Richard Kuranda is an American director and artist of stage, cinema and television. He currently is the director of the Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake, Illinois and the current Artistic Director of Williams Street Rep as well as an Off Broadway company, Epic Repertory Theater Company. He resides in Illinois with his wife, the Actress Alicia Regan, and four children. In 2018, Raue Center and Williams Street Rep retired an 8.8 million dollar debt under his leadership. In 2005, The New York Times profiled Kuranda as one of the nation's top theater talents to watch. Kuranda has had working relations with Former Senator Bob Kerry, Senator Christopher J. Dodds and others.
Biography
Born in 1969 in North Eastern Pennsylvania, Kuranda was educated at the JesuitScranton Preparatory School, then attended West Virginia University as a scholarship student and at the Actors Studio program at the New School for Social Research from which he holds two Master's degrees under the guidance of Romulus Linney and Arthur Penn. As a graduate student he was mentored by Norman Mailer. Kuranda has lectured at Yale, Harvard, NYU and various others. He also served as an advocate for the United Nations in conjunction with the Universal Forum of Cultures in Barcelona 2004. Kuranda's first professional film work was as a teenager, discovered by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jason Miller. Kuranda worked for several years as a youth in the Scranton Theater. His first professional theatrical work was at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. His film work includes a series of films with Bill Plympton, which are part of the MOMA permanent collection. Kuranda's collaboration with Plympton helped launch the budding New York Underground Film and Video Festival helmed by Todd Phillips and Andrew Gurland. Kuranda's early work at the Actors Studio included, amongst others, a six month exploration of Oedipus Rex with Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Estelle Parsons. Lloyd Richards, Romulus Linney, Jack Temchin and Richard Kuranda were chronicled by the Village Voice as defining the Actors Studio Drama School at the New School for Social Research during their tenure of productions at Circle in the Square Theater Downtown at 159 Bleecker Street. Kuranda led the team at Epic Rep during a period of literary adaptations which included : commissioning Romulus Linney to adapt Tim O'Brien's National Book winner " Going after Cacciatio". He is the former Producing Director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. He also served as interim Artistic Director as well for The O'Neill and all its programs. While at the O'Neill, Kuranda was credited by the New York Times as restoring confidence to its national programs with the addition of Michael Bush, Wendy C. Goldberg and Oz Scott. James Houghton is credited with steering Kuranda through one of the most exhausting seasons of development due to J Ranelli's choice to combine all Conferences at once; Projects developed under his tenure at the O'Neill included In The Heights and , "Madagascar" amongst others which have debuted at nearly every major regional theater in the US and abroad. Kuranda served for three years. He served as the Head of Operations at NY's Signature Theatre Company under James Houghton. Kuranda co-founded Epic Repertory Theater in NY and in a three-year span produced 24 off-Broadway plays including new works by David Auburn, JT Rogers, Romulus Linney and Lee Blessing. Venues of production included the Dr2, The Peter Norton Space on 42nd St, The Quintero, and the Public Theater. Kuranda was a principal at Elliott Associates; having opened doors to film production in his first three. Kuranda is a lifetime member of The Actors Studio, and the former Director of Professional Development for The Actors Studio Drama School at the New School for Social Research having replaced the retiring Associate Dean, Stephen Benedict. Kuranda was recruited from the Signature Theater to come back to the West Village institution by James Lipton. The program was the third generation of Dramatic Workshop run by Erwin Piscator. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Kuranda serves as a Mentor for the Kennedy Center, Arts In Crisis program. He is a member of the Visiting Committee to West Virginia University. Kuranda also served the Board of the New School as a student representative for 3 years and a senior director/representative for 4 years. Kuranda cites his collaborations with Bill Plympton, Jack Temchin, Al Pacino, JT Rogers and James Lipton as defining moments in his career. Kuranda withdrew from the public during the Monte Cristo Award Ceremony in Beverly Hills honoring Karl Malden. His choice to retire from the "Face Fronting" position coincided with a legal victory rumored to be worth over 100 million dollars. Kuranda Recently launched Williams Street Repertory, Lucy's Comedy Club & The National Piano Conference at Raue Center.
