Kenneth Elliott

Chair, Visual, Media, and Performing Arts
Associate Professor of Theater
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles

kenneth.elliott@rutgers.edu
(856) 225-6244
Fine Arts Building, Rm. 205

 

Biography

KENNETH ELLIOTT co-founded the Off-Off Broadway company Theatre-in-Limbo with Charles Busch, and directed, produced, and sometimes acted in the original productions of many of Mr. Busch’s comedies, including Psycho Beach Party, Times Square Angel, The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset, and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. Each of these transferred to commercial Off-Broadway runs, and Vampire Lesbians ran for five years at the historic Provincetown Playhouse. His recent book, Beyond Ridiculous: Making Gay Theatre with Charles Busch in 1980s New York (University of Iowa Press, 2023), chronicles his collaboration with Mr. Busch. He co-authored Devil Boys from Beyond (with Buddy Thomas) and directed its premiere at the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival (Fringe Award for Outstanding Play), as well as the 2010 Off-Broadway transfer to New World Stages. Devil Boys has since been performed at dozens of theaters across the country and internationally. He directed the first New York revival of Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band (WPA Theatre/Lucille Lortel Theatre) in 1996 and staged it again the following year in London’s West End (Aldwych Theatre). Other New York credits include The Green Heart (Manhattan Theatre Club), Harry Kondoleon’s Zero Positive and the Todd Rundgren/Joe Orton musical Up Against It (Public Theater). Regional credits include The Asolo Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Denver Center, The Wilma Theatre, Bay Street Theatre Festival, Prince Music Theatre, the Cape Playhouse, and The Cleveland Play House. He received his B.S. and M.A. in Theatre from Northwestern University, and his Ph.D. in Theatre from U.C.L.A. He is currently associate professor of theater and chair of the Department of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts at Rutgers University–Camden, and his university theatre productions there have included Rent, Romeo and Juliet, Clybourne Park, Hedda Gabler, Tartuffe, Angels in America, Measure for Measure, Dracula, A Doll’s House, The Glass Menagerie, and The Importance of Being Earnest. He adapted the libretto for his production of Henry Purcell’s opera The Fairy Queen, and he directed and wrote the book for a new musical, Hand Me Down the Silver Trumpet, which had a developmental production at Rutgers–Camden.