ABOUT

TAD COUGHENOUR – BIOGRAPHY

After moving to New York City from my native Kingsport, TN, I experimented with the “triple–threat” talent I had cultivated over the years.  From mainly musical theater – including a year-long National Tour of CABARET, to drama, to comedy, “avant-garde” dance/theatre and performance art.  I moved to LA in 1992, and began studying, and soon thereafter, performing with OBIE-Winning, Legendary Interdisciplinary Artist Rachel Rosenthal and Company, in ZONE at the Wadsworth and TOHUBOHU! (1995-99), Timepiece (Tour 1996-99), The Unexpurgated Virgin (Tour 1997-98), and Muck (1998).

In 1999, I wrote, directed and performed A Thorn at My Heart at Highways, and Avion for the 8th Annual Festival of Performance at Ex-Teresa in Mexico City. In 2000, I received the Arts International award, and co-created Perfect Day, at Pfefferberg in Berlin. In 2002, Perfect Day was performed site-specific on the beach in Santa Monica, CA, and at Tanzmetropole in Munich.  To view research street interviews in Hollywood & Munich, visit www.paradeis-productions.com/ bisher.html.

Later that year, I joined the cast of the late-night hit The Strip, a weekly comedy serial at Evidence Room theater, playing Romeo Mecklenburg “Former International Male Supermodel of the World” to cult acclaim for three seasons. In August the same year, my solo play The View from Skyland Drive premiered at arcade in the Historic Helms Bakery Building, and later headlined Single File Festival at Chicago’s Athanaeum.  After Chicago, I joined the cast of Ken Roht’s surrealist song and dance dream, He Pounces at Evidence Room as well as Stefan Novinski’s re-imagining of Thornton Wilder’s classic The Skin of Our Teeth, which garnered the 2003 LA Weekly Theater Award for Best Revival.

In 2005, I originated the role of Clay in Justin Tanner’s hit comedy OklahomO! at Third Stage in Burbank. More credits include: Miss June in Ken Roht’s 99–cent only Calendar Girl Competition at Bootleg Theater, Tennessee Williams in Roman Nights at Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, the revival of OklahomO! at Celebration Theatre, sketch-comedy cabaret GravityWorks at DragonFly directed by Russell Boast, Abe in Of The Father and Of The Son, and with the brilliant STUPID SONGS LA troupe, performing all brand new, self-written comedy songs at The Groundlings Theatre and Rockwell Table & Stage. I happily returned to the stage in 2018 as Bernadette in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at the Celebration Theatre for a 3-month SOLD OUT run and won the Ovation Award for Best Production of a Musical (Intimate Theatre).

Film, TV & web series credits include, The Inspectors (CBS), Shameless (Showtime), Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (CBS), series regular in Justin Tanner’s AVE 43, Real Drag, Anonymous Killers, El Gallo, 3 Geezers, VITI, The Redwoods, Sledge: The Untold Story, Bill Viola’s The Raft (commissioned by the Athens Olympic Arts Festival), Mind of Mencia (Comedy Central) and Head Cases (Fox).

I currently split my time between LA and ATL, and am going on 16–years in remission from Stage IV Burkitt’s Lymphoma. During chemo, I created a photo-journal of self-portraits called in the face of it all – or how I entertained myself while going through chemo (to view – click HERE).