Michael Mitnick (born September 7, 1983) is an American playwright and screenwriter.

Early life

Mitnick grew up in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

and attended Fox Chapel Area High School, a public school in the Allegheny Valley. His father is a professor and the co-originator of The Theory of Agency. His mother is a public librarian. As a high school student, he worked in the graphic design department of WQED Pittsburgh and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Mitnick attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, where he wrote or co-wrote four musical comedies, including one

Hasty Pudding Theatricals Hasty Pudding Theatricals is a student theatrical society at Harvard University known for its annual burlesque crossdressing musicals as well as its Man and Woman of the Year awards. The Pudding is the oldest theatrical organization in the Unite ...

show. His musical ''Snapshots'' had two off-Broadway performances in New York. He was a member of the

A capella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

group The Krokodiloes. After graduating in 2006, Mitnick worked at ''

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'' before earning his

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

degree in playwriting from 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 ...

Career

Plays

Film

Television

Music

Mitnick co-wrote the holiday song "Christmas You Go So Fast," which was featured on ''Vinyl'', an HBO series executive produced by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

and

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

. He also co-wrote, with Will Connolly and Kim Rosenstock, the musical, '' Fly By Night,'' which released a cast recording for its

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

run.

Honors

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selected Mitnick as one of "10 Screenwriters to watch" in 2013. He received the 2012 Visionary Playwright Award from Theater Masters. He is a two-time winner of the Edgerton New American Foundation Award, for ''The Siegel'' (2017) and '' Fly By Night'' (2011), the latter of which was also nominated for four 2015 Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical.

Works in development

In May 2017,

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placed Mitnick's original screenplay ''Some Are Born Great'' on its 2017 Cannes Hotlist, and he was slated to direct the film. Mitnick is reported to be writing the screenplay for a forthcoming Audrey Hepburn biopic. He is also currently working on a limited series about

Siegfried & Roy Siegfried Fischbacher (born Siegfried Tyron Fischbacher; June 13, 1939 – January 13, 2021) and Roy Horn (born Uwe Ludwig Horn; October 3, 1944 – May 8, 2020) were German-American entertainers who performed an animal-based magic show together ...

, adapting the Judy Batalion novel ''Light of Days,'' and adapting the anthology series ''Dial M for Murder'' for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitnick, Michael 1983 births Living people 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights Harvard University alumni David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni