Austin P. McKenzie

{{Infobox person

| name = Austin P. McKenzie

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth-date and age| August 24, 1993}}

| birth_place = Mesa, Arizona, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater = Columbia College Chicago

| occupation = {{flatlist|

Actor
singer
ASL interpreter}}

| years_active = 2014–present

| known_for = Spring Awakening on Broadway

| partner = Kevin McHale (2016–present)

}}

Austin P. McKenzie (born August 24, 1993){{Cn|date=April 2025}} is an American actor and singer, known for his role as Melchior Gabor in Deaf West Theatre's 2015 Broadway revival of Spring Awakening.{{Cite web|title = Austin McKenzie on His Craiglist Roommates, Why He Pretends to Smoke & Making His Broadway Debut in Spring Awakening|url = http://www.broadway.com/buzz/182059/austin-mckenzie-on-his-craiglist-roommates-why-he-pretends-to-smoke-making-his-broadway-debut-in-spring-awakening/|website = Broadway.com|access-date = 2016-01-27}} His performance as Melchior garnered significant critical acclaim, and multiple theatrical award nominations, for both Los Angeles runs and its run on Broadway.{{Cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-spring-awakening-review-20150530-column.html|title=Deaf West revisits 'Spring Awakening' with fresh vigor at the Wallis|last=McNulty|first=C.|date=29 May 2015|work=Entertainment|access-date=10 September 2015|via=Los Angeles Times}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/theater/2015/09/27/awakening-returns-lyrical-force/72667698/|title='Awakening' returns with lyrical force|last=Gardner|first=Elysa|date=27 September 2015|work=Theater|access-date=30 September 2015|via=USA Today}}

Early life

McKenzie grew up in Mesa, Arizona. When he was young, he wanted to become a music minister, even though his family did not regularly attend church.{{Cite web|title = Austin McKenzie on His Craiglist Roommates, Why He Pretends to Smoke & Making His Broadway Debut in Spring Awakening|url = http://www.broadway.com/buzz/182059/austin-mckenzie-on-his-craiglist-roommates-why-he-pretends-to-smoke-making-his-broadway-debut-in-spring-awakening/|website = Broadway.com|access-date = 2016-01-27}}

Starting at age fifteen, McKenzie spent six summers assisting at a summer camp for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities called Lions Camp Tatiyee. The camp was his first contact with people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and inspired him to enroll at Columbia College Chicago, where he studied American Sign Language and Childhood Education with the intention of becoming a special educator.{{Cite web|title = Austin P. McKenzie|url = https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6861849/bio|website = IMDb|access-date = 2016-01-27}} He graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor's degree in American Sign Language and Vocal Performance.{{Cite web|title = IMDb Resume for Austin P. McKenzie|url = https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6861849/resume|website = IMDb|access-date = 2016-01-27}}

During high school, McKenzie had a casual involvement in the arts and was involved with some theatre, but did not see it as a possible career.{{Cite web|title = Austin McKenzie on His Craiglist Roommates, Why He Pretends to Smoke & Making His Broadway Debut in Spring Awakening|url = http://www.broadway.com/buzz/182059/austin-mckenzie-on-his-craiglist-roommates-why-he-pretends-to-smoke-making-his-broadway-debut-in-spring-awakening/|website = Broadway.com|access-date = 2016-01-27}}

Career

= ''Spring Awakening'' (2014–2016) =

Soon after graduating from Columbia College Chicago, McKenzie sent a tape to director Michael Arden and the creative team at Deaf West Theatre, with hopes of obtaining a job as an interpreter during the company's ASL-inclusive run of Spring Awakening. However, the Deaf West team saw his potential, and requested he audition for the leading role in the production—the radical atheist Melchior Gabor. He was given the role, and began rehearsing for the show in mid-2014.{{Cite web|title = IMDb Resume for Austin P. McKenzie|url = https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6861849/resume|website = IMDb|access-date = 2016-01-27}} At first, McKenzie was the only member of the hearing cast that was able to effectively communicate with their deaf and hard-of-hearing cohorts, thanks to his training in ASL.{{Cite web|title = The Language of Silence — How Deaf and Hearing Actors Are Communicating This Spring Awakening|url = http://www.playbill.com/news/article/the-language-of-silence-how-deaf-and-hearing-actors-are-communicating-this-spring-awakening-357639|website = Playbill|access-date = 2016-01-27}} Deaf West's Spring Awakening originally performed at a 99-seat theatre off of Skid Row in Los Angeles, California, from September 14, 2014, to November 9, 2014. It was McKenzie's professional theatre debut.{{Cite web|title = IMDb Resume for Austin P. McKenzie|url = https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6861849/resume|website = IMDb|access-date = 2016-01-27}}

In 2015, the production was rebooted at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills with the additions of cast members Andy Mientus as Hanschen Rilow, Krysta Rodriguez as Ilse Neumann, Alex Boniello as the voice of Moritz Stiefel, and Alex Wyse as Georg Zirschnitz. McKenzie reprised his role as Melchior. McKenzie and the rest of the cast were highly acclaimed by critics, receiving many nominations and wins for Ovation Awards, including his Best Leading Actor in a Musical nomination. The show ran from May 21, 2015 to June 14, 2015.

