richard wakefield kotulski

biography

Richard wrote his first play when he was fifteen years old. James of Finland was about the royal family of the Kingdom of Finland. About six hundred years ago. It wasn't very good.

That first play went on to become the first of a trilogy of farces on non-existent European royalty: The March of Prince Eldef and A Transylvanian Story. Each of those wasn't very good either. But they were getting better. So he decided to keep at it.

Richard's next project was another farce, Captain John: The Bastard of Northaven, set on a galleon in the open ocean and featuring a slew of unlikely characters in even more unlikely situations. It is highly probable that this script was used for a pornographic movie. But he can find no proof.

Most recently Richard's new play The Other America received a staged reading at Artists Repertory Theatre. Richard's play There Was A Little City also recently received a reading at the University of Pennsylvania.

In June 2005 he was commissioned by Portland Center Stage (PCS) to write a 10-minute play. That play, The History of Portland: Part One, was seen at the 2005 Just Add Water/West Festival of new plays at PCS.

His full-length plays The Other America, If Two Lie Down Together, and There Was A Little City have received workshops at PCS.

His other full-length plays include: All That Is Lofty & Beautiful, Intersections, The Pretender, A Fresh Goodbye, and his early plays which few living people have seen: A Transylvanian Story, The March of Prince Eldef, James of Finland, and Captain John: The Bastard of Northaven.

Richard's one-act and ten-minute plays include Oh! Poor Grendel, A Time To Keep Silence, Ain't We Got Fun!, and To Joink or Not To Joink and The Ballad of Jon & Olivia.

In addition, Richard has been a featured writer for Stark Raving Theatre's Writer's Nightmare as well as a writer in Artists Repertory Theatre's Spotlight Program. He was the recipient of a Kaspar Locher Fellowship and of funding from the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Richard founded the Portland Theatre Works and served as Artistic Director from 2002-2004. During his tenure at PTW he produced fourteen new play workshops and directed eight. Additionally he directed two World-Premiere productions for PTW: Collage: True Stories From the Inside and the musical One Hour in Eden. His freelance work includes a production of Kander and Ebb's Cabaret for the Pennsylvania Players which broke all box-office records for the company. He also directed the American Premiere of Some Assembly Required by Eugene Stickland.

Richard served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Portland Area Theatre Alliance from 2003-2005 and as Vice-President of the organization from 2004-2005.

At the age of nineteen, Richard received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Theatre from Reed College with a Faculty Commendation for Excellence.

Richard is an Associate Member of the Dramatists Guild of America, a member of the Philadelphia Dramatists Center, and a member of the Portland Center Stage PlayGroup.

Currently, Richard rotates between living in Portland, Oregon; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Mulege, Baja California Sur, Mexico.