Theater
Kearns made his Los Angeles theatrical debut in Tom Eyen’s
The Dirtiest Show In Town at the Ivar Theatre.
In 2005...2006, Kearns was the Artist Director of Space At Fountain’s End where he curated and produced eighteen months of artistic expression including theatre, performance, jazz, fine art, photography, and poetry. Also in ’06, Kearns directed Lan Tran’s
Elevator Sex (Off Broadway),
The Tina Dance (throughout Los Angeles), and the twentieth anniversary production of Robert Chesley’s
Jerker.The City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department awarded Kearns with a COLA Fellowship to create a new work,
Make Love Not War, that premiered in 2005. The COLA performances “represent a non-thematic cross section of very current work by some of Los Angeles’ best artists,” according to Noel Korten, Curator and Director of Exhibitions of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.
His two widely-lauded solo theatrepieces,
Intimacies and
More Intimacies, in which he portrays a dozen culturally diverse people with HIV/AIDS, were produced in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Portland, Eugene, Minneapolis, Santa Barbara, San Antonio, Austin, San Diego, St. Louis, Tucson, Phoenix, Washington D.C., New York City, San Diego, Hartford, New Haven, Northhampton, Sydney (Australia), Liverpool, London, and Manchester (England).
In addition to other solo performance pieces (including
The Truth Is Bad Enough,
Attachments,
Rock, and
Tell Tale Kisses, Kearns has written several full-length plays:
Myron,
Mijo,
Robert's Memorial,
Who’s Afraid of Edward Albee?,
Blessings,
Barriers, and the lyrics for
Homeless, A Street Opera. Kearns co-wrote the screenplay for
Nine Lives, based on his play,
Complications. His solo piece
Going In: Once Upon A Time in South Africa chronicles the time he spent in Johannesburg with his daughter, working at an orphanage.
As a director
Kearns directed and co-produced the Artists Confronting AIDS’ landmark productions of
AIDS/US in 1986,
AIDS/US II in 1990, and
AIDS/US/TEENS in 1994. He co-founded the S.T.A.G.E. (Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event) benefit, now in its 22nd year. He served as Artistic Director of Celebration Theatre for their 1986...87 season and of Artists Confronting AIDS for a decade, from 1984...1994.
He directed the Los Angeles premieres of Robert Chesley's
Night Sweat and
Jerker, Rebecca Ranson's
Warren, Eric Bentley’s
Round Two, Clark Carlton’s
Self Help, Syd Rushing’s
We Are One, Melanie DuPuy’s
Heroine and Doug Holsclaw's
Life Of The Party. Throughout ’04 and ’05, Kearns directed a series of Precious Chong’s
Porcelain Penelope Shows that played in several Los Angeles venues as well as Off-Broadway.
As an actor
In 1993, Kearns played the title role in Charles Ludlam's
Camille at Highways in Santa Monica, garnering rave reviews from the Los Angeles critics, as well as a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award nomination for his performance. "An actor giving the performance of his life," said Richard Shelton, theater reviewer for the Los Angeles Times. In addition to winning a Drama-Logue Award and a Robby Award, he was nominated by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle for Lead Performance. The artist has received numerous acting awards, including the 1999 Garland Award for his critically-acclaimed performance in Robert Harders’
Bill and Eddie.
Kearns has both directed and appeared in
Jerker (Los Angeles, San Diego, Des Moines), and originated the role of Christopher, on stage and on video, in Pickett's Dream Man (which has played New York City, San Francisco, Des Moines, L.A., Portland, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Edinburgh, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, and London). Two revivals of James Carroll Pickett’s
Dream Man (with American actor Jimmy Shaw) were directed by Kearns: at Madrid’s DT Espacio Escenico as part of the Festival Version Original (2005) and the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival (2007).
Television and film
Long before coming out of the closet was considered a career move in the entertainment industry, Kearns was the first Hollywood actor on record to come out in the mid-seventies, amidst a shocking amount of homophobia. He subsequently made television history 1991 announcing on
Entertainment Tonight that he was Hiv positive, and the in 1992, as an openly HIV-impacted actor, guesting on a segment of ABC TV's
Life Goes On in which he played a character who had the virus. He played Cleve Jones in the HBO adaptation of Randy Shilts'
And The Band Played On, appeared in
A Mother's Prayer,
It's My Party and had a recurring role on
Beverly Hills, 90210... a variety of shows that depicted HIV/AIDS.
Other television and film credits include
Cheers, Murder She Wrote, The Waltons, L.A. Tool & Die, Knots Landing, General Hospital, Days Of Our Lives, The Fall Guy, A River Made To Drown In, Kentucky Fried Movie, and Brian DePalma's
Body Double.
Filmography
- Nine Lives (2004)
- River Made to Drown In (1997)
- Beverly Hills, 90210 (3 episodes, 1996) (TV)
- It's My Party (1996)
- A Mother's Prayer (1995) (TV)
- And the Band Played On (1993) (TV)
- Life Goes On (1992) (TV)
- Knots Landing (1991) (TV)
- Dream Man (1991)
- Street Asylum (1990)
- Murder, She Wrote (1985) (TV)
- The Execution (1985) (TV)
- The Fall Guy (1985) (TV)
- Body Double (1984)
- Making of a Male Model (1983) (TV)
- Cheers (1983) (TV)
- L.A. Tool & Die (1979)
- The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
- Flush (1977)
- The Waltons (1974) (TV)
