Kathleen Wrinn

Biography

Kathleen Wrinn is a musical theater writer, performer, and educator. As an Assistant Professor of Musical Theater at Syracuse University, Wrinn has taught all levels and styles of musical theater performance and singing voice, as well as solo cabaret creation and collaborative musical theater writing.

A fierce advocate for new work, Wrinn is the founder and Artistic Director of NEW WORKS, NEW VOICES, a new musicals developmental initiative at the Syracuse University Department of Drama, created to support work by writers and composers whose perspectives have been historically underrepresented in the musical theater canon.

As a writer, Wrinn is currently developing THE BRIDGE (Book & Lyrics by Wrinn; Music by Peter Hodgson), a new musical epic inspired by the true story of the woman who secretly built the Brooklyn Bridge (NYTB New Works Series; semi-finalist O’Neill NMTC; finalist SDSU New Musical Initiative; two-time recipient Catwalk Art Residency; workshop Syracuse University); and OUR SOLILOQUY (Book & Lyrics by Wrinn; Music by Jessica Hunt), a new feminist adaptation of the 1909 CAROUSEL-inspiring play LILIOM from Julie’s perspective. THE BRIDGE is currently in incubation with Midnight Oil Collective as part of their third artists’ cohort.

Wrinn’s full-length musicals and individual songs have been featured at The Kraine Theater, The Rev, Berklee College of Music, NAMT's Songwriters' Cabaret, NYMF’s Women of Note concert (three years in a row), and cabaret venues across the country, including The Sorting Room in Los Angeles and Joe's Pub and 54 Below in New York. She has performed on stages in New York, Chicago, and regionally, including spending three years as a founding member of the Chicago-based physical theater company, Theater Unspeakable; singing as lead soloist with the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra; and most recently playing Miss Honey in Syracuse Stage’s production of MATILDA THE MUSICAL.

For the past five years, Wrinn has served as the Directory Manager of Maestra Music. She is the Assistant Program Coordinator for SU Drama’s Musical Theater Area and currently serves on the Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance’s New Works Subcommittee, where she contributed to the creation of the New Works Collaboration Catalog (NWCC). Affiliations: AEA, Dramatists Guild, and Maestra. MFA NYU Tisch (Musical Theater Writing); BFA Syracuse University (Musical Theater).