Film
Production Company | Project Name | 2023
Lead Actor
Production Company | Project Name | 2023
Lead Actor
Production Company | Project Name | 2023
Lead Actor
MICHAEL PETER BOLUS received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Southern California, his Master's Degree in Creative Writing from Boston University, and his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Theatre Studies from the City University of New York Graduate Center.
Michael is the author of Aesthetics and the Cinematic Narrative: An Introduction (Anthem Press) and The Light in the Dark: The Evolution, Mechanics, and Purpose of Cinema (Cognella Press).
His Chapter, "Fortune's Knave: Sex, Politics, and Machiavellian Doctrine in William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra," appears in the anthology Playing Shakespeare: Monarchs and Madmen (Peter Lang Press). His articles, interviews, and criticism have appeared in the scholarly journals The Montreal Review, Newsweek (Japan), Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, Slavic and East European Performance, and Modern Mask, and his poetry and prose were featured in the e.e. cummings Pre-Centennial Tribute.
Michael's stage play, Pound of Flesh, received its world premiere at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and was subsequently produced under his direction at the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival, The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in Los Angeles, and the Taos Center for the Performing Arts. His plays Attic People, Hats Canes Trunks Trains, West of Canaan, Shaman in the House, and Ex Machina, have been seen in productions, workshops, and readings throughout the country.
Michael was awarded a Playwriting Fellowship from the Boston Playwrights' Theatre where he spent a year in-residence, working closely with Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott as Playwright, Director, and Dramaturg.
He has directed numerous plays in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Washington D.C. He also wrote and directed the short films, An Idea for the Killing and Sullivan Street (Cannes Film Festival Shorts Corner), and directed Shaz Khan's Importance of Ernest.
As an actor, his television credits include guest-starring and co-starring roles in NCIS, How to Get Away with Murder, Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Law and Order: Los Angeles, Strong Medicine, Swift Justice, Sidney Lumet's 100 Centre Street, The Eleventh Hour, and J.J. Abrams's Undercovers. His film credits include co-starring roles in Dolemite Is My Name, Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown, Bleach, Bury the Evidence, and Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. His stage credits include The Seagull (directed by Anna Deavere Smith), Sunshine (directed by Joe Brancato), and a variety of roles in such plays as The Country Wife, The Taming of the Shrew, Under Milkwood, The Imaginary Invalid, The Cherry Orchard, and True West, to name just a few.
Michael has taught Ancient Greek Theatre, Major Playwrights Seminars, and Introduction to Theatre Studies at N.Y.U.'s Tisch School of the Arts; Fiction, Poetry, and Playwriting at Boston University; English at City College of New York; Theatre History and Acting at both Brooklyn and Hunter Colleges in New York City; and various seminars and workshops as Guest Artist at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. He has also lectured internationally at The Beijing Film Academy and Kede College in China.
Michael was the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the online arts journal, Modern Mask.
He is also the CEO of MEANSTREET Productions (www.meanstreet.org) and Founding Partner at CampusPro Group (www.campusprogroup.com).
Michael served as Course Director at The Los Angeles Film School, where he taught Critical and Historical Studies in Film, Film and Society, Screenwriting, Aesthetics and Culture, Historical Archetypes and Mythology, and Directing Labs.
He is currently Department Chair of Liberal Arts across all Programs at The Los Angeles Film School, and an Adjunct Professor of Film Studies at Santa Monica College.
