Jocelyn Kuritsky is an actor, creator/producer/director, and designer.
She is a three-time Princess Grace Award nominated performer; Papermag calls her an "outstanding actor." She is a founder and the actor-in-residence of the Drama Desk Award nominated & Lucille Lortel Award winning immersive theater company, Woodshed Collective; and, along with her colleagues at Woodshed, she is one of the original conceivers of Broadway's Tony nominated KPOP. Jocelyn is also the creator of The Muse Project, dedicated to centering and spotlighting women theater actors. Her award-winning, unorthodox multi-platform podcast series, A Simple Herstory, is produced with Muse and presented by the Obie Award winning theater company, The Tank. Herstory is about the women who have run for President of the United States. Season 1, created at the height of the pandemic, stars some of New York's most accomplished stage performers, including Florencia Lozano, two time Tony nominee Kara Young, two time Tony nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega, Tony and Emmy nominee Kate Burton, and Tony winner Tonya Pinkins, among many more. The team for Season 1 was honored (Artists of the Year) at The Tank's 2022 Gala, and the series was also profiled in Forbes. A theatrical installation with the first season is in development and was featured in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2022 Quills Fest, which won a 2023 Bronze Telly Award. Noted theater critic, David Cote, describes Herstory's first season as an "exhilarating ride."
A Simple Herstory launch at The Tank, NYC.
As an actor, onstage, Jocelyn often works on new plays and new theatrical forms. She has appeared in a wide array of NYC productions, and she has worked with a range of theater companies. Some highlights include Stet with The Muse Project and Abingdon Theatre Company (World Premiere), That Poor Dream with The Assembly Theater Project (World Premiere), 3 2's; Or, Afar with Dixon Place (written by Mac Wellman, World Premiere), Crawl, Fade to White with 13P (NY Premiere); and, as the resident performer of Woodshed Collective, she regularly acts in Woodshed's shows and presentations. Regionally, Jocelyn has performed in developmental works by various established and emerging playwrights, from ScriptWorks (Austin) to The Kennedy Center. Onscreen, recent television and film appearances include The Blacklist ("Eva Mason") and Nana Mensah’s Queen of Glory (Tribeca Festival Special Jury Prize for Artistic Expression). In the land of fictional podcasts, she's currently featured in Audible's I Think You're Projecting, directed by Peabody winner, Jenny Turner Hall.
Jocelyn and Matt roi Berger in Sheila Callaghan's Crawl, Fade to White for 13P.
Photo by Jim Baldassare.
Photo by Jim Baldassare.
As an ideator and producer, Jocelyn has co-conceived several immersive productions with Woodshed Collective, including KPOP (3 Tony noms), Empire Travel Agency, The Tenant, The Confidence Man, and 12 Ophelias. With The Muse Project, in 2020 and 2021, Jocelyn launched the podcast series, A Simple Herstory, starring a bevy of renowned theater actresses. Also, with Muse, in 2018, Jocelyn produced a collection of new, actress-led work at The Flea Theater with performers Lynn Cohen, Jessica Frances Dukes, Kyra Miller, Déa Julien, and Vanessa Aspillaga. Additionally, with Muse, she ideated, developed, produced, and starred in Stet, a play in which a young journalist is assigned to write about sexual assault on college campuses. Stet, written by Kim Davies and directed by Tony Speciale, premiered at Abingdon Theatre Company in the 2015/16 season, and it enjoyed a successful, extended, Off-Broadway run. Jocelyn is also the founder of Staging Film, an ongoing, experimental project that is designed to meld the stage and screen. Staging Film completed production on -∞ (The Bad Infinity) in 2020 — an experimental "cinema essay." -∞ is based on writings by celebrated avant-garde playwright Mac Wellman, and stars acclaimed experimental theater actors from the last four decades of the New York downtown scene. It premiered at the NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival in 2021.
Jocelyn and her projects are affiliated with a variety of Off and Off-Off Broadway companies, including The New Group, New Georges, & The Tank.
