Stephen Trask

Stephen Trask, born Stephen R. Schwartz on August 29, 1966, is an American musician, composer, and Broadway book writer. He grew up in Connecticut in a Jewish household, attended Hebrew school, and celebrated a Bar Mitzvah. His father led the youth program at their synagogue, and both parents were active in the congregation. Trask later attended Wesleyan University, from which he graduated. In May 2021, he announced that he is non-binary and uses both he/him and she/her pronouns. He resides in Lexington, Kentucky, with his husband Michael Trask, a professor at the University of Kentucky; the two were married by their neighbor, former state senator Kathy Stein.

Before his career as a composer took shape, Trask served as music director and a member of the house band at the New York City club Squeezebox, where he shared the stage with performers including Debbie Harry, Lene Lovich, Hole, Green Day, and Joey Ramone. Among his named musical influences are John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Chuck Berry, Duke Ellington, Cecil Taylor, Henry Threadgill, Lou Reed, and Captain Beefheart.

Trask composed the music and lyrics for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a stage musical centered on a struggling rock star named Hedwig. His real-life band Cheater performed in the production as Hedwig's band, the Angry Inch. The work earned Trask an Obie Award, and he received Drama Desk Award nominations for both Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics in 1998. A film adaptation followed in 2001, for which Trask received a Grammy Award nomination. The show reached Broadway for the first time in April 2014, opening at the Belasco Theatre and winning the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical that year. The production ran until September 13, 2015, and a national tour launched at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre on October 2, 2016.

Trask has composed scores for numerous films, collaborating five times with filmmaker Paul Weitz. That body of work includes In Good Company (2004), American Dreamz (2006), for which he also co-wrote the songs performed by the film's contestants, and Admission (2013). Additional film scores include Camp (2003), The Station Agent (2003), Dreamgirls (2006), In the Land of Women (2007), The Savages (2007), Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009), The Back-up Plan (2010), Little Fockers (2010), and Lovelace (2013), the last directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman.