Stephen Dolginoff is an American playwright and composer. His most notable work is ''

Thrill Me ''Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story'' is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Stephen Dolginoff. It is based on the true story of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, the so-called "thrill killers" who murdered a young boy in 1924 in order ...

'', the musical version of the true story of

Leopold and Loeb Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr. (November 19, 1904 – August 29, 1971) and Richard Albert Loeb (; June 11, 1905 – January 28, 1936), usually referred to collectively as Leopold and Loeb, were two American students at the University of Chicago ...

, which opened

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 ...

at the

York Theatre The York Theatre Company is an Off-Broadway theatre company based on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Established in 1969, The York is the only theater in New York City, and one of the few in the world, whose two-fold missio ...

in 2005, featuring Dolginoff himself as Nathan Leopold. Subsequently, it was published by

Dramatists Play Service Dramatists Play Service is a theatrical-publishing and licensing house imprint of Broadway Licensing Global. Established in 1936 by members of the Dramatists Guild of America and the Society for Authors' Representatives, DPS publishes English-la ...

, and has had over 150 productions in 16 countries and 10 languages. Dolginoff won an

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

Music Award for the score of ''Thrill Me'' and was nominated for New York's

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

for both Best Musical and Best Music Score as well as an

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town news ...

nomination for Best Off-Broadway Musical. The Los Angeles production was nominated for an

Ovation Award The Ovation Awards were a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They were given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Win ...

for Best Musical in an Intimate Theatre. In 2009, Dolginoff received a Los Angeles Garland Award honorable mention for the Music & Lyrics of ''Thrill Me''. For his 1994 musical, ''One Foot Out the Door'', he received the ''

Backstage Backstage may refer to: * Backstage (theatre), the areas of a theatre that are not part of the house or stage Film and television * ''Back Stage'' (1917 film), a silent film starring Oliver Hardy * ''Back Stage'' (1919 film), a silent film starri ...

'' Bistro Award for Outstanding Book, Music & Lyrics. Dolginoff has also written the musicals ''Flames'' (premiere production 2013), which was subsequently published by Samuel French, Inc., ''Monster Makers'', which premiered in NYC in 2015 at the

Daryl Roth Theatre The Daryl Roth Theatre is an off-Broadway performance space at 101 East 15th Street, at the northeast corner of the intersection with Union Square East, near Union Square in Manhattan, New York City. The theater, which opened in 1998, is house ...

/D-Lounge, featuring Dolginoff as Max Schreck, Boris Karloff and Peter Cushing, and was also published by Samuel French; ''Most Men Are, Journey to the Center of the Earth'' and ''Panic'' (which opened at the Lamb Theatre in April 2009). After starring in the Off-Broadway production, Dolginoff later portrayed the role of Nathan Leopold, in the Seattle, and Buffalo productions of ''Thrill Me'', and reprised the roles of Schreck, Karloff & Cushing in a second staging of ''Monster Makers'' in 2016 at

Feinstein's/54 Below 54 Below is a nonprofit cabaret and restaurant in the basement of Studio 54 in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Run by Broadway producers Steve Baruch, Richard Frankel, Marc Routh and Tom Viertel, 54 Below has hosted shows by such performer ...

in New York City. In 2018 he originated the role of “Orson Welles” in a revised version of his musical ''Panic'' at

The Cell Theatre The Cell Theatre (also known as Nancy Manocherian's the cell theatre) is a not-for-profit "dedicated to the incubation and presentation of new work across all artistic disciplines." Noteworthy productions include Larry Kirwan's ''Hard Times: An ...

in New York City. He received a BFA in Dramatic Writing from

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

. In 2024, his memoir “Thrill Maker” was published. It details the thirty year history of his musical “Thrill Me.” He was born and raised in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

References

External links

* Michael Feingold (May 24, 2005)
Theater
''Village Voice''. Accessed 2008-12-28. * James Barron (February 5, 2002)

''New York Times''. Accessed 2008-12-28. * Neil Genzlinger (June 1, 2005)

''New York Times''. Accessed 2008-12-28 *Official Websit
Stephen Dolginoff
* Stephen Dolginoff a
IMDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolginoff, Stephen Living people American male composers 21st-century American composers American dramatists and playwrights Writers from Kansas City, Missouri 21st-century American male musicians 1968 births