Steve Gunderson (music/book), a 2016 Creative Catalyst Award winner for The Artificial Woman, is an actor, singer, composer, arranger, and playwright. Born and raised in San Diego, he studied in London and lived in New York for 15 years before relocating in Southern California. He now divides his time between San Diego and Los Angeles, where he lives with his husband Kaore Bonell. Steve co-wrote, starred in, and was the musical arranger for Off Broadway’s Suds, which has gone on to have dozens of productions worldwide. He co-created (with Kathy Najimy), arranged, and starred in Off Broadway’s critically acclaimed Back to Bacharach & David, which was revived in Hollywood with the participation of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Steve’s show, Everybody’s Talkin’: The Music of Harry Nilsson (co-created with Javier Velasco), starring Tony Award winners Alice Ripley & Gregory Jbara, had its world premiere in May 2015 at San Diego Rep Theatre. His collaborative association with Javier Velasco has included working together on the premieres of The Brontes and Eternally Bad, as well as many other projects. An award-winning composer, Gunderson created scores for A Christmas Carol, Dixie Highway, Rock Candy and others. He co-wrote the book and arranged the score for More Magic (Canadian Tour). He arranged the score for Yours Truly, which was developed at Theatreworks and the York Theatre and had its premiere at Naples Players Theatre in 2020. He is currently on the creative team of the new musical House of Dreams, which broke box office records in its regional premiere at San Diego Rep and is slated for a Director’s Lab in New York in the fall and development for a Broadway production.
As an actor, Gunderson has played major roles in productions at La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, La Mirada Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Lambs Players Theatre, Diversionary Theatre, North Coast Rep, Cygnet Theatre, and in the National Tour of The Grapes of Wrath.
For over two years he played “Sparky” in Off Broadway’s Forever Plaid (directed by Stuart Ross) and logged over a thousand performances of the role in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Diego. Steve did multiple voices on TV’s King of the Hill and (The New) Beavis & Butthead.