Emerging Illinois Playwrights Project

Richard Kalinoski

Mr. Kalinoski’s most well known play, Beast on the Moon, was chosen for the Humana Festival in March of 1995, and since has won the following: The Osborn Award (American Critics Assoc.) the Agnouni Award, (Armenian Relief Society of North America ) the Garland Award ( Backstage West )Best Play from the Repertory, Moliere Award (Prix Moliere), Paris, France, May, 2001(in addition to four other Moliere Awards); the ACE Award, Argentina, for Best Play in the year 2001 in Argentina, October. Beast on the Moon has been translated into 12 languages as of April of 2005. In November, 2004 the play became part of the repertory of the Moscow Art Theatre.

Other notable work: Between Men and Cattle, developed at the National Playwrights Conference and produced at Interact in Philadelphia (2000) and Next Act (2004) in Milwaukee. A Crooked Man was part of the 2004 Future Fest at the Dayton Playhouse. Skin of a Lawyer won the 2002 Stanley Drama Award coordinated by Wagner College.

Mr. Kalinoski teaches theatre at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and is the recipient of the 2003 Wisconsin Literary Arts Board Fellowship. In October of 2004 Mr. Kalinoski was named a judge of the 2004-5 Literary Fellowship Awards for the Wisconsin Arts Board. In January of 2006 Mr. Kalinoski was asked to be the judge of the Heartland Theatre’s Annual Playwriting Festival.

Since 1998 Mr. Kalinoski been a director and playwright at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He was promoted to Associate Professor in July, 2004.

Beast on the Moon has been installed as part of the repertory of plays for the Moscow Art Theatre and opened in November of 2004 in Moscow, Russia.

Another full length play, Between Men and Cattle, premiered at Interact Theatre in March of 2000 and was nominated for a Barrymore Award. Between Men and Cattle was first developed at the National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Center in July of 1995 and then later at the Bloomington Playwrights Project (Bloomington, IN) where it won the 1995 Riva Shiner Award. Between Men and Cattle is scheduled to be the featured show ( a 10 week run) at the Detroit Repertory Theatre and will open January 11, 2007 there.

Subsequent to his 1995 stint at the National Playwrights Conference Mr. Kalinoski worked for two summers as a Dramaturg--in 1998 and 1999 under Lloyd Richards, a founder of the National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Center.

In January of 2003 Mr. Kalinoski was awarded a Wisconsin Arts Board Literary Fellowship based on Between Men and Cattle. That play was produced by Next Act Theatre, an Equity Company in Milwaukee, as part of its 2003-2004 Season--Jan./February and read at the Jungle Theatre in public performance in September of 2004.

Another recent play, Skin of a Lawyer, was chosen for the Basement Works playreading festival at Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, New York in June of 2002.

In April of 2003 Skin of a Lawyer was given The Stanley Drama Award (administered by Wagner College) at the Lambs’ Club in New York City.

Mr. Kalinoski’s new play, A Crooked Man, was read publicly at the Salt Lake Acting Company in December, 2003 as part of the theatre’s Play Sounding Series. That same play was read at Allianak productions in Toronto in January of 2006 and at New Repertory Theatre of Massachusetts in the same month.

Beast on the Moon opened 27 April, 2005 Off-Broadway at the Century Center Theatre in Manhattan. The play ran 120 performances (including 17 previews) and was named one of five “must see” plays in New York by the New York Daily News. In December of 2005 Richard Kalinoski was awarded the Khorenatsi Medal for contribution to the Arts from the Country of Armenia. The award is given by the President of Armenia, Robert Kachadarian.

In 2005 Mr. Kalinoski received both the Distinguished Teaching Award and the Kerrigan Endowed Professorship from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

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