Joe Gulla (born July 23, 1964) is an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

participant. He is best known for the autobiographical

monologue In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...

s that he writes and performs for the theater. He is a regular performer at Feinstein's/

54 Below 54 Below is a nonprofit cabaret and restaurant in the basement of Studio 54 in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Run by Broadway producers Steve Baruch, Richard Frankel, Marc Routh and Tom Viertel, 54 Below has hosted shows by such performer ...

and

Joe's Pub Joe's Pub, one of the six performance spaces within The Public Theater, is a music venue and restaurant that hosts live performances across genres and arts, ranging from cabaret to modern dance to world music. It is located at 425 Lafayette Str ...

The Public Theater The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: ...

. An award-winning

, his plays have been performed

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

, nationally and internationally.

Biography

Early life

Gulla is a native of

Bronx, New York The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. He is a 1982 graduate of Cardinal Spellman High School. Upon graduation, he attended the State University at Albany, but eventually transferred to

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

at Rose Hill. His post-graduate work includes study at

and Circle Repertory in New York City.

Career

Gulla is a regular performer at Feinstein's/

and

. His play, “My Darling Love” won the 2019

Christopher Hewitt Award The Christopher Hewitt Award is an annual literary award given each June by ''A&U'' magazine for writing that addresses or relates to HIV/AIDS. One award is given in each of four categories: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and drama. Awards ...

for Drama. His plays, "The Bronx Queen”, “Garbo” and “Gay.Porn.Mafia” won the 2016, 2017 and 2018 NYC Downtown Urban Arts Festival "Audience Award”, respectively. As an actor, Joe performed in San Francisco's “Tony & Tina's Wedding” for many years and Off-Broadway's “My Big Gay Italian Wedding”. He also starred on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's LOST, one of television's first adventure reality series. His best known work, ''Bronx Queen Trilogy'' is based on his experience growing up as a gay boy in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

.''The Bronx Queen'', first in the series, won the 2016 Downtown Urban Arts Festival "Audience Award" for Gulla's sold-out performance at

."The Bronx Queen" was also awarded Best Comedic Script and Most Popular Show at NYC Theater Row's 2012 and 2013

United Solo Theatre Festival United Solo Theatre Festival is the world's largest solo theatre festival. It takes place at Theatre Row on 42nd Street in New York City. Its founder and artistic director is Omar Sangare. The festival presents many categories of solo shows, inc ...

, respectively.''Faggy at 50'', second in the series, was awarded Best One-Man Show at NYC Theater Row's 2014

.''Daddy'', the series' final installment had its World Premiere at NYC Theater Row's 2015

. Gulla won the 2015 United Solo Award for Best Comedian for his performance. ''REEL WOOD'', a short play written by Gulla, had its World Premiere at the

Hollywood Fringe Festival The Hollywood Fringe Festival is an annual fringe theatre festival in Hollywood, California. Most indoor venues for the festival are in and around Hollywood Theatre Row, a stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. Founder Ben Hill s ...

in June 2015. It was also selected by NYC's Village Playwrights to be performed in their "Re-Inventing Family" series commemorating Gay Pride. Gulla's play, ''Knock Off!'', had its world premiere in Houston, TX at Theatre Southwest. ''Christmas Caroline'' had its World Premiere at Studio C Theatre, Hollywood, CA in November 2015. His play, ''Gayfever'' had its World Premiere at the Funky Little Theatre Company in March 2016. "Sleeping With The Fish" by Joe Gulla opened the Village Playwrights' "Gay Pride and Prejudice" series in June 2016. In June 2016, Gulla's play, ''Fall and Rise'' had its World Premiere at the Carrolwood Player's "One Act Weekend" in Tampa, Florida. Later that month, Gulla's ''Fall and Rise'' premiered at the 2016

. ''Fall and Rise'' was awarded "Best Play" in 2016 at the Acadia University Mini Fest in Nova Scotia, CN. Gulla was a contestant on the NBC adventure reality series '' Lost'' in 2001. The show followed three teams of two as they made their way from the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

back to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He played the role of "Frankie" in Off-Broadway's long-running hit, '' My Big Gay Italian Wedding''. ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

'' named Gulla its "Anti-Bullying Hero" in 2012. Gulla is a member of the

Dramatists Guild The Dramatists Guild of America is a professional organization for playwrights, composers, and lyricists working in the U.S. theatre market. It was born in 1921 out of the Authors Guild, known then as Authors League of America, formed in 1912. ...

Rome Years

Gulla lived in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

from 2007 to 2010, his play ''Garbo'' was based on an unrequited love affair experienced while living there. ''Garbo'' was selected to be part of the New York City's

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

International Theater Festival in 2012. ''Garbo'' was also produced at New York's

Cherry Lane Theater The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, ...

as part of the 2017 Downtown Urban Arts Festival. It won the "Audience Award" for that performance.

Original Plays (select)

* ''Garbo'' - 2011 (Barrow Group Theatre); 2017 (

) * ''The Bronx Queen'' - 2012 (Theatre Row); 2016 (

); 2019 (Feinstein's/

) * ''Faggy at 50'' - 2014 (Theatre Row); 2017 (

); 2018 (

Tabard Theatre The Tabard Theatre is a small 96-seat theatre in Chiswick in the London Borough of Hounslow. Close to Turnham Green Underground station, it is situated above the The Tabard, Chiswick, Tabard public house on Bath Road. The Tabard Theatre was licen ...

