Michael Mitnick (born September 7, 1983) is an American playwright and screenwriter.
Early life Mitnick grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attended Fox Chapel Area High School, a public school in the Allegheny Valley. As a high school student, he worked in the graphic design department of WQED Pittsburgh and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. His father is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh business school. His mother is a public librarian.
Mitnick attended Harvard University, where he wrote or co-wrote four musical comedies, including one Hasty Pudding Theatricals show. His musical Snapshots had two off-Broadway performances in New York. He was a member of the a cappella group the Krokodiloes. After graduating in 2006, Mitnick worked at The Atlantic Monthly before earning his Master of Fine Arts degree in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama.
Career
Plays Title Venue YearElijah Yale School of Drama 2010 with Lupita Nyong'oBabs the Dodo Washington Ensemble Theatre, Seattle 2011Sex Lives of our Parents Second Stage, New York 2011Ed, Downloaded Denver Center Theater Company 2013Spacebar a Broadway Play by Kyle Sugarman The Wild Project, New York 2014The Siegel South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa 2017Mysterious CircumstanceThe Geffen Playhouse, New York2019Scotland, PARoundabout Theatre Company2019
Film Title Year The Giver 2014The Current War 2017The Staggering Girl 2019Muppet Man TBALight of DaysTBA
Television TitleChannel Year Vinyl HBO 2016Siegfried & RoyHBOTBADial M for MurderMGMTBA
Music Mitnick co-wrote the holiday song "Christmas You Go So Fast," which was featured on Vinyl.
He also co-wrote, with Will Connolly and Kim Rosenstock, the musical, Fly By Night, which released a cast recording for its Off-Broadway run.
Honors He received the 2012 Visionary Playwright Award from Theater Masters.
Variety magazine selected Mitnick as one of "10 Screenwriters to watch" in 2013. 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, Deadline 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.
References