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MacArthur Fellows Program

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Playwright, Composer, and Performer | Class of 2015

Expanding the conventions of musical theater with a popular culture sensibility and musical styles and voices that reflect the diverse cultural panorama of the American urban experience.

Portrait of Lin-Manuel Miranda Photos for download >
Title
Playwright, Composer, and Performer
Location
New York, New York
Age
35 at time of award
Area of Focus
Theatrical Arts
Website
Social
Published September 28, 2015

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a composer, lyricist, and performer reimagining American musical theater in works that fuse traditional storytelling with contemporary musical styles and voices. Well-versed in the structure and history of musical theater, Miranda expands its idiom with the aesthetic of popular culture and stories from individuals and communities new to Broadway stages.

In the Heights (2007), which Miranda began to write while in college, is set in Manhattan’s Dominican district, Washington Heights, and expresses the pathos of an immigrant community losing its neighborhood to gentrification and its younger generation to assimilation and upward mobility. In the opening scene, Miranda showcases his linguistic dexterity in the character Usnavi (played by Miranda himself), who interweaves song, dance, and narration to introduce the other various characters. They, in turn, express themselves in musical styles ranging from hip-hop to salsa.

Miranda continues to explore the dramatic potential of hip-hop in Hamilton (2015), in which he uses an urban soundscape to tell the story of Alexander Hamilton’s rise from an orphaned West Indian immigrant to America’s first Treasury Secretary. Miranda presents policy battles, love triangles, and duels through high velocity lyrics, replete with false and slant rhymes, that expand the range of both pop and Broadway music. The daring pairing of street culture with America’s founding narrative recalls the youthful, defiant spirit of the American Revolution, and cross-racial casting connects the present day to the diverse immigrant society of the thirteen rebel colonies. Melding a love of the musical with a pop culture sensibility, Miranda is expanding the conventions of mainstream theater and showcasing the cultural riches of the American urban panorama.

Lin-Manuel Miranda received a B.A. (2002) from Wesleyan University. His other theater credits include co-composer and co-lyricist of Bring It On: The Musical (2011); actor in revivals of tick, tick…BOOM! (2014) and Merrily We Roll Along (2012); new original music for a revival of Working (2012); and the mini-musical, “21 Chump Street,” for This American Life (2014). He is also a member of the improv hip-hop group, Freestyle Love Supreme.

Select News Coverage of Lin-Manuel Miranda
June 6, 2018
"How ‘Hamilton’ Went from ‘Mixtape’ to Broadway Juggernaut: A Timeline"
Washington Post
Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2015 MacArthur Fellow
March 2, 2018
"Lin-Manuel Miranda, 'Weird Al' Yankovic Talk New 'Hamilton Polka'"
Rolling Stone
Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2015 MacArthur Fellow
December 10, 2017
"Lin-Manuel Miranda: ‘Hamilton Is an Insane Idea, But the Story Works’"
The Guardian
Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2015 MacArthur Fellow
November 10, 2017
"6 Lin-Manuel Miranda Performances You’ve (Probably) Never Seen But Need To"
Playbill
Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2015 MacArthur Fellow
October 24, 2017
"Freestylin' with The Roots and Lin-Manuel Miranda"
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2015 MacArthur Fellow
January 3, 2017
"Lin-Manuel Miranda On Disney, Mixtapes And Why He Won't Try To Top 'Hamilton'"
NPR
Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2015 MacArthur Fellow
December 20, 2016
"Exclusive: Hear Lin-Manuel Miranda Narrate Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"
TIME
Junot Díaz, 2012 MacArthur Fellow
Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2015 MacArthur Fellow
November 29, 2016
"Lin-Manuel Miranda Brings Star Power to ‘The Hamilton Mixtape’"
The Wall Street Journal
Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2015 MacArthur Fellow
November 29, 2016
"Lin-Manuel Miranda Narrates Drunk History’s Hamilton"
Playbill
Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2015 MacArthur Fellow
View all news

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Please credit: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

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