Process and Perspective: Rock Musician and Musical Theater Composer Erin McKeown
Event Overview
Dates
October 4, 2019
Hours
3-5 PM
Location
Godfrey Kerr Theater Studio, Lewis Arts complex
Admission
For Princeton students only.
Rock musician and composer Erin McKeown shares the process behind her original musical, Miss You Like Hell, co-written with Tony and Pulitzer winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes. From initial scenario to demo through orchestration and performance, Erin will take you inside and under the hood of musical theater song. She’ll also share her perspective of being primarily a singer-songwriter working in the theater.
All Princeton students welcome; no experience required. Please RSVP to janecox@princeton.edu
Erin McKeown is a musician, writer, and producer known internationally for her prolific disregard of stylistic boundaries. Her brash and clever electric guitar playing is something to see. Her singing voice is truly unique — clear, cool, and collected. Over the last 20 years, she has performed around the world, released 10 full length albums, and written for film, television, and theater, all the while refining her distinctive and challenging mix of American musical forms.
Her first musical, Miss You Like Hell, written with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, opened Off-Broadway at The Public Theater in 2018. It was nominated for 5 Drama Desk Awards, including Best Lyrics, Best Music and Best Orchestrations, and The Wall Street Journal named it Best Musical of 2018.
Leading her own band, she has performed at Bonnaroo, Glastonbury, and the Newport Folk Festivals. A familiar presence on NPR and the BBC, McKeown’s songs have also appeared in numerous commercials and television shows.
While a student at Brown University, Erin was a resident artist at Providence, RI’s revolutionary community arts organization AS220. A 2011-2012 fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center For Internet & Society, she is also the recipient of a 2016 writing fellowship from The Studios of Key West and a 2018 residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
McKeown is the 2020 Professor of the Practice at Brown University.
