JOHN JAHNKE

is a New York based playwright and director whose upcoming work, Men Go Down, will premiere at 3LD Art and Technology Center in Winter 2011. It was created through residencies at The Park Avenue Armory, Abrons Art Center and The MacDowell Colony. His recent work, The Archery Contest, premiered at Performance Space 122, New York City in fall 2009. The highly stylized work was mounted through his company, Hotel Savant, for which he serves as Artistic Director, and was initially developed as a serialized radio play for Art International Radio. It was developed in residence at the 3LD Art and Technology Center. (Henry Hewes Design Awards Nomination: Set Design). Other works include Artaud’s The Cenci, which debuted in New York City in 2008 at The Ohio Theatre. The Cenci was performed in its first American translation by Richard Sieburth, created specifically for Hotel Savant. It was created in residence at The Watermill Center and The MacDowell Colony (Henry Hewes Design Awards Nomination: Notable Effects). Jahnke also staged the world premiere of Susan Sontag’s A Parsifal, after he discovered the text in a thrift store. It debuted at Performance Space 122 in 2006 and was developed through Chashama and a workshop at The Public Theater. Other original works include Funeral Games, The Public Theater (performance workshop), 2004; The Shady Maids of Haiti, Walkerspace, 2002 (published in 2004); Mercurius, HERE, 2001; and Lola Montez in Bavaria..., HERE, 1999. In Los Angeles, under the auspices of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Jahnke and his first company, Deranged Cousins, created numerous early works, including The Beasts of Luxury, Syphilis and The Monster of Dusseldorf or Paint Me, Paint Me Peter Kurten, as well as a staging of Oscar Wilde’s unfinished play La Sainte Courtesane. Jahnke is a former opera and ballet student who received a B.F.A from the California Institute of the Arts’ Fine Arts program.