, "Square Dance: A Well-Rounded Film."

New York Times, February 20, 1987, Vincent Canby, review of Square Dance.

Scholastic Update, March 23, 1987, Dorothy Scheuer, "The Steps to a Square Dance," p. 32.*