Tony-winning Mark Hollmann named Composer-in-Residence for 2013

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
February 4, 2013

Mark Hollmann, the Tony and Obie award-winning composer and lyricist of Urinetown, has been named the 2013 Composer-in-Residence at Texas State University.

“Our Spring production is Urinetown, so it seemed like the perfect time to have Mark join us,” said Kaitlin Hopkins, head of the Musical Theatre program at Texas State. “I’ve known Mark for years, and I know that he is someone our students will really connect with.”

This spring, Hollmann will attend rehearsals of Texas State’s production of Urinetown as well as workshopping his new project, Hooray for Iceboy (music and lyrics by Hollmann, book by Erin Quinn Purcell [Duet! A Romantic Fable] and Jay Reiss [The Twenty-Fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee]) with the Texas State musical theatre students. In 2011, as part of the Harrison Commission, then Composer-in-Residence Andrew Lippa workshopped and conducted the premiere performances of a new version of his musical A Little Princess at Texas State, which is now licensed by MTI. In 2012, Choreographer-in-Residence Christopher d’Amboise developed and workshopped an original piece with the students.

“The Composer-in-Residence and Choreographer-in-Residence program has been a great success,” said John Fleming, chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance. “For our students to get a chance to work with someone of Mark’s caliber is a great learning experience and strengthens that bridge between their training and the profession.”

Hollmann received the Tony Award, the National Broadway Theatre Award and the Obie Award for his score to Urinetown the Musical, which itself won Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and Lucille Lortel Awards for best musical. Other shows as composer/lyricist: Yeast Nation (New York International Fringe Festival, Perseverance Theatre, and American Theatre Company), The Man in the White Suit (New York Stage and Film), The Girl, the Grouch, and the Goat (University Theatre, U. of Kansas), Alchemist the Musical (Seattle Fringe Festival), Jack the Chipper (Greenview Arts Center, Chicago), Kabooooom! (University Theater, U. of Chicago), I Think I Can and Deal with It! (Berkshire Theatre Festival), and Fare for All (Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Gardens, NYC). Actor/co-writer for The Rack, Theater of Funny, The Mercy Ripper, LBJFKKK, Love Me, All Eight Die and After Taste (Cardiff Giant Theater, Chicago).

Ticket information for the Texas State University production of Urinetown can be found at www.theatreanddance.txstate.edu or by calling the box office at (512) 245-2204.

For additional information regarding the composer-in-residence program, contact John Fleming at (512) 245-3660 or via email at jf18@txstate.edu.