Greg Kotis
Greg Kotis is an American playwright, best known for writing the book and co-writing the lyrics for the musical Urinetown.
Biography
Career
Kotis studied political science at the University of Chicago, where he was a member of the improvisational and sketch comedy group Off-Off Campus. He dropped out when he took a course on the Short Comic Scene, realizing that he wanted to be part of the theatre industry instead. Kotis became a member of the Cardiff Giant Theatre Company and the Neo-Futurists. He moved to New York City in 1995 where he established a branch of the Neo-Futurists together with his wife Ayun Halliday. While moonlighting in fringe theater, Kotis worked as a location scout for the show Law & Order.''Urinetown''
By 1998, Kotis had a daughter with his wife, and thus the responsibility of supporting a family. Kotis began writing Urinetown: The Musical, deciding it would be his last work:"I told myself, I tried to find a life in the theater and we had some fun...it was time to move on. The theater life, particularly our theater life, wasn't making us any money. I would just stick to location scouting and apply myself to making money. With 'Urinetown,' I thought, 'Let's just have one last big laugh.' "
Kotis had gotten the idea for Urinetown when, on an ill-budgeted visit to Paris in 1995, he had to limit his trips to the city's prevalent pay toilets. Urinetown the Musical received ten Tony Award nominations: Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical, Best Musical, Best Actor in a Musical, two nominations for Best Actress in a Musical, Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Best Choreography, and Best Orchestration. Urinetown has been performed around the world and in hundreds of American cities.
Other works
His post-apocalyptic bluegrass musical, , premiered at the wild project as part of the New York City Fringe in 2025, then transferred to the Magnet Theater in New York City after a sold out run.His musical premiered at Teatro Milan in Mexico City in 2024, in a production directed by Miguel Septiem, the artistic director of Icaro Teatro.
His play premiered at The Tank in New York City and was forced to close after 3 previews and 3 performances, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
His play premiered at The Kraine Theater in New York City in 2008, and was revived at The Tank in New York City in 2018.
His play premiered at The Roundabout Theatre in New York City in June 2006.
He wrote a prequel to Urinetown with his theatrical partner Mark Hollmann titled “Yeast Nation.” He is also working on a sequel to Urinetown called “Good Luck In Space” meant to close off the "Urinetown Trilogy.”