Adam McCort

Adam McCort is an actor, multimedia performance artist, and writer based in Vancouver, Canada. McCort is an alumni of the Nick Mancuso Acting Academy, the University of Manitoba, and Prairie Theatre Exchange. McCort is currently performing in the absurdist horror play, "Gangrene Glamour." McCort is playing late 1970s era drag queen, satanist, and goth glam diva, Joelle Addams, formerly known in the 50s and 60s as Edna Alannah Potion. Joelle is a desperately insecure attention seeker, raging megalomaniac, and a former underground performer and musician based in San Francisco. Due to her extreme narcissism and hedonistic excess, Joelle ruined her own life and career, the lives and careers of her drag sisters, and Joelle then went into exile, moving to Vancouver. Nearly a decade after hitting rock bottom, Joelle begins to mount a comeback with her new drag persona, Pissy, and her new freak rock opera, "Lurid Melodrama: The Diaries of Joelle Addams." As Joelle claws her way back to the top, she receives dire warnings from the ghost of her grandmother, Yvonne D'Orsay, a former vaudeville star and renowned psychic from Marseilles. Joelle's comeback is then complicated when she gets caught up in an investigation to catch a serial killer. "Gangrene Glamour" is being produced by Trash De La Trash Theatre. McCort was born in Winnipeg, Canada. A professional stage actor in Canadian independent and alternative theatre since 2004, he did his professional apprenticeship with Prairie Theatre Exchange. At PTE he trained in contemporary theatre, as well as stage design, mime, puppetry, commedia del arte, and other forms of avant-garde and classical theatre. At PTE McCort also trained with Doug Bagot, co-writer of Jerry Ciccoritti's romantic/comedy Boy Meets Girl (1998), and Philip Jackson's sci-fi/thriller 2103: The Deadly Wake (1997). Bagot mentored McCort and cast him in his professional theatre debut with a lead role in Bob Armstrong's dark comedy/tech-thriller "Penetration." McCort played Gene Taylor who is a flamboyant, slyly devious, often manic, anarchistic computer hacker with an insatiable ego. "Penetration" was produced by the We Happy Few Theatre Company and was directed by Doug Bagot in 2004. "Penetration" was a runner-up in the 2002 Canadian National Playwriting Competition. McCort performed in other PTE stage productions including Bruce McManus's tragicomedy "Selkirk Avenue." McCort played the tyrannical patriarch Steve Sawatzky. "Selkirk Avenue" was produced by PTE and was directed by playwright Ellen Peterson in 2004. "Selkirk Avenue" was a finalist for the 1998 Governor General's Award. McCort also collaborated with Armstrong and Bagot on the writing and filming of the video surveillance installation scenes in "Penetration." This led McCort to want to learn more about writing and filmmaking, and he then went on to study at the University of Manitoba. While at the U of M, McCort wrote and directed plays, short films, performed in U of M Black Hole Theatre Company stage productions, and formed his own theatre company in 2007, Trash De La Trash Theatre. In 2009 McCort performed in Ken Rudderham's drama "Gorilla", which is based on a true story. McCort played American serial killer, Earle Leonard Nelson. "Gorilla" was produced by the Black Hole Theatre Company and was directed by playwright Megan Andres. McCort graduated from the U of M in 2012 with a BA in English & Theatre, and a BA in Film & Politics. In 2013 McCort wrote, produced, and performed as Joelle Addams in the one man show, "Glamorous Gothic Delinquency." McCort played mid 1950s era teenager, drag queen, satanist, and goth glam diva, Joelle Addams, who lives in San Francisco. As Joelle enters high school she creates a new drag persona, Edna Alannah Potion, and forms a gothic musical theatre, cabaret, burlesque performance troupe, and band. As Joelle performs in underground scenes around the city she quickly becomes a sensation. At the same time, Joelle becomes a member of a girl gang, which leads her down a dark path into the cult known as the Wood Family, and Joelle's sanity begins to unravel. Later, Joelle then joins a burgeoning avant garde theater group and has the fight of her life when she tries to escape the Wood Family. "Glamorous Gothic Delinquency" was produced by Trash De La Trash Theatre. In 2017 McCort wrote, produced, and performed as Joelle Addams once again in "Gangrene Glamour", another one man show, which is the sequel to "Glamorous Gothic Delinquency." Since 2017, McCort has been performing as Joelle Addams at various venues in Vancouver, Canada.