Reiner Prochaska

Born and raised in Germany, Reiner Prochaska moved to the United States in 1990. He began acting and writing in the mid-1990s as a student at Shepherd College, West Virginia, and as a graduate student in Professional Writing at Towson University, Maryland. His first novel, "Limits to Ambition" earned him his Master's Degree in Professional Writing. His film adaptation of the novel, in which he played Michael and Richard Dvorak, won the prize for Best Gay Feature at the New York International Film and Video Festival in 2006. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Maryland Ensemble Theatre (MET) in Frederick, Maryland, where he has been active as an actor and a writer while occasionally directing and teaching. His adaptation of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" (which premiered at MET in 2010) has been published by New Theatre Publications in the UK in 2012 and by Broadway Play Publishing in New York in 2018. His adaptation of "Antigone" (which premiered at MET in 2012) has been published by New Theatre Publications in 2013 and by Stagescripts Ltd. in the U.K. in 2018. His original play, "A Revolutionary Christmas" premiered at MET in 2014. While Prochaska continues to perform in film and T.V. projects (including Netflix's "House of Cards") he frequently performs on stage with MET and Maryland Entertainment Group in Hagerstown. In 2017, he founded his own theatre company, Frederick Classical Ensemble, which is dedicated to Medieval and Renaissance drama. In December 2018, he toured a production of his adaptation of "The Second Shepherds' Play" in Maryland and Pennsylvania, donating half of all ticket sales to non-profit venues and charities. As an educator, he teaches writing at Towson University and acting at McDaniel College. His new novel, "Captives," a World War II drama set in a camp for German POWs in Maryland, will be published by Permanent Press in October 2019.