Robert Piluso

Born to Puritan descendant Leslie Patrica Kerr and Frank M. Piluso, an Italian immigrant and I.T. specialist, Robert Piluso shares his birthday, March 12, with his favorite Beat author, Jack Kerouac. The youngest of three sons, Robert's two brothers are Don and Landon Piluso. Robert's debut play, "The Point of You" ran at The Old Globe Theatres in San Diego through Playwrights Project in November 2001, produced by Deborah Salzer. In 2006, Robert received his Bachelor's degree in English Literature and Philosophy from California State University Fullerton, from where he graduated summa cum laude. During this time, Robert collaborated on numerous screenplays with producer John Mott and began writing as an Internet columnist for Script Magazine. One afternoon while pulling weeds Robert was bit on the right wrist by a rattlesnake and rushed by helicopter to Loma Linda Poison Control Hospital. Like Zarathustra, Robert was fine, but the coverage of the strange incident in the local newspaper made him a bit of a small-town celebrity in Chino Hills for a time. In 2007 Robert began as a staff writer and film critic for Script Magazine in print, while his poetry has appeared over the years in the literary journals "Calliope", "Dash", and "The Chaffey Review", appearing in the same first volume as David Foster Wallace. In 2008 Robert received his Master of Arts in English, again from California State University Fullerton, studying primarily under Dr. Ellen Caldwell and Dr. Marlin Blaine, specializing in Hamlet, rhetoric, and ultimately writing his Master's thesis "Elsinore". Upon his exit, he received the Award for Excellence in Graduate English Studies, the Department's highest honor. That same year, while living in Chino Hills, Robert began teaching as an adjunct English professor at Chaffey College in Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, but mainly in the Chino campus. In 2010, Robert contributed a monologue and performance to old college friend Edgar Muniz's film "Someone Else in the Evening". In August of 2010, Robert began graduate film school at the University of Southern California in pursuit of his Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing for Screen and Television. He was an incoming recipient of the Frank Volpe Fellowship, admitted to the program by Mardik Martin ("Raging Bull"). He moved from Chino Hills to South Pasadena. In early 2011 Robert wrote, directed, and produced the short film "When Koi Fish Interrupt Us", a scenic chapter from his upcoming feature "Shock, Rock, N Soul".