John
Scoullar grew up in
Providence, R.I., and began a performing career at the age of 12, touring with the
Bolshoi Ballet in the U.S. He eventually entered the seminary but left it to
pursue acting and dance. Moving to New York in the early 1970s, he appeared in several
original casts off-Broadway (The Hot L Baltimore,
The Crazy Locomotive and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater) and on Broadway (Candide, Over Here! and King of Hearts).
He eventually turned to playwriting and penned Old Fashioned Bargain Days (Playwrights Horizons), Fitzy and Bucko and Canticle (Hartman Conservatory Theatre). With Rick Cummins, he
wrote the various stage adaptations of The
Little Prince, many television scripts, cabaret songs and a musical about
reincarnation called Sojourn. At the
time of his death in 2011, he was working with Joseph Cavanaugh on The Legend of Finn McCool and Hello Dears, in which he played
an endearing waitress at a Manhattan diner. After moving to New York City, Scoullar
married his sweetheart, actress Linda Robbins, who in 1981 appeared on Broadway
in Amadeus. Months later, their son,
Nicholas, was born and given the middle name Amadeus. Nicholas (joined by his wife,
Faryl) now continues in Scoullar’s footsteps as a screenwriter under the name
Nick Amadeus.
