Michael McQuilken
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Michael McQuilken is an American, New York-based theater and opera director, filmmaker, and musician.


Early life

Born and raised in
Beaverton, Oregon Beaverton is a city in the Tualatin Valley, located in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon, with a small portion bordering Portland. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was ...
, McQuilken moved to
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...
in 1997. He began creating fringe theatre while earning a living as a street musician on a homemade junk drum kit. His
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
musical ''Ballyhoo'', co-created with John Osebold, won "best play" at the 2000 Seattle Fringe Festival, and his multi-media one-man show ''A Day in Dignation'' won him the ''Seattle Times Sammy Davis Jr. Award. It was also performed at the Fringe Festivals of
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, Prague, and
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, and at PS122 in New York City. In 2002, McQuilken began working as a sound designer, composer, and onstage musician for several productions at the
Intiman Theatre Intiman Theatre is a resident theater company in Seattle, Washington, founded in 1972 by Margaret "Megs" Booker, who named it after Strindberg's Intimate Theater in Stockholm. Through its history, the professional theatre company has been based ...
, including
Bartlett Sher Bartlett B. Sher (born March 27, 1959) is an American theatre director. ''The New York Times'' has described him as "one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but also in the international world of opera". ...
's production of ''Nickel and Dimed'', which transferred to the
Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighborin ...
in Los Angeles and earned McQuilken the 2002 Backstage West Garland Award for composition. McQuilken continued to write, score, and perform, creating ''Paper Airplane'' and ''Extropia'' with Collaborator, the Seattle art collective, the latter of which was named one of the best three shows of 2004 by ''Seattle Weekly''. In 2008, McQuilken debuted the album ''His Forearms Were Tanks Now'', which McQuilken wrote, recorded, and performed on a self-made, loop-based composition and performance station called "the RIG", under the band name The Few Moments. Artist Ira Marcks drew a 50-foot illustration to accompany the album, McQuilken also played as the touring drummer for experimental folk musician
Jason Webley Jason Webley is an American musician known for his fusion of folk, experimental, and alternative music. Webley plays the guitar and accordion, sometimes providing percussion by stomping or shaking a plastic vodka bottle filled with coins. Webley b ...
.


Education

In 2008, McQuilken was accepted to the
Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in ...
for graduate studies in theatrical directing. During his time there he directed and scored numerous productions, including Shakespeare's ''Othello'' and Gary Henderson's ''Skin Tight''. Also during this time, he recorded The Few Moments' second album, ''The Celebritist'', and scored filmmaker Sarah Lasley's short film ''Eve''. For his thesis project, McQuilken wrote, scored, and directed an original play with music, ''JIB''.


Post-university career

Upon graduating, McQuilken began collaborating with musician
Amanda Palmer Amanda MacKinnon Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo the Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a memb ...
. He co-produced the recording and directed the music video of her cover of Nirvana's ' Polly' for SPIN Magazine. In 2011, McQuilken joined Palmer's
Grand Theft Orchestra ''Theatre Is Evil'' is the second studio album by Amanda Palmer, and first with her band The Grand Theft Orchestra. It was released on September 7, 2012 in Australia, on September 10, 2012 in the United Kingdom and Europe, and September 11, 2012 ...
as the studio and touring drummer for the album ''
Theatre Is Evil ''Theatre Is Evil'' is the second studio album by Amanda Palmer, and first with her band The Grand Theft Orchestra. It was released on September 7, 2012 in Australia, on September 10, 2012 in the United Kingdom and Europe, and September 11, 2012 ...
'', also acting as producer, production designer, and theatrical director for the 2012 World Tour. He co-directed the music video "Do It With A Rockstar" with Palmer,
Wayne Coyne Wayne Michael Coyne (born January 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is the founder, lead vocalist, main songwriter, and only constant member of the psychedelic rock band the Flaming Lips. Early life Coyne was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ...
, and George Salisbury, and in 2013 he directed the music video for "The Bed Song". McQuilken left the Grand Theft Orchestra in April 2013. McQuilken continues to make music with his solo project, The Few Moments, and runs his own film company, Q Motion Pictures, for which he has filmed numerous music videos for bands such as Jaggery and Leisure Cruise. As a founding member of the New York-based theatre company OldSoundRoom, he has directed numerous productions including an adaptation of
Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...
's short stories, ''October in the Chair'', and an original play with music, ''Machine Makes Man'', co-created and performed with
Adina Verson Adina Verson (born c. 1983) is an American actor who may be best known for their television role of Poppy White, assistant of Tina Fey's character Cinda Canning, in ''Only Murders in the Building''. Primarily a stage actor, their Broadway debut wa ...
, which won Best International Performance at the 2013 Amsterdam Fringe Festival and subsequently ran at the
National Arts Festival The National Arts Festival (NAF) is an annual festival of performing arts in Makhanda, South Africa. It is the largest arts festival on the African continent and one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world by visitor numbers. The ...
in Grahamstown, South Africa. In 2014, McQuilken directed ''Room No. 35'', a concerto installation composed by Paola Prestini, performed by cellist
Maya Beiser Maya Beiser (born 31 December 1963) is an American musician, cellist, performing artist and Record producer, producer who lives in New York City. Beiser was raised on a kibbutz in Israel by her France, French mother and Argentina, Argentine father ...
, with projections by artist Erika Harrsch. For BAM's 2015 Next Wave Festival, he directed ''Epiphany: The Cycle of Life'', a new music installation, and then directed the world premiere of ''
Angel's Bone ''Angel's Bone'' is an opera by composer Du Yun and librettist Royce Vavrek in one act that follows the plight of two angels discovered on earth who are forced into spiritual and sexual slavery at the hands of a financially troubled couple. The w ...
'', a new opera by composer
Du Yun Du Yun (traditional Chinese: 杜韻, simplified Chinese: 杜韵) is a Chinese-born American composer, performer, musician and performance artist. She won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her opera ''Angel's Bone'', with libretto by Royce ...
and librettist
Royce Vavrek Royce Vavrek is a Canadian-born Brooklyn-based librettist, playwright, dance scenarist, musical theatre writer and filmmaker known for his collaborations with composers David T. Little, Missy Mazzoli, Mikael Karlsson (composer), Mikael Karlsson, ...
, for the 2016
Prototype Festival Prototype Festival is an annual, weeklong contemporary opera and musical theater festival held in New York City. Program Prototype Festival is an annual, weeklong festival of contemporary opera and musical theater. The festival encourages n ...
. He writes music and tours with David Van Witt for their band, Odysseus Finn, and composes for new musical theatre commissions at various theaters, including
Ars Nova ''Ars nova'' ()Fallows, David. (2001). "Ars nova". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan. refers to a musical style which flourished in the Kingdom of ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McQuilken, Michael American theatre directors American keyboardists American percussionists People from Beaverton, Oregon Living people Year of birth missing (living people) David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni Musicians from Oregon