Brian Yorkey

Brian Yorkey is an American playwright, lyricist, librettist, screenwriter, and theatre director known best for writing the musical Next to Normal with composer Tom Kitt. The work won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Original Score, and Best Orchestrations, as well as a win for the musical's leading actress, Alice Ripley. 2Early life Yorkey was born in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was raised, before his family moved to Issaquah, Washington. He graduated from Columbia University where he served as the Artistic Director of the Varsity Show. He is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. 2Career 3Early work Prior to bringing Next to Normal to Broadway, Yorkey was affiliated with Village Theatre in Issaquah, where he began as a KidStage student and eventually progressed to a seven-year tenure as Associate Artistic Director. Four musicals written by Yorkey—Funny Pages (1993), Making Tracks (2002), The Wedding Banquet (2003), and Play it by Heart (2005)—were staged there. While at Village Theatre, Yorkey founded the KidStage Company class which teaches teens to write, direct, and perform their own musicals. Yorkey's frequent collaborator, Tom Kitt, joined him in assisting with the score to the 2008 Company Original, In Your Eyes. He worked with composer Tim Symons, on other Company Originals such as Last Exit and A Perfect Fal