John Monteleone

EDUCATION
John received his B.F.A./M.F.A. in acting and Theater from N.Y.U. Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Program, and his M.A. in Educational Theater from Adelphi University graduating Summa Cum Laude. At NYU Tisch School of the Arts he studied with many luminaries of the American Theater: Peter Kass, Olympia Dukakis, Omar Shapli, Paul Sills, Joseph Chaiken, Tony Barsha to name a few. Prior to NYU, he attended Dowling College for 2 years on a Theater Arts Scholarship where he won the Eastern Division Semi-Finals in the American College Theater Festival for his portrayal of Yank Smith in Eugene O'Neil's The Hairy Ape.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE, TEACHING, ARTISTIC DIRECTION
From 1985-2000, John was an Artist-in-Residence and an Adjunct Professor of Drama at Dowling College in Oakdale, LI, NY. There, he founded and developed his Professional Repertory Theater and moved his Acting School in residence. He produced 2-4 professional theater productions yearly, as well as working in NYC honing his plays with professional actors often bringing them to the College for readings and discussions with students and the community. He also performed leading roles in his and other plays during this period. He founded a New Play Reading Festival featuring distinguished and up-coming playwrights such as Murray Schisgal, Gary Kott, Joe Pintauro, Keith T. Fadelici and numerous others, and offered a diverse offering to the community: A Children's Theater Touring Company, an Improvisation Company, and numerous Symposiums interviewing legendary figures such as: Budd Schulberg, Cliff Robertson, David Newman, and Murray Schisgal. He also taught a full semester of various theater classes. His work was met with praise by both the academic, surrounding community, and the media for over 15 years, until Dowling fell into financial difficulties and he had to leave. He then started a Website Design business which he runs to this day. More time is available to him and he's seeking to market his numerous works, and create new plays, as well as music and screenplays.

PLAYWRIGHT
Nine of his plays have been produced, four in New York City: HE AND SHE (special performance, Hudson Guild, New York, 1988), HOMESICK and THE BOX (double bill, William Redfield, New York 1992, staged reading, Total Theater Lab, New York, 1991) and DIARY OF A MADMAN (Theater Row Theater, New York). Other productions include: FARMLAND (1989), SNAPSHOT (1989), CHARADE (1990), TOMORROW (1994) and PERFECTLY NORM-iLL PEOPLE. PRISONERS IN PARADISE and THE LAMP have received professional readings in New York City on Theater Row and other spaces.

SCREENWRITER
John has completed 6 full-length feature films and one short film: THE GARDEN, about a paralyzed one-time Wall Street Wiz, and an Upcoming Journalist both hiding from a past of immense abuse and suffering that surfaces as they embrace one another’s lives, in his garden. TOP STORY, about corrupt media mogul's who create and escalate Tragic News Stories for profit, spinning the truth upside down, making the innocent appear guilty and the guilty, innocent. TIMEKEEPER, about John Harrison and Nevil Maskelyne's forty year war over the prize for Longitude in the seventeen hundreds. HOME, a coming-of-age story about a boy growing up during the Depression in Vermont. MEN AND THE SEA about the East End Baymen of LI's fight against huge business and political corruption. WE THE PEOPLE, a high-concept comedy about the Presidency, politics and its dirty laundry, and a Short Film EYES IN THE DARK, about John Hamlet, an actor seeking art for art sake confronted by the harsh realities of the acting business, type-casting him as an Italian thug.

ACTING
As an actor and writer John received critical acclaim for his two solos - PERFECTLY NORM-iLL PEOPLE which he wrote, and DIARY OF A MADMAN which he adapted from the Gogol Classic and also performed in New York City on Theater Row. He also received critical praise in The New York Times, Newsday and other major papers as an actor for his performances in such leading roles as Jerry in THE ZOO STORY, Johnny in FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE, and many others. John had the privilege of working with Gary Kott (Producer and Writer of The Cosby Show and other major TV productions) in a staged reading of Gary's HIM AND HIS LAST NIGHT OF SANITY at the Grove Street Playhouse in New York City; he also produced the reading. He has acted Off-Off Broadway in the 1970’s and 80’s in numerous productions at small art houses like Club 57, the Player’s Theater and others as well as small regional theaters, and toured the USA playing several different characters with Chamber Theater Productions from Boston. John co-produced and also performed a leading role in an Indy full-length feature film, OF LIES IN LOVE written and directed by Richard Ficara.

DIRECTING & PRODUCING
John has produced and directed numerous productions while Artistic Director of his theater, as well as student productions. His work ranged from main stream plays like Death Trap to the Avant Garde, Classics, and his own plays. He also produced Playwriting Festivals and Symposiums with leading writers and artists of the American Theater and Film worlds. He built an audience over many years, filling houses for his Repertory Company, and leading Newspaper Reviewers covered many of his productions, as well as offering articles about his work, vision, and its effect on both the Academic and Civilian Communities that attended his productions. Many of those reviews can be read on his website’s home page.