James Kautz

JAMES KAUTZ is a multifaceted artist of stage and screen, hailed by The New York Times as "fearless" and as "fiercely talented" by Time Out New York. He's the Founder of Red Seed Films, an independent film production company whose stories focus on personal transformation, gender, and identity. Red Seed Films' first short, Frankie, written and director by Kautz, is currently making it's way through the festival circuit, premiering at the Oscar-qualifying, 45th Annual Atlanta Film Festival. He's the Founding Artistic Director of the award winning, critically acclaimed, Off Broadway Theatre Company, The Amoralists. Under Kautz's leadership, The Amoralists has produced 22 World and New York Premieres by some of America's most visceral and celebrated playwrights including Adam Rapp, Charly Evon Simpson, Ken Urban, Emily Schwend and Gabriel Jason Dean. Through The Amoralists he has championed the development of over 100 new plays from emerging writers. As an actor he's worked in television (HBO, CBS), theatre (Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Rattlestick), independent film, web series, and voice over. As a director, James has been at the helm for both film and theatre. David Cote of Time Out New York has called him "a fine actors' director." The Village Voice has called his work "excellent and deeply compelling". As a screenwriter, James has been a finalist/semifinalist in competitions such as ScreenCraft, Barnstorm and Fresh Voices. He is a graduate of NYU's Sight & Sound Filmmaking Program and has taught and directed in NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and The Atlantic Theater Company Acting School. He is a Second Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido, a practitioner of Jeet Kune Do and Muay Thai, and has instructed children, teens and adults in martial arts for years.