Spotlight on James Comtois 

James Comtois at the 2010 IT Awards
Nominee Announcement Party

If you haven’t already heard of James Comtois, Off-Off-Broadway’s bad boy playwright, you will soon. Keep your eye on this one. No seriously, if you judge a writer by the characters he creates, then don’t turn your back on him.

The co-founder of Nosedive Productions, Comtois has spread his brand of off-kilter demented dramas and dark – I mean DARK – comedy all over the city, most notably at the Brick in Brooklyn and at the Ranch with the Vampire Cowboys.

A good example of the Comtois flavor is his play, Infectious Opportunity, recently published by Original Works Publishing. In the play, for which Comtois received a 2010 IT Award nomination for Outstanding Full-Length Script, screenwriter Wes Farley is enjoying national attention for his work, partly because of the HIV+ status which he has faked for the past 10 years to boost his career.  Drawbacks to his plan begin to emerge and Wes tries to free himself from his tangled web.

Missed that one? Fortunately, New York Indie theatre fans have two upcoming opportunities to taste Comtois fresh from the stage, both for free!

First is Starboat, a five-part sci-fi serial produced at the Battle Ranch in Brooklyn as part of the Vampire Cowboy’s popular theatre series “Saturday Night Saloon,” a free monthly event featuring original, genre-bending serialized plays by NYC artists (and all-you-can-drink beer) through January. The series features six new serialized plays including two by past IT Award nominees Mac Rogers and Crystal Skillman.

Starboat is directed by Nosedive’s Pete Boisvert & Patrick Shearer (2008 Outstanding Sound Design Nominee).

In Comtois’ other play Dammit, Office Girl!, an employee yearns for the administrative assistant from a cubicle afar. The play is part of the free “We the Corporate Body Festival” presented by Horse Trade Theater Group and The Subjective Theatre Company at the Kraine Theatre during December. This festival of short plays is inspired by the Supreme Court’s ruling that corporations are entitled to the same rights to donate to politicians as private citizens.

Related Links

More information on Starboat

For reservations for Dammit, Office Girl! visit reservations@subjectivetheater.org

More information about James Comtois