John was a 2019-2020 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing.
His plays have been presented in New York by Circle Rep, Urban Stages, Hey Jonte!, Core Artist Ensemble, Greenhouse Ensemble, Playground Ensemble, ANDTheatre, and Shelter West, and around the US and UK by Barrington Stage Company, Centastage, Left Edge, Good Company, YASPLZ and others. He has had new plays developed and workshopped at the New Repertory Theatre, Gloucester Stage Company, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, Portland Stage Company, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Actors' Repertory Theatre of Vermont, Dayton Playhouse, The Landing Theatre, and the Orlando Shakespeare Theater; selected four times for the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Festival, for Orange Tea Theatre (Amsterdam), The Lanford Wilson Festival, SoBe Arts, IMPACT 15 International Theatre Festival, BARE Essentials and Best of BARE Essentials (London), the Boston Theater Marathon, Short + Sweet (Dubai, Los Angeles, Sydney, Delhi, and Queensland), the Snowdance Comedy Festival, Seoul Players (South Korea), Boston Play Café, and the Theatre Nerd podcast.
He is the winner of the 2022 Judith Royer Award for Excellence in Playwriting from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education/The Kennedy Center, the 2022 Louise Wigglesworth Excellence in Playwriting Award from The Lab Theater of Florida, a 2020 winner of the New American Voices Festival, a 2019 Clauder Competition Gold Prize winner, a finalist for the 2018 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, and a finalist for the 2014 Heideman Award from the Actors Theatre of Louisville.
His short plays have won the KNOCK International Short Play Competition, the 8-Minute Madness Festival in New York City, the Rover Dramawerks Competition, the Longwood 0-60 Contest, and been selected for City Theatre Miami’s Summer Shorts and Little Fish Pick-of-the-Vine. He was also a winner of the 2014 Nantucket One-Act Play Contest, the 2015 Nor'Eastern Playwrights Contest, the 2015 Seoul Players' Short Play Festival and the Firehouse Center for the Arts New Works Festival in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2020.
John's work is published by Applause (Best American Short Plays 2015-2016, Go Out and Play), Smith & Kraus (Best 10-Minute Plays of 2016, Best 10-Minute Plays of 2021, Five-Minute Plays for Performance and Study, Best Women's Monologues 2019), YouthPLAYS, and Theatrefolk. The film Noir-Man, based on his play The Maltese Walter, is currently on the film festival circuit.
Two plays John devised with high school students were overall winners of the 110+ school Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild Festival.
John lives in the Boston area with his wife, the dance scholar, teacher, and choreographer Lynn E. Frederiksen. He is currently on the faculty of Emerson College and has taught at Shakespeare & Company, the Huntington Theatre Company, and The Hanover Conservatory.
He is the Dramatists Guild Ambassador for the Boston Region and a member of The Playwrights Center, StageSource, and the Citywrights group.
His plays have been presented in New York by Circle Rep, Urban Stages, Hey Jonte!, Core Artist Ensemble, Greenhouse Ensemble, Playground Ensemble, ANDTheatre, and Shelter West, and around the US and UK by Barrington Stage Company, Centastage, Left Edge, Good Company, YASPLZ and others. He has had new plays developed and workshopped at the New Repertory Theatre, Gloucester Stage Company, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, Portland Stage Company, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Actors' Repertory Theatre of Vermont, Dayton Playhouse, The Landing Theatre, and the Orlando Shakespeare Theater; selected four times for the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Festival, for Orange Tea Theatre (Amsterdam), The Lanford Wilson Festival, SoBe Arts, IMPACT 15 International Theatre Festival, BARE Essentials and Best of BARE Essentials (London), the Boston Theater Marathon, Short + Sweet (Dubai, Los Angeles, Sydney, Delhi, and Queensland), the Snowdance Comedy Festival, Seoul Players (South Korea), Boston Play Café, and the Theatre Nerd podcast.
He is the winner of the 2022 Judith Royer Award for Excellence in Playwriting from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education/The Kennedy Center, the 2022 Louise Wigglesworth Excellence in Playwriting Award from The Lab Theater of Florida, a 2020 winner of the New American Voices Festival, a 2019 Clauder Competition Gold Prize winner, a finalist for the 2018 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, and a finalist for the 2014 Heideman Award from the Actors Theatre of Louisville.
His short plays have won the KNOCK International Short Play Competition, the 8-Minute Madness Festival in New York City, the Rover Dramawerks Competition, the Longwood 0-60 Contest, and been selected for City Theatre Miami’s Summer Shorts and Little Fish Pick-of-the-Vine. He was also a winner of the 2014 Nantucket One-Act Play Contest, the 2015 Nor'Eastern Playwrights Contest, the 2015 Seoul Players' Short Play Festival and the Firehouse Center for the Arts New Works Festival in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2020.
John's work is published by Applause (Best American Short Plays 2015-2016, Go Out and Play), Smith & Kraus (Best 10-Minute Plays of 2016, Best 10-Minute Plays of 2021, Five-Minute Plays for Performance and Study, Best Women's Monologues 2019), YouthPLAYS, and Theatrefolk. The film Noir-Man, based on his play The Maltese Walter, is currently on the film festival circuit.
Two plays John devised with high school students were overall winners of the 110+ school Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild Festival.
John lives in the Boston area with his wife, the dance scholar, teacher, and choreographer Lynn E. Frederiksen. He is currently on the faculty of Emerson College and has taught at Shakespeare & Company, the Huntington Theatre Company, and The Hanover Conservatory.
He is the Dramatists Guild Ambassador for the Boston Region and a member of The Playwrights Center, StageSource, and the Citywrights group.
