KURT JOHNS PROJECTS

HELLO KITTY MUST DIE, the play

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I am currently co-writing this dark solo comedy, adapted from the indie novel by Angela S. Choi. Fiona Yu, a 30 yr old Chinese-American lawyer, appears to be just another Hello Kitty stereotype. She’s anything but. She says, "I hate Hello Kitty. She’s just clawless, fangless, voiceless, with that placid, blank expression topped by a pink ribbon. I want to be able to pay for my Jimmy Choos myself and tell anyone who tries to put a damn bow behind my ear to go to hell." Think "Joy Luck Club" meets "Dexter"

THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD PELKEY

March 29 – April 27, 2019
American BLues Theater
Chicago Premiere
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ABT Ensemble member Joe Foust portrays every character in a small Jersey Shore town as he unravels the story of Leonard Pelkey, a fourteen-year-old boy who goes missing. A luminous force of nature whose magic is only truly felt once he is gone, Leonard becomes an unexpected inspiration as the town’s citizens question how they live, who they love, and what they leave behind.

THE UNFORTUNATES

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Based on a true story The Unfortunates, set in Victorian London, follows Mary-Jane Kelly, a down on her luck “unfortunate.” One night she encounters a stranger alone in her local tavern. Will this mysterious gentleman buy her safety for the night or turn out to be Jack the Ripper? The New York Times called it “haunting…engrossing” and TimeOut New York gave it 4 stars and said, "it achieves a rare combination of pathos and humor, breathing fresh life into women we might have otherwise think of only as long-dead prey.”

CHURCHILL, the play

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SoloChicago's inaugural play was a hit in Chicago and in New York. Based on Churchill’s own writings, Ronald Keaton’s one-man show finds the former British prime minister, famed politician, painter, Nobel Prize-winning author and witty raconteur reflecting on his life and times with humor, pride and regret. The inspiring leader shares his political and military history, as well as his fondness for whiskey, cigars and women.

LYSISTRATA JONES

Lysistrata Jones, a critically acclaimed musical comedy about cheerleaders who withhold sex from their boyfriends on the basketball team until the team ends its losing streak, made its Midwest premiere at Roosevelt’s Chicago College of Performing Arts (CCPA)(the first to license the show), which wwas staged by award-winning guest director and former Broadway actor Kurt Johns.

THE MISTRESS CYCLE

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The Mistress Cycle, a non-traditional book musical, a 'song cycle' that explores the lives and loves of five notorious mistresses: Tess Walker, a contemporary Manhattan photographer; Anais Nin, the famed sexual adventurer of the early 20th century; Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of King Henri II of 16th century France; Lulu White, a turn-of-the-century New Orleans bordello Madame; and Ching, a 14- year-old concubine in 12th century China.

IOLANTHE

An Operetta
Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan
Libretto by Sir W.S. Gilbert
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IOLANTHE or The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera in which a group of rowdy fairies meddle with British parliament to ensure that love will conquer all. Justly hailed as the Gilbert & Sullivan connoisseur's favorite, this magical operetta mixes romance, satire and fantasy.

VINCENT IN BRIXTON

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Vincent in Brixton is a coming-of-age play loosely based on VanGogh's early years in London in 1873. A brash young Dutchman, working in London, Vincent rents a room in the house of an English widow. Vincent in Brixton is about the transforming effect of love, sex and artistic adventure on unformed talent. It traces the birth of a genius. Vincent in Brixton won Britain's Olivier Award for best new play, and a Tony Award nomination for best play on Broadway.

TALE OF THE ALLERGISTS WIFE

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Marjorie Taub, the wife of a philanthropic allergist, is engulfed in a life crisis in this critically-acclaimed comedy. With her children grown, her beloved therapist recently dead and her mother incessantly needling her, she finds herself in an empty nest without much interest in anything. Her spirits suddenly soar when a fascinating and incredibly worldy friend from her childhood appears on her door step. THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE is a deliciously devious social satire that won the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award in 2000 and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play.

IRON

An Operetta
Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan
Libretto by Sir W.S. Gilbert
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A group of rowdy fairies meddle with British parliament to ensure that love will conquer all. Justly hailed as the Gilbert & Sullivan connoisseur's favorite, this magical operetta mixes romance, satire and fantasy.

CHICAGO COLLEGE OF PERFORMING ARTS

My Work at Roosevelt University's Theatre Conservatory
From 2009-2012 I worked with upper class musical theatre majors at CCPA to showcase their talents and stretch their abilities. I set about to expose them to conemporary musical theatre material that was NOT Rogers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe, or Sondheim. Music that was by, for, and about people of their generation.

The NOT MIKADO

Co-Author, Associate Producer
Originally commissioned by Virgina Opera which toured the production around virgina. After producing a successful reading in New Yoprk at New Dramatists Guild, I worked with Nederlander Theatricals to remount the show in Michigan which got a deal with Really Useful Group and Columbia Artists Management to produce this gem on the road and in New York City.

REPRESENTATIVE CREATIVE PROJECTS