Steven Levenson | |
|---|---|
 Levenson at BookExpo America in 2018 | |
| Born | May 1984 (age 40) |
| Occupation | Playwright, television writer |
| Alma mater | Brown University |
| Notable works | Dear Evan Hansen |
| Notable awards | Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical |
| Spouse | Whitney May |
| Children | 1 |
Steven Levenson (born May 1984) [1] is an American playwright and television writer. He won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Dear Evan Hansen .
Levenson was raised in Bethesda, Maryland. He was raised in a Reform Jewish family. [2] [3] He attended St. Andrew's Episcopal School and Brown University. He originally studied theater and English but then turned to playwriting. In discussing his interests in writing, he said: "...it does seem that a lot of my work tends to move in that [family] direction. I do find the dynamics in the family to be fascinating and endlessly variable. Family is, obviously, among the most universal experiences." [4] Although he writes for television as well as the stage, he said: "Theater will always be my first love." [4]
Levenson wrote the book for the musical Dear Evan Hansen which opened on Broadway in December 2016, after premiering at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC in 2015.
His stage playwriting credits include The Language of Trees (2008, Roundabout Theatre Company Black Box Theatre) and Seven Minutes in Heaven (2009). [5] [6]
The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin was produced Off-Broadway by the Roundabout Theatre Company at the Laura Pels Theatre, opening in June 2013. The play was produced under the Roundabout Theatre's New Play Initiative. [7] [8]
His play If I Forget opened Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre on February 22, 2017 and closed on April 30, 2017. Directed by Daniel Sullivan the cast featured Jeremy Shamos, Kate Walsh and Maria Dizzia. [9]
His play Days of Rage opened at the Off-Broadway Second Stage Theater's Tony Kiser Theatre on October 2, 2018 with direction by Trip Cullman. The play concerns activists in the late 1960s. [10] Days of Rage was earlier presented at the Hartford Stage Brand New Play Festival in a reading in November 2011, directed by Darko Tresnjak. [11] [12]
He was a writer for the Showtime series Masters of Sex , which ran for four seasons, from 2013 to 2016. [13]
He served as showrunner for the FX biographical miniseries Fosse/Verdon about the lives of director-choreographer Bob Fosse and actor-singer Gwen Verdon. The series premiered in 2019.
| Year | Title | Directed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Dear Evan Hansen [14] | Stephen Chbosky | Based on his and Pasek & Paul's musical, also executive producer |
| tick, tick... BOOM! | Lin Manuel Miranda | Released to Netflix & select theaters, also executive producer | |
| 2025 | Atlantis | Michel Gondry [15] | Co-written with Martin Hynes |
| TBA | Fiddler on the Roof | Thomas Kail [16] | Remake of the 1971 film adaptation of the musical |
Levenson is married to Whitney May, who has worked in art history and design history. They have a daughter, born in 2015. [1]
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin | Outer Critics Circle Awards | John Gassner Award | Won | |
2016 | Dear Evan Hansen | Obie Awards | Musical Theatre | Won | |
| Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Won | |||
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Book of a Musical | Won | ||
| If I Forget | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | Nominated | ||
| Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | Nominated | |||
| Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play | Won | |||
2019 | Fosse/Verdon | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Limited Series | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special | Nominated | ||||
2021 | tick, tick ... BOOM! | HCA Film Awards | Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated | |
| Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
Michael Frank Park is an American actor, best known for his roles as Jack Snyder on As the World Turns, Larry Murphy in the original Broadway cast of Dear Evan Hansen (2016), and reporter Tom Holloway in the third season of the Netflix series Stranger Things (2019).
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Benjamin Schiff Platt is an American actor and singer. The son of film and theater producer Marc Platt and philanthropist Julie Platt, he began his acting career in musical theater as a child and appeared in productions of The Sound of Music (2006) and The Book of Mormon (2012–2015), rising to prominence for originating the title role in the Broadway coming-of-age musical Dear Evan Hansen (2015–2017). His performance in the latter earned him multiple accolades, including the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, a Daytime Emmy, and a Grammy Award. Platt reprised the role of Evan Hansen in the 2021 film adaptation of the musical, produced by his father. He then played Leo Frank in the 2022 New York City Center Gala production of Parade, which transferred to Broadway in 2023 and earned him another Tony nomination and another Grammy nomination.
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Dear Evan Hansen is a coming-of-age stage musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Steven Levenson. The musical follows Evan Hansen, a high school senior with social anxiety, "who invents an important role for himself in a tragedy that he did not earn".
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Peter Nigrini is an American projection designer of live theater. His best-known designs include Dear Evan Hansen, Fela!, and Here Lies Love. He also works occasionally as a scenic and lighting designer, most notably his long standing collaboration with Nature Theater of Oklahoma, of which he is a founding member. He is also a lecturer at New York University
Rachel Bay Jones is an American actress and singer. She has played the roles of Catherine in the 2013 Broadway revival of Pippin and Evan Hansen's mother, Heidi Hansen, in Dear Evan Hansen. The latter earned her an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and the 2017 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She emerged as one of few artists to have received three of the four major American entertainment awards.
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Michael David Faist is an American actor. An alumnus of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Faist is the recipient of a Grammy and a Daytime Emmy Award, with nominations for a Tony and a British Academy Film Award.
Mallory Bechtel is an American musical theatre actress based in New York City. She has performed as lead and understudy in several musicals including the Tony Award-winning musical, Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway. She has also appeared in multiple television shows and films. In 2022, she starred as twins Karen and Kelly Beasley on the Max series Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.
Evan Hansen is the titular character and main protagonist of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. A bullied 17-year-old high schooler with social anxiety and depression, who lives with his single mother Heidi Hansen after she divorced from his father Mark Hansen ten years before, he attempts to find the acceptance and love he has been lacking in his life. On his journey to be found, he discovers the consequences of risking it all for the chance to be heard.
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