Austin P. McKenzie | |
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Born | August 24, 1993 31) Mesa, Arizona, U.S. | (age
Alma mater | Columbia College Chicago |
Occupations |
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Years active | 2014–present |
Known for | Spring Awakening on Broadway |
Partner | Kevin McHale (2016–present) |
Austin P. McKenzie (born August 24, 1993) is an American actor and singer, known for his role as Melchior Gabor in Deaf West Theatre's 2015 Broadway revival of Spring Awakening . [1] His performance as Melchior garnered significant critical acclaim, and multiple theatrical award nominations, for both Los Angeles runs and its run on Broadway. [2] [3]
McKenzie grew up in Mesa, Arizona. When he was young, he wanted to become a music minister, even though his family did not regularly attend church. [4]
Starting at age fifteen, McKenzie spent six summers assisting at a summer camp for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities called Lions Camp Tatiyee. The camp was his first contact with people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and inspired him to enroll at Columbia College Chicago, where he studied American Sign Language and Childhood Education with the intention of becoming a special educator. [5] He graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor's degree in American Sign Language and Vocal Performance. [6]
During high school, McKenzie had a casual involvement in the arts and was involved with some theatre, but did not see it as a possible career. [7]
Soon after graduating from Columbia College Chicago, McKenzie sent a tape to director Michael Arden and the creative team at Deaf West Theatre, with hopes of obtaining a job as an interpreter during the company's ASL-inclusive run of Spring Awakening . However, the Deaf West team saw his potential, and requested he audition for the leading role in the production—the radical atheist Melchior Gabor. He was given the role, and began rehearsing for the show in mid-2014. [8] At first, McKenzie was the only member of the hearing cast that was able to effectively communicate with their deaf and hard-of-hearing cohorts, thanks to his training in ASL. [9] Deaf West's Spring Awakening originally performed at a 99-seat theatre off of Skid Row in Los Angeles, California, from September 14, 2014, to November 9, 2014. It was McKenzie's professional theatre debut. [10]
In 2015, the production was rebooted at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills with the additions of cast members Andy Mientus as Hanschen Rilow, Krysta Rodriguez as Ilse Neumann, Alex Boniello as the voice of Moritz Stiefel, and Alex Wyse as Georg Zirschnitz. McKenzie reprised his role as Melchior. McKenzie and the rest of the cast were highly acclaimed by critics, receiving many nominations and wins for Ovation Awards, including his Best Leading Actor in a Musical nomination. The show ran from May 21, 2015 to June 14, 2015.
In the mid-summer of 2015, it was announced that the production would transfer to Broadway with its current cast for a limited engagement at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. McKenzie made his Broadway debut on September 8, 2015, and stayed with the production through its closing on January 24, 2016. [11] The show ran two weeks past its intended run due to its positive reviews, and garnered three Tony Award nominations including Best Revival of a Musical. [12] [13]
In addition to theatre, McKenzie has appeared on both the big and small screen. In 2015, he appeared in a one-episode, guest-starring role in the television series The 101.
He starred in the feature film Speech & Debate, adapted from the hit 2007 off-Broadway play of the same name by Tony-winning playwright Stephen Karam and released by Sycamore Pictures and Vertical Entertainment on April 7, 2017. McKenzie stars as one of three leads as the character of Howie, an openly gay teenager alongside Sarah Steele, who also starred in the original off-Broadway premiere of Speech & Debate and Liam James. The film features three misfit students in high school who are frustrated with the hypocrisy they see in their parents and school staff. Together, they try to revive an extinct school debate club to face the situation in which they find themselves. A number of theater names including Darren Criss and Lin-Manuel Miranda cameo in the film and Kristin Chenoweth sings an original song. [14] [15]
In 2017, McKenzie starred in the ABC miniseries When We Rise , created by Dustin Lance Black and Gus Van Sant. He portrays the young LGBT activist Cleve Jones in the period piece, which chronicles the struggles of LGBTQ people who helped pioneer an offshoot of the civil rights movement in the 20th century.
