THE TEMPEST
Elm Shakespeare Company​

• "Curns' Caliban is wonderfully monstrous: he crouches, sniffs, slobbers, growls, hisses, and moans as he makes his way across the stage...For all the physicality, Curns also brings depth to the role: Caliban's lifelong woundedness, his sense of being both lonely and wronged, makes him a surprisingly sympathetic character..." ​New Haven Arts
• "As played by Curns, Caliban most resembles something like a boar, an effect achieved through a committed physical performance from guttural line readings to lurching body language to even a less human breathing pattern..." New Haven Independent

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG,
​The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis

• "Enter Jonathan Harris as Charles Haversham (Benjamin Curns)... whose first entrance sets the tone for a rollicking evening of laughter." Broadway World
• "The audience is... treated to non-stop, out loud laughs that just won't stop."​ ​Stage Door St. Louis
• "This is an encyclopedia of physical comedy..." Bob Wilcox and Gerry Kowarsky, HEC-TV's Two on the Aisle​ ​

The Comedy of Errors, photo by Lucy Gellman

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, Elm Shakespeare Company

• "Curns masters every instrument visible onstage as adroitly as he plays his Dromio... a deft clown... because [he] plays the text honestly... It's funny because we believe his sense of
  ​terror..." New Haven Register
• "Christopher Seiler and Benjamin Curns shine as the twin Dromios..." New Haven Independent
• "Curns & Seiler have the comedy down... with a rhythm that seems timed to sharp sudden laughter." New Haven Arts ​

THE PARCHMAN HOUR, Virginia Stage Company

• "For Benjamin Curns... the production proves a great showcase to display [his] conspicuous versatility in crafting character." The New Journal & Guide 
• "Benjamin Curns soars with a version of The Rooftop Singers' 'Walk Right In,' backed by a glorious chorus that is obviously primed and ready to deliver." The Virginian Pilot

Intimate Apparel, photo by Jon Gardiner

INTIMATE APPAREL, Playmakers Rep

• "The show's most moving moments come in Esther's encounters with Mr. Marks, whom Benjamin Curns fills with beaming humanity and bittersweet regret." The News & Observer
• "Benjamin Curns... gives the most fully realized performance of his time at Carolina as Mr. Marks. He and Esther share a deep love of fabric - and maybe they could share more, but it cannot be. The scenes between them pierced my heart." The Five Points Star

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PETER & THE STARCATCHER, Playmakers Rep

• “...As is sometimes the case, the standout performances in the cast lie in the supporting characters. Benjamin Curns, who plays Molly’s nanny, Mrs. Bumbrake, as well as the great mermaid Teacher, wins every scene he’s in, mining every moment to the max (alliteration is Ms. Bumbrake’s forte). His Teacher is sultry and exciting and sends chills when she gives our Peter his surname of Pan.” Triangle Arts & Entertainment
• "And speaking of gender, Benjamin Curns is quite the Mrs. Bumbrake and Teacher, a larger than life mermaid Peter meets on the island that will become Neverland." The Herald Sun
• "Benjamin Curns amuses in the drag role of Mrs. Bumbrake, Molly's nanny." Indy Week 

Peter and the Starcatcher, photo by Jon Gardiner

Disgraced, photo by Jon Gardiner

DISGRACED, Playmakers Rep

• "Benjamin Curns lets us see Isaac’s apparently firm convictions undercut by his damaging secrets... This is one of the company's most satisfying productions in several seasons... With today’s worrying political and religious clashes, “Disgraced” proves a much-needed eye-opener to all our unspoken intolerances." The News Observer
•  "Benjamin Curns, the only PRC/UNC cast member, played his pompous curator to a T..." The Five Points Star

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Romeo & Juliet. Photo by Pat Jarrett.

ROMEO & JULIET, American Shakespeare Center

• “Benjamin Curns, so memorable as the Bastard in last season's King John at ASC, makes a compelling Nurse in a twisted-gender master-stroke from [director] Warren. Curns is expressive and matronly, much more a grand character than a comical conceit..." Shaltz Shakespeare Reviews
• "Curns’s Nurse is certainly the funniest transgender work I’ve ever seen..." DC Theatre Scene
• ​"In the hands of Curns, the Nurse is a towering terror...yet there is a gentle warmth to Mr. Curns...he gives us a complex woman, Juliet's true mother who loves her charge fiercely. 

           Accidental Thespian

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All's Well That Ends Well, photo by Lindsey Walters, Miscellaneous Media Photography

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, American Shakespeare Center

• Falstaff Award Nominee 2013 / Best Supporting Performance, Male
• "...Benjamin Curns escalates [Parolles] to his proper place alongside such famous braggart buffoons as Bottom, Dogberry, and Pistol—if not higher... Curns, an actor of great intelligence who sounds the depths of the characters he plays... sharpens each line on a whetstone of wit. His dialogue with Thomason's Helena on the virtues of virginity is an Oscar Wilde–style thrust and parry delivered Mamet-like. All of the attributes Curns brings to his Parolles reach a singular climax in his speech of redemption... which he delivers with his head and hands in the stocks and leaning over sideways as he tries to pick up his trusty scarf from the floor. You gotta love what he says and laugh at how he looks saying it. The brilliant physical humor continues as he tries to exit through the stage door while still in the stocks." PlayShakespeare.com​​

HENRY VI, PART 3 / RICHARD III,
​American Shakespeare Center

• "Let me leave you with another reason [to see this show]: the performance of Benjamin Curns as Richard, Duke of Gloucester. It is this play that lays the seeds for the villain of the conclusion of this tetralogy, in King Richard III... Mr. Curns [builds] his character into a commanding force upon the Blackfriar's stage. The audience sees glimpses of the monster to come in his relishing his role in the death of Prince Edward and the murder of King Henry VI. One can only hope that Mr. Curns returns next season to continue in King Richard III." The Accidental Thespian
• "From the first monologue, Curns exerts his control over the role, revealing a character who is human in his desire to be loved yet twisted in the methods he uses to pursue it." C-Ville Weekly
• "With no scenery to chew at the Blackfriars Playhouse, Curns relied wholly on the text and his fellow actors and gave a performance of such overwhelming depth it set a new benchmark for any Richards who come hereafter." 
  Shakespeareances.com

KING JOHN, AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER

• "The Best Actor award for 2012 goes to Benjamin Curns for his Bastard Philip Faulconbridge in King John at the American Shakespeare Center... Confident, bold and steadfastly loyal and moral, Curns' leather-clad Bastard ironically proves himself of noble heart and soul in a bitter tale of decidedly unroyal Kings and Queens." Shaltz Shakespeare Reviews

Richard III, photo by Lindsey Walters, Miscellaneous Media Photography

King John, photo by Lindsey Walters, Miscellaneous Media Photography

Julius Caesar, Photo by Pat Jarrett

JULIUS CAESAR, AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER

• "Of particular note was Benjamin Curns’ Caesar... confident but not overblown, striding and hubristic, but likable in the same vein. He was a leader and he led the show." C-Ville Weekly

"His performance as the living, breathing, strutting peacock of a Caesar that lingers over the play long after he’s been killed. Curns plays Caesar... as a walking ego, a self-reflection of greatness." -​Shakesapeareances.com

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"Benjamin Curns completely stole the show as Bottom. If there were Tony Awards given to for Off-Off-Broadway actors, Curns would win one; his every gesture, articulation, and inflection were outstanding. His performance was so amazing that it is just too astonishing to describe in words."  -OOBR.com

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