Actor/Writer Harrison Bryan returns to Behind the Awards to discuss life as an Understudy for Ethan Slater in Marcel on the Train. This play follows a 20yr old Marcel Marceau and the untold story of how he saved children during World War 2. Now playing at CSC through March 22nd, 2026.
Also in this episode - Pie Day! Featuring Sweeney Todd & Waitress
Harrison Bryan is an award-winning multi-hyphenate: playwright, actor, librettist, producer, and puppeteer. A proud member of The Dramatists Guild of America and The Alliance of Jewish Theatre, and artist in residence at Windridge Farm, he is a two-time finalist at NYC’s Steven Sondheim “Write-A-Play Festival” and a Helen Hayes Award–nominated performing artist. Recipient of the 2019 New York Innovative Theatre Award, his work has been produced, read, or workshopped at venues including The Cherry Lane Theatre, MCC’s FreshPlay Festival, Broadway Comedy Club, BMI Advanced Writer’s Workshop, FringeNYC, The Flea, Round House Theatre, Caveat NYC, The Irish Rep, City Vineyard NYC, The Rude Mechanicals, Ugly Rhino, The Kraine, Open Hydrant, The Players Theatre, The Nuyorican, Dixon Place, People’s Improv Theatre, and Boston University, among others.
His musical A Hanukkah Carol, or GELT TRIP! The Musical received an honorary mention from the American Playwriting Foundation’s Relentless Award for Musical Theatre committee and won the Audience’s Choice Award at Open Jar Studio’s Broadway Shark Tank, premiering at Round House Theatre in 2024. His newest musical, BALLS: The Monster-Catchin' Musical Comédy, was featured in TimeOut NY, Variety, Forbes, Kickstarter’s “Projects We Love,” and Nintendo Life, debuting in NYC with a sold-out run at Caveat NYC and a panel at New York Comic Con. It won eight Broadway World Awards, including Best New Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Production of a Musical.
Harrison’s plays include [WORLD WAR TBD], read Off-Broadway at The Cherry Lane Theatre’s Tuesday TONGUES series; STILL NOT, produced at FringeNYC and published in Indie Theatre Now’s 2016 collection; In Fair Corona, produced virtually by The Rude Mechanicals; Ophelia Later, a finalist at Red Bull Theatre’s New Short Play Festival; and Romeo’s Jules, which won Best of Week at The Players Theatre Short Play Festival.
A dedicated educator and practitioner, he has trained with clown master Christopher Bayes (Yale School of Drama), puppeteer Jim Kroupa (Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center), mixed-media innovator Jared Mezzocchi (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), and mentoring playwrights Lauren Gunderson, Lydia Diamond, and Kirsten Greenidge. He studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, New York Stage & Film, and Double-Edge Theatre Co. A Brooklyn native with a BFA from Boston University, Harrison served five years as Writer/Actor with FACES, Theatre Network for Teens, using playwriting and improv to promote tolerance, peace, and anti-bullying.
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