Full Bio

Adam R. Adkins was born and raised in Salisbury, MD. He got his first taste of the crazy world of theater while studying at Salisbury University, being cast in the company for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with director T. Paul Pfeiffer. Having never sung or acted before, this became the first in a long line of trials by fire in theater beginnings. However, due to the encouragement and support from his director and cast, he knew he was hooked for life.

His decision was cemented when he was next cast as Lloyd Dallas in Noises Off. As he studied his craft, more roles came in such fantastic plays as Antigone, Mother Courage and Her Children, Once Upon A Mattress and The Merchant Of Venice. He joined the improv troupe Bound & Gagged and performed in several of their shows. His final performance while at Salisbury University came with their production of The Marriage of Bette and Boo, playing Karl Hudlocke. He also he moved on to the backstage world, where was given the honor to direct a successful student-run production of Murder at the Howard Johnson’s. He also got the chance to stage manage with Dr. Pfeiffer for the inaugural run of Joseph Andrews, eventually winning himself a nomination for the Irene Ryan Scholarship at KCACTF.

After graduation he moved to Alexandria, VA for several months, working with Chris McGriff in Jonah Live!. It was there that he learned just how unpredictable the professional theater side can be, working as Assistant Stage Manager, Property Master, Deck Captain, Fight Captain, Puppeteer, stand in actor/singer/dancer and leader of the children’s choir. After a few more jobs, he moved up to Rochester, NY and began working as a Production Assistant for the Downstairs Cabaret Theater. He worked on a very successful run of Cooking with the Calamari Sisters, a fast-paced musical comedy heavily inspired by the Vaudeville days of old. He moved back to Salisbury for a short spell, starring as Lenny Gantz in Neil Simon’s Rumors for the Community Players of Salisbury. Finally, he decided to pack up and move out to the DC Metro Area for good.

On arrival, he got the chance to stage manage two fantastic shows. The first was Gianni Schicchi with Georgetown Theater Company, a fantastic farce written by local playwright John Morogiello and directed by Catherine Aselford. The next would come only a few months later with ATICC’s Under the Shadow of Wings under the direction of David Willinger.

In the summer of 2011, he returned to the stage to perform in Love Me! Why Everyone Hates Actors in his first performance on a Washington DC stage. Since then, he has continued to perform in many productions such as R.U.X. for the DC Summer Fringe Festival which won Audience Award for Best Comedy, Trespassing with Ambassador Theater, Into The Woods: In Concert! with Nu Sass, The Walking Fred with Landless Theater’s Mashup Festival, R.U.R. with Naked Theatre Company and Stop Kiss and The Navigator with Silver Spring Stage, the latter of which landed him an Acting Award for their annual One Act Festival. He has also been seen in Doorway Arts Ensemble’s Morning, Miranda and hanging around Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the Emmy-Award winning Veep. By 2014, Adam had showings in his first Source Festival show The Narrow Gate and in the 2014 DC Summer Fringe as Eeyore in Saving Private Pooh. His directing passion also started to flourish with God of Carnage with Silver Spring Stage and The Scottish Detective with The Hope Operas, along with several staged readings.

During the summer of 2014, Adam joined the Grand Guignol inspired company Molotov Theater Group and took on the duties of their Special Events Coordinator. He performed in productions of the Helen Hayes nominated Nightfall with Edgar Allen Poe and The Margins. He also held fundraisers to help raise money for the company. However, life started to catch up and burnout was just around the corner. After working steadily in theater for over a decade, he felt the need to take some time away from the lights of the stage. Dipping his toes into the water with various readings over a few years, he finally came back full time with the 48 Hour Film Festival’s entry of Welcome Home and the 2017 Silver Spring One Act Festival.