) * ''Daddy'' - 2015 (Theatre Row); 2018 (

) * ''Reel Wood'' - 2015 (Studio C Artists); 2018 (Eclectic Theatre) * ''Christmas Caroline'' - 2015 (Studio C Artists) * ''Knock Off!'' - 2016 (Theatre Southwest) * ''Fall and Rise'' - 2016 (

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly Undergraduate education, undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some Postgraduate education, graduate programs at the master's level and one at the Doctorate, doctor ...

); 2016 (Carrollwood Players Theatre); 2016 (Studio C Artists) * ''Gayfever'' - 2016 (Funky Little Theatre Company) * ''Sleeping With The Fish'' - 2016 (Emerald Theatre Company); 2017 (Darkhorse Dramatists); 2017 (Vermont Pride Theater); 2019 (KIT Playwright Series); 2018 (Island City Stage) * ''The Voice'' - 2017 (Darkhorse Dramatists) * ''GAY.PORN.MAFIA'' - 2018 (New York Live Arts Theater) * ''My Darling Love'' - 2019 (Emerald Theatre Company) * ''Members Only'' - 2020 (Almost Adults Productions)

Critical Analysis

Joe's solo performances are presented in the tradition of (and homage to) monologist,

Spalding Gray Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 – ) was an American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and performance artist. He is best known for the autobiographical monologues that he wrote and performed for the theater in the 1980s and 1990s, as well ...

. This artistic choice is explained in the Bistro Awards review of "The Bronx Queen". "Gulla delivered the entire show in

fashion: seated at a desk, reading the script aloud from a binder. At first I wondered whether this was such a great idea. Clearly Gulla knows (or nearly knows) the text by heart. But it turned out to be the right tack. There is a literary quality to Gulla’s storytelling. Were he to stand center stage or wander about—speaking his “writerly” text in stream-of-consciousness, off-the-cuff fashion—the effect might seem stilted. Gulla's strengths as a performer were evident even within the limited acting sphere he allowed himself, perched behind that table. His hand gestures were simple but emphatic, giving him an authoritative quality. He modulated his somewhat raspy voice subtly to take on the roles of the various characters in the monologue, but also to give his story shape and his sentiments depth.""His performances succeed largely because Joe Gulla comes off as such a warm and wise storyteller, brimming with good will and honest reflection." Broadway World elaborates: "Joe Gulla is a monologist in the tradition of

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ...

John Leguizamo John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (, ; ; born July 22, 1960 or 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and film producer. He has appeared in more than 100 films, produced more than 20 films and documentaries, made more than 30 televisio ...

. His style is simple. He sits at a desk (in this case a desk made of two music stands) and just reads. But it is story theatre of the highest order. His show THE BRONX QUEEN which opened last night at 54 Below, is about the traumatic, and often hysterical, experiences he had growing up gay in the Bronx. It is peopled with characters from his Italian family and their Puerto Rican friends. The Bronx Queen, by the way, is a fishing trawler that figures in many of the scenes. The story follows the ill-fated vessel from birth to death in a tragic accident and to eventual rescue. In short, it's a metaphor for the life of most gay kids who deal with families who love them but don't quite understand them, and about the peace and love they eventually find."

The Bronx Queen

THE BRONX QUEEN as reviewed in Broadway World THE BRONX QUEEN has many amazing episodes. My favorite was a story about young Joe and his friend Eva, who take revenge on a neighborhood woman by creating a graffiti mural in chalk that says STUPID FAY on the side of the bathroom in the local park. They regret their prank as it doesn't rain for 22 days and the artwork becomes a topic of local curiosity. It is a wry story that in some roundabout twists leads to a chance meeting with that greatest of graffiti artists, Jean-Michel Basquiat. I was also beside myself with laughter during the stories about Gulla's grandmother, Nanny, who was so devoted to a particular movie theatre, she even continued to go there after they converted it to a porn theatre. She was that dedicated. There's also a story about a mortifying moment aboard The Bronx Queen with his grandfather that is too good to give away. And those are only three of the dozens of stories that make THE BRONX QUEEN such a charming, outrageous, touching, gratifying evening. Joe Gulla is a master storyteller.

Awards and honors

* 2019 - ''My Darling Love'' -

for Drama * 2019 - ''Sleeping With The Fish'' - Carlo Annoni Award/Special Mention * 2019 - ''Reel Wood'' -

Last Frontier Theatre Conference Renamed in 2021, the Valdez Theatre Conference is an annual conference on Theatre, American Theatre held in Valdez, Alaska, Valdez, Alaska that focuses on playwrighting. Continually held each year since 1993, the conference puts out a call for play ...

Selectee * 2018 - ''GAY.PORN.MAFIA'' - Downtown Urban Arts Festival Audience Award * 2017 - ''Garbo'' - Downtown Urban Arts Festival Audience Award * 2016 - ''The Bronx Queen'' - Downtown Urban Arts Festival Audience Award * 2016 - ''Daddy'' -

Award for Best Comedian * 2016 - ''Fall and Rise'' -

(

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

) Award for Best Play * 2015 - ''Faggy at 50'' -

Award for Best One Man Show Script * 2014 - ''The Bronx Queen'' -

Award for Most Popular Show Script * 2013 - ''The Bronx Queen'' -

Award for Best Comedic Script

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gulla, Joe 1964 births Living people American male actors American dramatists and playwrights American gay actors American gay writers Participants in American reality television series American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights LGBTQ people from New York (state)