JOHN KUNTZ is a founding company member of the Actors’ Shakespeare Project, where he was seen as Actor #4 in The Hotel Nepenthe, Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, multiple roles in Timon of Athens, Don Pedro/Verges in Much Ado About Nothing, Trinculo in The Tempest, Pandaulf in King John, Tamora in Titus Andronicus, Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale, Lucio/Froth in Measure for Measure, Sebastian in Twelfth Night, Bertram/The Clown in All’s Well That Ends Well, and the title role in Richard III. NY credits include Mrs. Daigle in The Bad Seed (Ohio Theatre), Kurt in Jump/Rope (which he also wrote) with Square Peg Productions at Urban Stages, and his one-person shows Starfuckers (Ohio Theatre and NY Fringe) and Freaks (Solo Arts Group).
Recent Boston credits include the Poppy in The Lily’s Revenge, Heisenberg in Copenhagen, and multiple roles in the world premiere of The Communist Dracula Pageant (ART); Vanya in Uncle Vanya (Apollinaire Theatre Company); John Marston/Guy Fawkes in Mortal Terror (Modern Theatre/BPT); Janet and Frick in After School Special (which he also wrote) and the title role in Mr. Marmalade (Company One); numerous productions of The SantaLand Diaries (Independent Reviewers of New England [IRNE] Award for Best Solo Performance); Katurian in the New England premiere of The Pillowman, Estragon in Waiting for Godot, the title role in Scapin, Austin in True West, and the Emcee in Cabaret (all with the New Repertory Theatre); Salvador Dali in Hysteria, Aston in The Caretaker, 20 roles in How I Got That Story, and multiple roles in Mere Mortals (all with the Nora Theatre Company); Jane/Lord Edgar in The Mystery of Irma Vep, Carl in The Baltimore Waltz, Nathan Leopold in Never the Sinner, and 40 roles in Fully Committed (all with The Lyric Stage Company); Voice #1 in Betty’s Summer Vacation (Huntington Theatre Company); and three seasons with Commonwealth Shakespeare, appearing in Henry V (Fluellen), Twelfth Night (Sir Andrew), and Hamlet (Guildenstern/Osric). Film: The Red Right Hand (Roger), Anathema (Neil; Best Actor Award – Festival du Cinema de Bruxelles).
John is the author of 14 full-length plays, including The Superheroine Monologues (cowritten with Rick Park), Sing Me to Sleep, Freaks, Starfuckers, After School Special, My Life with the Kringle Kult, Miss Price, The Hotel Nepenthe, Glitterati, Emerald City, Jasper Lake, Jump/Rope, and Actorz with a Z.
He received both an Elliot Norton Award and New York International Fringe Festival Award for his solo show Starfuckers, and his plays Sing Me To Sleep and Freaks both received Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding Fringe Production. He was an inaugural playwriting fellow with the Huntington Theatre Company and a fellow at the O’Neill Center in 2007. His play Jasper Lake received both the Michael Kanin and Paula Vogel National Playwriting Awards, with productions at the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC) and the New York Fringe Festival. His newest solo show, The Salt Girl, received the 2010 Elliot Norton Award for Best New Play and was recently performed at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. His newest play, The Hotel Nepenthe, received the Elliot Norton Award for Best Ensemble, both the Norton and IRNE Awards for Best New Play, and was recently published by Concord Free Press. He teaches at Suffolk University and is on the faculty of The Boston Conservatory.