John Griesemer

Biography

Date of Birth: 5 December 1947, Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA Griesemer was born and brought up in New Jersey. A graduate of the Peddie School and of Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, he had no background in theater, but headed for a career as a writer and journalist. While working for a newspaper in Lebanon, New Hampshire, was sent on assignment to cover a local theatre company. The director talked him into auditioning for a play, and he got hooked. He worked for that local theatre company for two years, playing everything from Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet" to children's theater. He worked in Vermont with playwright Peter Parnell - performing in the first workshop production of Parnell's play, "Scooter Thomas Makes It to the Top of the World", the role later played by Jeffrey DeMunn at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center production. Griesemer moved to New York in 1977 and studied with legendary acting teacher Robert Lewis. He met his wife, Faith Catlin, there - she was in another class, and they now live in New Hampshire with their two children.