Theresa Duncan

Infobox Person
name= Theresa Duncan


image_size =
caption=
birth_name = Theresa Lee Duncan
birth_date= birth date|1966|10|26|mf=y
birth_place= Lapeer, Michigan, United States
death_date= death date and age|2007|07|10|1966|10|26
death_place= East Village, Manhattan, New York, United States
education =
occupation = Video game designer
Blogger
Filmmaker
Critic
partner = Jeremy Blake
nationality = American
website =

Theresa Duncan (October 26, 1966 — July 10, 2007) was an American game designer, blogger, filmmaker and critic.

Life

Theresa Lee Duncan was born in Lapeer, Michigan, near Detroit to Donnie and Mary Duncan. She had a sister, Deanna and a brother, Scott.

Duncan was a writer, filmmaker, and computer-game creator who became known in the 1990s for developing the "girl-centric" (story-based) video games "Chop Suey", "Smarty Pants", and "Zero Zero". She lived with Jeremy Blake in Los Angeles until 2007, when she and Blake moved to Manhattan.

On her blog, Duncan listed her interests as "film, philology, Vietnam War memorabilia, rare and discontinued perfume, book collecting, philately, card and coin tricks, futurism, Napoleon Bonaparte, the history of electricity."

Works

Duncan produced three video games distributed as CD-ROMs. The games were designed to be alternatives to a traditionally male-dominated field. They emphasize search and discovery over combat and conflict. The games won several awards, including "People" magazine's best CD-ROM of the year.

Duncan wrote and directed an animated film, "The History of Glamour", which was selected for the 2000 Whitney Biennial. The film details the semi-autobiographical journey of a young woman from a small town to the glamour of New York; she ultimately rejects it all to return home to pursue her writing career.

Duncan's essays and film and literary criticism were published in "Artforum", "Slate", "Salon", and "Bald Ego".

At the time of her death, Duncan was working on the film "Nick's Trip" with her longtime boyfriend Jeremy Blake.

Death

Duncan was found dead in the East Village, Manhattan apartment she shared with Blake on July 10, 2007. The official cause of death was suicide as a result of the combined ingestion of diphenhydramine and alcohol. Blake is believed to have killed himself a week later, having been seen by an anonymous 911 caller walking into the Atlantic Ocean near Rockaway Beach. According to friends of the couple, Duncan and Blake believed that they were being followed and harassed by Scientologists up to the point of their deaths. cite web | first = Nancy Jo | last = Sales | title = The Golden Suicides | url = http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/01/suicides200801?printable=true&currentPage=all | work = | publisher = Vanity Fair | month = January | year = 2008 | accessdate = 2007-12-26 ]

References

External links

* [http://theresalduncan.typepad.com/ The Wit of the Staircase] , Duncan's blog
* [http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/video/2008/historyofglamour_video200801/ The History of Glamour] , a film by Theresa Duncan
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E7DF103BF936A15756C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all/ Mimi Smartypants Takes On the Assassins] "The New York Times", May 25, 1997
* [http://archive.salon.com/21st/feature/1998/09/24feature.html/ From Girl Games to Glamour] Salon, Sept. 24, 1998
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2103427/ No Pain, No Gain] Slate, July 8, 2004 by Theresa Duncan
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_6_42/ai_113389497/ Twin Bills, Selected for Gale's Best Literary Criticism]
* [http://www.laist.com/2006/02/06/laist_interview_theresa_duncan.php Interview] LAist, February 6, 2006
* [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2007/08/post_6.html Theresa Duncan Has Signed Off] "The Washington Post", August 1, 2007
* [http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/the-theresa-duncan-tragedy/16942/ The Theresa Duncan Tragedy] "LA Weekly", August 1, 2007
* [http://dohray.typepad.com/t/2007/08/a-letter-to-kat.html A Letter to Kate Coe: How You Got the Theresa Duncan Story Wrong] August 9, 2007
* [http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/12/how_well_did_jeremy_blake.html How Well Did Beck Know Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake?] "New York Magazine", December 11, 2007

Persondata
NAME= Duncan, Theresa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Duncan, Theresa Lee
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Video game designer, blogger, filmmaker, critic
DATE OF BIRTH= October 26, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH= Lapeer, Michigan, United States
DATE OF DEATH= July 10, 2007
PLACE OF DEATH= East Village, Manhattan, New York, United States