Stephen Avery

As a United States Navy veteran, playwright, reporter and municipally-involved society member, Stephen Avery has contributed much to the world throughout his career. From 1973 to 1977, Mr. Avery served the United States in the Navy. He participated in the rescue efforts and first-stage relocation of Vietnamese refugees while serving aboard the USS Denver. In the early 1970s, Mr. Avery was a freelance reporter for the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record and New Era.

Mr. Avery is the author of several plays and has also contributed to recent documentaries. In 1991, Mr. Avery published “Hungry: Three Plays” and “Because.” The next year, he came out with “Insidious.” His play “Burning Bridges” was released in 1999. In 2005, he became a production partner of the Moriah Films’ documentary “Ever Again.” In 2008, he once again worked as a production partner for a documentary, this time for the Southern Poverty Law Center documentary “Viva La Causa.” He has remained active in the creative arts through affiliation to several organizations, including the Drama League, The Theatre Communications Group, Authors League of America, Dramatists Guild Inc. and the Americans for the Arts Action Fund. Mr. Avery has also been involved as a charter member of the George W. Bush Presidential Center and the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. He maintains affiliation with the Save Ellis Island Foundation, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National D-Day Museum, the National Museum for Women in Arts, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Habitat for Humanity International.

Mr. Avery was a founding member of the National Campaign for Tolerance, the National Museum of American Jewish History, the Flight 93 National Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial and the Mountain Home Vada Sheid Community Development Center with Arkansas State University. He actively supports the United States Holocaust Museum, the Beil Hashoah Museum of Tolerance, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the American Jewish Committee. He was the honorary co-chair of the President’s Dinner for George W. Bush in both 2004 and 2005.