John is a recent Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing.
He has had new work commissioned by Concert Theatre Works, Gloucester Stage Company, The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Hey Jonté Productions, Funky Little Theatre Company, and The Plumbing Museum.
His plays have been presented in New York by Circle Rep, Hey Jonté, Core Artist Ensemble, Greenhouse Ensemble, Playground Ensemble, Create Theatre, Urban Stages, ANDTheatre, Shelter West, and others, and around the US and UK by Barrington Stage Company, Greater Boston Stage Company, Centastage, Dean Productions, Good Company, YASPLZ and more. He has had new plays developed and workshopped at Gloucester Stage Company, Portland Stage Company, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, Great Plains Theatre Conference, The Madison New Works Lab, Moonbox Productions, New Repertory Theatre, Actors' Repertory Theatre of Vermont, Dayton Playhouse, The Landing Theatre, Theatre Resources Unlimited, and the Orlando Shakespeare Theater; selected four times for the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Festival, for TRU (NYC), 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 with Gather by the Ghostlight and other podcasts.
He is the winner of the 2023 Broadway World Award for Best New Play in Boston, the 2022 Judith Royer Award for Excellence in Playwriting from The Kennedy Center/Association for Theatre in Higher Education, 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, a finalist for the 2014 Heideman Award from the Actors Theatre of Louisville, and a nominee for the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script produced in Boston in 2023, 2019, and 2015.
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 Ten-Minute Plays of 2016, Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2021, Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2024, Five-Minute Plays for Performance and Study, Best Men's and Best Women's Monologues 2023, Best Men's and Best Women's Monologues 2022, Best Women's Monologues 2019), YouthPLAYS, Theatrefolk, and university presses. The Asylum Giant 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/dancer/choreographer Lynn E. Frederiksen. He is currently affiliate faculty at Emerson College and has taught at Shakespeare & Company, the Huntington Theatre Company, and The Hanover Theatre Conservatory.
He serves as the Dramatists Guild Ambassador for the Boston Region.
He has had new work commissioned by Concert Theatre Works, Gloucester Stage Company, The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Hey Jonté Productions, Funky Little Theatre Company, and The Plumbing Museum.
His plays have been presented in New York by Circle Rep, Hey Jonté, Core Artist Ensemble, Greenhouse Ensemble, Playground Ensemble, Create Theatre, Urban Stages, ANDTheatre, Shelter West, and others, and around the US and UK by Barrington Stage Company, Greater Boston Stage Company, Centastage, Dean Productions, Good Company, YASPLZ and more. He has had new plays developed and workshopped at Gloucester Stage Company, Portland Stage Company, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, Great Plains Theatre Conference, The Madison New Works Lab, Moonbox Productions, New Repertory Theatre, Actors' Repertory Theatre of Vermont, Dayton Playhouse, The Landing Theatre, Theatre Resources Unlimited, and the Orlando Shakespeare Theater; selected four times for the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Festival, for TRU (NYC), 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 with Gather by the Ghostlight and other podcasts.
He is the winner of the 2023 Broadway World Award for Best New Play in Boston, the 2022 Judith Royer Award for Excellence in Playwriting from The Kennedy Center/Association for Theatre in Higher Education, 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, a finalist for the 2014 Heideman Award from the Actors Theatre of Louisville, and a nominee for the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script produced in Boston in 2023, 2019, and 2015.
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 Ten-Minute Plays of 2016, Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2021, Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2024, Five-Minute Plays for Performance and Study, Best Men's and Best Women's Monologues 2023, Best Men's and Best Women's Monologues 2022, Best Women's Monologues 2019), YouthPLAYS, Theatrefolk, and university presses. The Asylum Giant 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/dancer/choreographer Lynn E. Frederiksen. He is currently affiliate faculty at Emerson College and has taught at Shakespeare & Company, the Huntington Theatre Company, and The Hanover Theatre Conservatory.
He serves as the Dramatists Guild Ambassador for the Boston Region.
