Michael Hollinger
Michael Hollinger is an American playwright who is currently an associate professor of theatre at Villanova University and an alumnus of New Dramatists. He received a Bachelor of Music in viola performance from Oberlin Conservatory in 1984 and a Master of Arts in theatre from Villanova in 1989. He has been married to Megan Bellwoar since 1990.
Because of his background as a musician, Hollinger considers his plays compositions. He is quoted as saying, "Plays are music to me; characters are instruments, scenes are movements; tempo, rhythm and dynamics are critical; and melody and counterpoint are always set in relief by rests—beats, pauses, the spaces in between."
Hollinger has written three short films for PBS and co-authored the feature-length Philadelphia Diary. His awards include the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Fund for New American Plays, three Barrymore Awards for Outstanding New Play, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre Artist, a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award, a commission from The Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Project, and fellowships from the Independence Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Works
Full-length plays:- Under the Skin
- Hope and Gravity
- Cyrano, translated, and co-adapted with Aaron Posner
- Ghost-Writer
- A Wonderful Noise, co-authored with Vance Lehmkuhl
- Opus
- Tooth and Claw
- Red Herring
- Tiny Island
- Incorruptible
- An Empty Plate in the Cafe du Grand Boeuf
- Eureka!
- Hot Air
- Boxheads
- Clean Getaway, co-authored with Beth Dannenfelser
- Battle of the Backyard
- Senior Moment
- Truth Decay
- Naked Lunch
- Serviette
- Two-Part Invention
- Opus
- Incorruptible
- ''Pipe''