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Next Stop Broadway Alum Michael Kushner Holds Book Signing in Coral Springs

Michael Kushner. {courtesy Stephen Mosher.}

By Bryan Boggiano

Theater artist, producer, photographer, and Next Stop Broadway alum Michael Kushner will host a book signing for his new book, “How to Be a Multi-Hyphenate in the Theatre Business: Conversations, Advice, & Tips from Dear Multi-Hyphenate,” on Sunday, April 2.

“How to Be a Multi-Hyphenate in the Theatre Business: Conversations, Advice, & Tips from Dear Multi-Hyphenate,” book cover {Courtesy Michael Kushner}

“My goal is to share little-to-no-cost ways one can partake in the industry and create a lucrative career,” Kushner said in a press release. ” You no longer have to, or should, choose one way to create in the theater, television, and film industries anymore — and believe multi-hyphenating is the key to longevity and specificity.”

Kushner, originally from Long Island, moved to Coral Springs with his family when he was one. He went to Tamarac Elementary and Riverside Elementary before Sawgrass Springs Middle School. Due to theater-related opportunities, he shuffled between schools, going to Parkway and Lyons Creek Middle before attending high school at American Heritage.

When he was nine, Kushner joined Next Stop Broadway after encouragement from his grandmother. His first play was “Mary Poppins,” where he played Michael Banks.

Kushner credits Cynthia O’Brien, artistic director, for inspiring him to create his work.

“If I have a story I wanted to tell, I would just tell it,” he said.

Kushner with Mad TV actress Carlie Craig during their time at Next Stop Broadway {Courtesy Michael Kushner}

Kushner went on to musical theater at Ithaca College, and in 2020, he won the school’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

Kushner is an executive producer for the Emmy-nominated series “Indoor Boys” and was the director of programming for The Green Room 42. He owns Michael Kushner Photography and has been published in The New York Times, Vogue, Playbill, and other outlets.

Kushner also created The Dressing Room Project, where he photographs artists preparing for their roles on and off Broadway.

His book also follows the success of his Broadway Podcast Network series, “Dear Multi-Hyphenate,” where he discusses with various figures in the theater industry how they find success as “multi-hyphenates.”

“Multi-hyphenating is all about empowering someone to take charge of their life,” Kushner said.

In the book, Kushner uses information from various theatre figures such as Tom Viola, Sammi Cannold, Jim Caruso, Julie James, Pennywild, Rachel Brosnahan, Leigh Silverman, Bob The Drag Queen, and others to address multiple questions and reflect on values that matter to both them and him.

These include how to recover from a pandemic, how access is given to more marginalized theatre creators, and what goes into producing projects. The book also features different exercises and workshops from his podcast, which is in its third season.

Kushner also discusses how multi-hyphenates were initially looked down upon in the industry but are now being embraced.

“Some of the leading people in our industry have done more than one thing,” he said. “It’s not fair to tell someone they have to do only one thing when people have told their own stories since the dawn of time.”

For Kushner, telling his own story through his work is essential. He states that as a queer person in theatre, it is important that queer people get to tell their stories in whatever ways they can, which is a major theme in his book.

“Representation helps see those people as human beings,” he said.

One person Kushner credits his self-expression to is O’Brien, stating he owes so much of who he is and what he has accomplished to her.

” My safe haven was Next Stop Broadway, and that was a testament to Cynthia O’Brien,” he said. “She created such a safe environment for artists to become themselves.”

The book signing will take place at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts in the Level 3 Lounge, starting at 2 p.m.

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Author Profile

Bryan Boggiano

Bryan has a degree in journalism from the University of Florida and earned his masters in geosciences from Florida International University, where he focused in atmospheric sciences. His interests include weather, entertainment, and municipal government.