
Michael Hollinger
Artistic Director
Resident Playwright
MICHAEL HOLLINGER, Artistic Director, holds a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory and Master of Arts in Theatre from Villanova, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in theatre and music. Prior to becoming a professor, he was Literary Manager/Dramaturg at the Wilma Theater and Associate Producing Director at Philadelphia Festival Theatre for New Plays. Michael’s work as a playwright, lyricist, composer and translator/adaptor has been produced widely throughout the United States, in New York City, and abroad. His plays include Opus, Red Herring, Incorruptible, Ghost-Writer, An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, Hope and Gravity, Under the Skin, Tooth and Claw, Tiny Island and (with co-adaptor Aaron Posner) Cyrano, all of which are published by Dramatists Play Service. His musicals include TouchTones (written with composer Robert Maggio), A Wonderful Noise (written with Vance Lehmkuhl) and Moon Over the Brewery (written with Robert Maggio and playwright Bruce Graham); his new holiday play with songs, Mr. Dickens’ Hat, will premiere in 2021 at Chicago’s Northlight Theatre. Michael’s awards include a Steinberg New Play Citation from the American Theatre Critics Association, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, a Mid-Atlantic Emmy, two Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Awards, four Barrymore Awards (including the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre Artist), nominations for Lucille Lortel and John Gassner awards, and multiple fellowships from the Independence Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. He is a proud alumnus of New Dramatists.