Marc Acito

Marc Acito (born January 11, 1966) is an American playwright, novelist, and humorist.

Marc Acito
Acito in 2009
Born (1966-01-11) January 11, 1966
Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.
OccupationPlaywright, novelist, and humorist
EducationCarnegie Mellon University
Colorado College (BA)
SpouseFloyd Sklaver
Website
www.marcacito.com

Early life

Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Acito was raised in Westfield, New Jersey and is a 1984 graduate of Westfield High School.[1] He studied in the BFA musical theatre program at Carnegie Mellon University but left before graduation.[2] In 1990 he received a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2009.[3]

Early career

Before becoming a playwright, Acito was a novelist and journalist. His comic novel How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater won the Oregon Book Awards’ 2005 Ken Kesey Award for Best Novel,[4] and was voted a 2005 "Teens Top Ten for favorite young adult book" of the American Library Association.[5] In April 2008, Acito published Attack of the Theater People, a sequel to How I Paid for College.

He is also the writer of the syndicated humor column "The Gospel According to Marc", which ran for four years in nineteen gay publications. His humorous essays have appeared in many publications including The New York Times (April 3, 2006) and Portland Monthly magazine (January 2007, February 2007); as well as on NPR's All Things Considered (June 2008 through February 2010).[6]

Theatrical career

In 2012, Acito won the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play for Birds of a Feather,[7] a comedy inspired by Roy and Silo, the same-sex male penguins in Central Park who raised a chick,[8] and Pale Male and Lola, the red-tailed hawks that nested on the ledge of a Fifth Avenue cooperative.[9]

Acito wrote the libretto for the musical Allegiance, which won the 2012 Craig Noel Award for Outstanding New Musical[10] after a record breaking run at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater.[11] ALLEGIANCE - A New Musical Inspired By A True Story opened on Broadway in November 2015 and starred George Takei and Lea Salonga.[12]

In 2012, Acito also turned his novel How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship, and Musical Theater into a "one-man monologue with songs" that premiered at the Hub Theater in Fairfax, VA.[13]

In 2014, his musical adaptation of E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View was presented in Seattle at the 5th Avenue Theater.[14] In 2015, Acito wrote the concert adaptation of Lerner & Loewe’s Paint Your Wagon for New York City Center’s Encores! series.[15]

He is currently working on the libretto for a new musical commissioned by the 5th Avenue Theater. The musical, Dutch Master, was awarded a development grant by the National Alliance for Musical Theater.[16] Also in the works is Chasing Rainbows, a musical based on the early childhood of Judy Garland, which premiered in December 2015 at Flat Rock Playhouse in North Carolina.[17]

Personal life

Acito lives in New York City with his husband Floyd Sklaver.[18][19]

References
  1. Chasing Rainbows; The Road to Oz, Goodspeed Musicals. Accessed December 4, 2017. "Marc Acito (Book) was born on January 11, 1966 in Bayonne, New Jersey. Upon graduating from Westfield High School, Acito enrolled in the musical theatre program at Carnegie Mellon, though he left before graduating."
  2. "(1) popmatters.com".
  3. "(2) coloradocollege.edu".
  4. "(3) literary-arts.org".
  5. "(4) ala.org".
  6. "(5) npr.org".
  7. "(6) mdtheatreguide.com".
  8. Roy and Silo
  9. "(8) gothamist.com". Archived from the original on 2015-06-25.
  10. "(9) playbill.com".
  11. "(10) utsandiego.com".
  12. "(11) deadline.com".
  13. "(12) playbill.com".
  14. "(13) seattletimes.com".
  15. Scheck, Frank (March 19, 2015). "(14) nypost.com". New York Post.
  16. "(15) namt.org".
  17. "(16) media.visitnc.com". Archived from the original on 2015-06-23. Retrieved 2015-06-22.
  18. Silverman, Julia (December 12, 2004). "Good Ol' Days: Marc Acito Heads Back to High School for First Novel". The Sunday Telegraph. Nashua, New Hampshire. The Associated Press. p. F-5 – via Newspaper Archive.
  19. Acito, Marc (2015-09-19). "BWW Interview: Allegiance's 'Honorary Asian' Marc Acito Reveals How His Mid-Life Crisis Brought Him to Broadway". Broadway World (Interview). Interviewed by Nicole Rosky. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
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