McKenzie identifies as bisexual. [16] He has been in a relationship with actor Kevin McHale, whom he met while filming When We Rise, [17] since 2016. [18]
Year | Production | Role | Type | Location | Dates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Spring Awakening | Melchior Gabor | Los Angeles | Rosenthal Theatre | September 14, 2014 – November 9, 2014 |
2015 | Wallis Annenberg Center | May 21, 2015 – June 14, 2015 | |||
2015–16 | Broadway | Brooks Atkinson Theatre | September 8, 2015 – January 24, 2016 |
Year | Title | Role | Type | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | The 101 | Terry | TV series | episode: "Roommates 101" (as Austin McKenzie) |
2016 | Goodbye Charley | Charley | short film | |
2017 | When We Rise | Cleve Jones | TV miniseries | 7 episodes (as Austin McKenzie) |
Speech & Debate | Howie | Film | as Austin McKenzie | |
2018 | Conrad & Michelle: If Words Could Kill | Conrad Roy | TV film | |
2019 | In The Time It Takes to Get There | Naked Young Man | short film | |
2020 | Unhinged | Fred | film | |
Year | Title | Role | Type | Song |
---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | When We Rise: The Soundtrack | as himself (Austin McKenzie) | Soundtrack for a TV miniseries | "Thinking of You" |
Year | Album Title | Note(s) | Track name |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | Melancholy [19] | debut album | Melancholy, Antisocial, I Belong to You, Mrs. Kennedy, Numb, Hymn, A Genuine Life |
2020 | Nightshade [20] | Cigarette, Crazy Beautiful, Sex Drive, Vegas Baby, Love Note, Mr., Interlude, Winter, Pearl, Dark. Black. Heart. | |
2022 | Somewhere in Space | Summer of Love, I'm Not Ready to Go, Sending My Love Through the Ether |
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Ovation Awards | Leading Actor in a Musical | Spring Awakening | Nominated |
Clive Barnes Awards | The Clive Barnes Award | Nominated | ||
BroadwayWorld LA Awards | Best Leading Actor in a Musical | Nominated | ||
2016 | Theatre World Awards | Outstanding Broadway Debut Performance | Won | |
Fred and Adele Astaire Awards | Outstanding Ensemble in a Broadway Show | Nominated | ||
Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards | Favorite Breakthrough Performance (Male) | Nominated |
Deaf West Theatre is a non-profit arts organization based in Los Angeles, California, US. It is most well known for its Tony Award-nominated productions of Big River and Spring Awakening.
Michael Jerrod Moore, known professionally as Michael Arden, is an American actor, singer, musician, and theatre director. Arden won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2023 for the revival of the musical Parade.
Spring Awakening is the German dramatist Frank Wedekind's first major play and a foundational work in the modern history of theatre. It was written sometime between autumn 1890 and spring 1891, but did not receive its first performance until 20 November 1906 when it premiered at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin under the direction of Max Reinhardt. It carries the sub-title A Children's Tragedy. The play criticises perceived problems in the sexually oppressive culture of nineteenth century Germany and offers a vivid dramatisation of the erotic fantasies that can breed in such an environment. Due to its controversial subject matter, the play has often been banned or censored.
Spring Awakening is a coming-of-age rock musical with music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater. It is based on the 1891 German play Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind. Set in late 19th-century Germany, the musical tells the story of teenagers discovering the inner and outer tumult of adolescent sexuality. In the musical, alternative rock is employed as part of the folk-infused rock score.
John Howard Gallagher Jr. is an American actor and musician best known for originating the role of Moritz Stiefel in the 2006 rock musical Spring Awakening, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He also played Johnny in Green Day's Broadway musical, American Idiot, Lee in the 2011 Broadway production of Jerusalem, and Edmund in the 2016 Broadway revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night. He portrayed Jim Harper in Aaron Sorkin's drama series The Newsroom, starred in the HBO mini-series Olive Kitteridge, and played Emmett DeWitt in 10 Cloverfield Lane.
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