Behind every unforgettable show is an incredible director — and we couldn’t be more excited to have John Desmone at the helm! With a spark of creativity, a passion for storytelling, and a flair for making magic happen, John is all about bringing bold ideas to life on stage. We can already feel the energy and excitement building! Get to know John a little better as we count down to opening night.
John Desmone
Director for Hairspray
John Desmone began directing theatrical productions in the Baltimore region almost 50 years ago, right here at DCT, with Promises, Promises in 1977. Over 100 productions later, he is blessed to return to his favorite venue, to direct his 26th DCT show – Hairspray. Some favorites of his DCT shows include A Little Night Music, Will Rogers Follies, City of Angels, Ruthless, the Musical, which was named one of the top 10 shows of 2015 by the Maryland Theatre Guide, and, most recently, critically acclaimed sold out runs of Mamma Mia! and A Chorus Line. A recognized stage performer, John has appeared in numerous featured roles ranging from John Adams in 1776 and Roger DeBris in The Producers to Felix in The Odd Couple and George in Of Mice and Men – both here at DCT.
A respected stage director in the Baltimore region, Mr. Desmone has staged over 100 full-length productions that have appeared at many of the little, summer, college, and dinner theatres in the area. His shows range in style from silly, Nunsense, to sophisticated, A Little Night Music and from campy, Little Shop of Horrors, to classic, Gypsy. His staging of The Most Happy Fella at Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre was honored as the outstanding production of 1983 by Maryland Public Television’s The Critic’s Place. Most recently he has directed acclaimed productions of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Avenue Q, Shrek, the Musical, Urinetown, and Something Rotten at various venues throughout the region.
A recognized stage performer, Mr. Desmone has appeared in over 50 featured roles ranging from Sky in Guys and Dolls to King Arthur in Camelot and from Jack in Charley’s Aunt to Roat in Wait Until Dark. More recently, he has been seen as Cladwell in Urinetown, Christopher Bellings in Curtains, Bela Zangler in Crazy for You, Prof. Callahan in Legally Blonde, Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady, and the Underling in The Drowsy Chaperone.
As a young adult, Mr. Desmone founded and served as producer of the Springdale Benefit Summer Theatre, which provided opportunities for high school and college-age performers to share their talents with the community while raising funds for various local charities. He has also served as artistic director at four theatres, and was production manager for the International Niche awards, a celebration of the crafts industry, held in Atlantic City and Philadelphia.
Early in his education career, Mr. Desmone served as the Creative Drama Enrichment Specialist for Baltimore County Public Schools’ Title I Office. The focus of this position was staff development in Creative Drama and its uses as an instructional strategy in the classroom. To this end, he presented numerous workshops and demonstration lessons for Title I teachers and paraprofessionals, as well as other school staff throughout Baltimore County. He has also presented workshops for other counties in Maryland and regional organizations such as the State of Maryland International Reading Council (SoMIRAC) and the East Central Theatre Conference (ECTC). During this time, he also published the Creative Drama Spotlight, a bi-monthly newsletter that focused on the use of active learning strategies in the classroom and an assembly program catalog that served as a resource to schools throughout the county and provided summaries on each listing to help school teams select appropriate programs to meet curriculum and arts goals. In addition, Mr. Desmone was a member of the curriculum workshop that produced BCPS’ Reading/Language Arts guide and was an integral part of the committee that formulated and produced the “Theatre in the Classroom” manual for the school system. One of the many highlights of his education career was being honored with the Life Membership Award of the Maryland Congress of PTA’s from the Dundalk Elementary School PTA and being recognized as a “Class Act” by the late Dr. Tim Tooten of WBAL television in Baltimore.
Mr. Desmone acted as program coordinator of the ACT 1 Performing Arts Program for The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) at its Dundalk campus. This Saturday program provided students (grades 6 through 12) with exposure to and training in the performing arts. He was the acting teacher for the program and directed the end of semester shows that were written and performed by the students. He also taught Introduction to Theatre as part of the Adult Extended Education classes for CCBC.
Mr. Desmone has appeared in television commercials and industrial films. Early in his career, he hosted a talk show on pre-school education for KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. He has been a guest on a number of local cable discussion programs including The Education Channel and the stations of the Community Colleges of Baltimore County. He was seen as the lead performer in The Education Channel’s award winning PSA for the Office of Adult Education. Mr. Desmone was on-site director for the National Education Association (NEA) produced training film on site-based management and faculty councils. Duties included script revision, casting, site selection, shot set-up, actor coaching, and final editing at the NEA studios in Washington D.C.
Mr. Desmone has functioned as Master of Ceremonies at numerous pageants, testimonials and revues. He has performed at a number of supper clubs in the area including City Lights at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and the Green Spring Inn and has given dramatic readings at holiday concerts at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore.
Mr. Desmone is married to his wife, Deborah, a local actress and singer who has performed in a number of DCT productions. They have 3 adult children: Dina, Alexander, and Timothy. Mr. Desmone is the Executive Director for Towson University’s satellite facility in Harford County, Towson University in Northeastern Maryland (TUNE).
See Hairspray May 9 – 18 at Dundalk Community Theatre, Lloyd College Center, John E. Ravekes Theatre
Tickets: $22 Adult | $20 Senior | $15 Child/Student
Box Office: 443-840-ARTS or www.ccbctickets.com
***PLEASE AVOID ticket scams by only purchasing through our website, not through an unknown third party.***.
Performances:
May 9, 10, 16, 17 at 8 p.m.; May 11 at 3 p.m.
May 18 (SOLD OUT) at 3 p.m.
