Brian Yorkey was born in Omaha, Nebraska. After moving to Issaquah, Washington, he participated in theatre from a young age. Yorkey engaged in the local theatre programming and eventually began working as the Associate Artistic Director of the Village Theatre. Yorkey graduated from Colombia in 1993 and had served as the Artistic Director of the Varsity Show while studying. He returned to the Village Theatre and staged four musicals Funny Pages (1993), Making Tracks (2002), The Wedding Banquet (2003), and Play it by Heart (2005). Yorkey also developed a new works program, Village Originals, which develops 10 new musicals a year. Brain Yorkey is credited with developing over 50 new musicals, including Million Dollar Quartet (2010), which was nominated for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical in 2010.
Yorkey is a graduate of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop where he, along with Tom Kitt, Yorkey’s frequent collaborator, developed the beginnings of their musical Next to Normal. Nominated for 11 Tony Awards and winning the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Next to Normal became Yorkey and Kitt’s biggest hit. In 2014, Yorkey and Kitt’s musical If/Then starring Idina Menzel, LaChanze and Anthony Rapp opened on Broadway. Yorkey collaborated with Sting and John Logan on The Last Ship, which opened on Broadway in 2014 as well. Yorkey and Kitt collaborated once again on Freaky Friday, a musical adaptation of the film by the same name. Beyond theatre, Yorkey has written for television and film. He adapted Jay Asher’s bestselling novel 13 Reasons Why for Netflix, which became a huge hit.
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