In the mid-summer of 2015, it was announced that the production would transfer to Broadway with its current cast for a limited engagement at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. McKenzie made his Broadway debut on September 8, 2015, and stayed with the production through its closing on January 24, 2016.{{Cite web|title = Spring Awakening Is Headed for Fall New York Revival! See Video of the Moving Re-Invention|url = http://www.playbill.com/news/article/spring-awakening-is-headed-for-fall-new-york-revival-see-video-of-the-moving-re-invention-352434|website = Playbill|access-date = 2016-01-27}} The show ran two weeks past its intended run due to its positive reviews, and garnered three Tony Award nominations including Best Revival of a Musical.{{Cite news|title = Review: 'Spring Awakening' by Deaf West Theater Brings a New Sensation to Broadway|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/28/theater/review-spring-awakening-by-deaf-west-theater-brings-a-new-sensation-to-broadway.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 2015-09-27|access-date = 2016-01-27|issn = 0362-4331|first = Charles|last = Isherwood}}{{cite news|last1=Ng|first1=David|title='Spring Awakening' and Deaf West's Unlikely Road to Three Tony Nominations|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-tony-spring-awakening-20160503-snap-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=May 3, 2016}}

= Film and television (2015–present) =

In addition to theatre, McKenzie has appeared on both the big and small screen. In 2015, he appeared in a one-episode, guest-starring role in the television series The 101.

He starred in the feature film Speech & Debate, adapted from the hit 2007 off-Broadway play of the same name by Tony-winning playwright Stephen Karam and released by Sycamore Pictures and Vertical Entertainment on April 7, 2017. McKenzie stars as one of three leads as the character of Howie, an openly gay teenager alongside Sarah Steele, who also starred in the original off-Broadway premiere of Speech & Debate and Liam James. The film features three misfit students in high school who are frustrated with the hypocrisy they see in their parents and school staff. Together, they try to revive an extinct school debate club to face the situation in which they find themselves. A number of theater names including Darren Criss and Lin-Manuel Miranda cameo in the film and Kristin Chenoweth sings an original song.{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/2017/film/news/speech-and-debate-movie-stephen-karam-1201970978/|title=Stephen Karam's 'Speech & Debate' Movie Set for Release in April|last=Cox|first=Gordon|date=2017-01-27|newspaper=Variety|access-date=2017-02-26|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stephen-karams-speech-debate-film-set-april-release-969273|title=Stephen Karam's 'Speech & Debate' Film Set for April Release|newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=2017-02-26|language=en}}

In 2017, McKenzie starred in the ABC miniseries When We Rise, created by Dustin Lance Black and Gus Van Sant. He portrays the young LGBT activist Cleve Jones in the period piece, which chronicles the struggles of LGBTQ people who helped pioneer an offshoot of the civil rights movement in the 20th century.

Personal life

McKenzie is bisexual.{{cite web|url=https://www.eonline.com/news/934380/kevin-mchale-opens-up-about-his-boyfriend-and-why-he-was-never-hiding-his-sexuality|title=Kevin McHale Opens Up About His Boyfriend and Why He Was Never Hiding His Sexuality|website=E! Online|first=Lily|last=Harrison|date=May 10, 2018|access-date=July 5, 2018}} He has been in a relationship with actor Kevin McHale, whom he met while filming When We Rise,{{cite web |title=Kevin McHale Accidentally Gave Boyfriend Austin McKenzie Salmonella: 'He Should Break Up with Me' |url=https://people.com/food/kevin-mchale-accidentally-gave-boyfriend-austin-mckenzie-salmonella-he-should-break-up-with-me/ |website=People |accessdate=September 6, 2020 |date=August 3, 2020}} since 2016.{{cite web|last=Mchale|first=Kevin|date=November 8, 2021|title=Kevin McHale on Instagram: "How tf have u put up with me for 5 years?"|url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CV_IYDxvir5/|access-date=23 February 2022|website=Instagram}}

Theatre credits

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Production

!Role

!Type

!Location

!Dates

2014

| rowspan="3" |Spring Awakening

| rowspan="3" |Melchior Gabor

| rowspan="2" |Los Angeles

|Rosenthal Theatre

|September 14, 2014 – November 9, 2014

2015

|Wallis Annenberg Center

|May 21, 2015 – June 14, 2015

2015–16

|Broadway

|Brooks Atkinson Theatre

|September 8, 2015 – January 24, 2016

Filmography

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Title

!Role

!Type

!Notes

2015

|The 101

|Terry

|TV series

|episode: "Roommates 101" (as Austin McKenzie)

2016

|Goodbye Charley

|Charley

|short film

rowspan="2" |2017

|When We Rise

|Cleve Jones

|TV miniseries

|7 episodes (as Austin McKenzie)

Speech & Debate

|Howie

|Film

|as Austin McKenzie

2018

|Conrad & Michelle: If Words Could Kill

|Conrad Roy

|TV film

2019

|In The Time It Takes to Get There

|Naked Young Man

|short film

2020

| Unhinged

| Fred

| film

Soundtracks

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Title

!Role

!Type

!Song

2017

|When We Rise: The Soundtrack

|as himself (Austin McKenzie)

|Soundtrack for a TV miniseries

|"Thinking of You"

Discography

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Album Title

!Note(s)

!Track name

2019

|Melancholy{{cite web|url=https://open.spotify.com/album/1s69gThMFCAh6lPyL0hqXM|title=Melancholy by Austin P. McKenzie on Spotify|website=Spotify|date=July 31, 2019|access-date=April 6, 2020}}

|debut album

|Melancholy, Antisocial, I Belong to You, Mrs. Kennedy, Numb, Hymn, A Genuine Life

2020

|Nightshade{{cite web|url=https://open.spotify.com/album/3w12EvmraWP643RfYK8ItI|title=Nightshade by Austin P. McKenzie on Spotify|website=Spotify|date=January 11, 2019|access-date=April 6, 2020}}

|Cigarette, Crazy Beautiful, Sex Drive, Vegas Baby, Love Note, Mr., Interlude, Winter, Pearl, Dark. Black. Heart.

2022

|Somewhere in Space

|Summer of Love, I'm Not Ready to Go, Sending My Love Through the Ether