Woodshed Collective at West Park Presbyterian Church.
Photo by Guy Calaf for the The New York Times.
Photo by Guy Calaf for the The New York Times.
Outside of her acting and producing life, Jocelyn teaches and designs. She has guest instructed students in theater at The New Group, Rutgers University, and SUNY New Paltz; and she has mentored students at the Playwrights Horizons Theater School (NYU). She formerly taught language and literacy at a variety of organizations, including Make The Road New York and New York Communities for Change. She designs websites as often as she can. She has a dedicated clientele of renonwned artists, creatives, entrepreneurs, and corporate professionals. She is currently pursuing certification in digital design from Parsons. Jocelyn also worked as an assistant stage director for various notable New York directors; and, for many years, she personally assisted the legendary Elaine May and Stanley Donen.
Jocelyn was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and raised in La Paz, Bolivia and Atlanta, Georgia. She has traveled extensively with her family, who, along the path, have also planted down in Seoul, South Korea and Washington, D.C. She went to the Atlanta International School for high school, and studied at Scripps College (The Women's College) in Claremont, California. She has received training from the O'Neill National Theater Institute, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts-Los Angeles, and The Flea Theater. She is a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA.
Resumés.
Created, Co-Conceived, Written &/or Produced.
A Simple Herstory (Podcast) - Created & Executive Produced by Jocelyn Kuritsky; KPOP (Broadway) - Originally Conceived by Woodshed Collective & Jason Kim; KPOP (Off-Broadway) - Conceived by Woodshed Collective and Jason Kim; Immersive Design by Woodshed Collective; Stet - Produced by Abingdon Theatre Company in association with The Muse Project; Developed by Kim Davies, Jocelyn Kuritsky, & Tony Speciale; Original ideation by Jocelyn Kuritsky; That Poor Dream - Text by The Ensemble; Does It Hurt? (workshop production) - Produced by Woodshed Collective; Conceived & Designed by Woodshed Collective; Empire Travel Agency - Produced by Woodshed Collective; Conceived & Designed by Woodshed Collective; The Tenant - Produced by Woodshed Collective; Conceived & Designed by Woodshed Collective; The Confidence Man - Produced by Woodshed Collective; Conceived & Designed by Woodshed Collective; Twelve Ophelias - Designed & Produced by Woodshed Collective.
Awards.
3 Tony Award Nominations: KPOP, Woodshed Collective (2023); Bronze Telly Award (People's Telly - Immersive & Mixed Reality): Herstory in the House, Quills Fest (2023); The Tank Gala Honoree: A Simple Herstory, Artists of the Year (accepted by Jocelyn Kuritsky, Florencia Lozano, Jenny Turner Hall) at their Homecoming Gala (2022); NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund: The Muse Project (2022); NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival, Official Selection: The Bad Infinity, Staging Film (2021); NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival, Official Selection; The Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival, Official Selection; NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival, Official Selection; the Rome Independent Prisma Awards, Official Selection, Finalist; the Montreal Independent Film Festival, Official Selection; the LA Indies, Official Selection; the Chicago Indie Film Awards, Official Selection; the Cotswold International Film Festival, Official Selection; the Austin Indie Fest, Official Selection, Finalist: 16 Words or Less, Staging Film (2021, 2020); Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical; Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater; Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Unique Theatrical Experience; Drama Desk Award Nomination for Outstanding Musical; Drama League Award Nomination for Outstanding Production: KPOP, Woodshed Collective (2018); Discover.film Festival, Official Selection, Best Micro Drama; Underwire Film Festival, Official Selection; Thriller Feedback Film Festival, Official Selection; DAMN! Film Series, Official Selection: Domesticity, Staging Film (2017); SPACE on Ryder Farm Residency: Woodshed Collective (2014, 2013, 2012); Princess Grace Foundation Award Nomination-Acting: New Georges (2013), The New Group (2012, 2011); Patrick Lee Theater Blogger Award - Unique Off Off Bway Experience: The Tenant, Woodshed Collective (2011).
