Multi-hyphenate Theatre Artist
Christian Duhamel
Theatre Writer, Composer, Performer, Coach
NEWS
On May 1, 2025, Tony Award nominee Nikki Crawford (Fat Ham) is joined by Téa Guarino, Claire Kennedy, and Mia Pak for an invite-only industry staged reading of Christian's new play, The Girl Who Turned into a Feather. Sound artist Carsen Joenk provides foley and music with Lauren Zeftel directing the showing at the Haimes Studio, A.R.T./NY.
AS A THEATRE ARTIST...
I'm drawn to works that celebrate Earnestness, Uncynical-ness, Awakeness, and Queerness.
My pieces feature relationship-driven stories about underdogs who learn to thrive; the irrationalities of romance; and the way the past influences, distorts, and shapes the present. Queer characters populate the pages of my works in ways that directly explore the unique challenges of being Queer and also in ways that simply show Queer people walking through the world.
In my favorite poem, "Human Family," Maya Angelou writes: "We are more alike, my friend, than we are unalike."
My work seeks to illuminate that alikeness.
—BIO—
Christian Duhamel is a recipient of the Kleban Award for Most Promising Musical Theater Librettist and the BMI Jerry Harrington Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Songwriting. He also had the privilege of serving as a Songwriting Artist in Residence with Oriental DreamWorks (Pearl Studio).
He wrote the libretto for the musical My 80-Year-Old Boyfriend which received the DaytonMetro Award for Best New Play and an IRNE Nomination for Best New Play. Created with composer and co-lyricist Ed Bell, directed by Drama Desk Award-winner Sean Daniels, and starring Broadway’s Charissa Bertels, it received its world premiere at Merrimack Repertory Theatre and was subsequently produced by Arizona Theatre Company and The Human Race Theatre Company.
His other works include: Reeling (Exquisite Corpse Company Playwriting Lab), The Girl Who Turned Into a Feather (Something Marvelous Festival, Human Race Theatre Company); X-MAS: A Merry Mutant Musical! (Uncanny Experience, The PIT, The Pocket Theatre); Miss Mayor (Puzzle Theatre Festival; Finalist: B-Side Productions’ New American Musical Award); Reinventing Romance (KCACTF Awards: Playwriting, Music, Lyrics, Direction); Worlds Apart (Berklee School of Music; Music Theatre Ventures’ Young Creator Award); and The Uncivil Ones (Emerging Artists Theatre Festival; Finalist: Rhinebeck, Theater Latté Da NextFest, Live & In Color).
As a multi-hyphenate theater artist—playwright-lyricist-composer-performer-puppeteer-director-choreographer-music director-pianist—Duhamel has collaborated with luminary artists like Martin Charnin, Lorin Latarro, David Friedman, Peter Kellogg, Denis Jones, Jerry Dixon, Daniella Topol, Carolee Carmello, Roz Ryan, Judy Kaye, and Shelly Burch. He has presented concert works at The Duplex, 54 Below, The Neon, Martin's Off Madison, New Voices, and The Battersea Barge, and has received commissions from theaters across the country, such as Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company/Wooden-O, and The Human Race Theatre Company. As an actor, he has been seen onstage at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Village Theatre, and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, among others.
A native of Kellogg, Idaho, Christian grew up in the Seattle area and is an alumnus of DePaul University, Wright State University, and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. After spending a decade in NYC, he currently resides, once again, in Seattle where he is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, the Off-Broadway Alliance, AEA, NATS, and VASTA.
—PHOTOS—
