Andrew R. Butler

Andrew R. Butler is an actor, writer, and composer based in Brooklyn, NY, and hailing from the Florida Panhandle. His show Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future (Ars Nova) won the 2019 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Musical, made the New York Times’ Best Theater of 2018, and was nominated for 9 Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Musical, Book, Lyrics, and Music. The show’s cast album is out now from Broadway Records.

In 2018, Andrew (and his frequent collaborator Andrew Famer) received The Jonathan Larson Grant for emerging musical writers. Andrew is one-tenth of the composer/lyricist team for Jacklyn Backhaus’s Folk Wandering, premiered by Pipeline Theatre Co. in 2018. Andrew’s work has been developed at Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale Institute for Music Theatre, The Civilians, Ars Nova, Dixon Place, Fresh Ground Pepper, American Music Theatre Project, and the Polyphone Festival.

His four musicals with playwright Andrew Farmer are the Floridian folk tale Finn The Fearless; the southern gothic Blessing; an adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (TheatreWorksUSA commission); and the episodic musical travelogue American Cryptids. He is composer/lyricist for Anna Kerrigan’s The Dixon Family Album; composer/lyricist for On The Rocks Theatre Company’s shows EDELWEISS (Ars Nova) and The Hole Story; co-writer/performer for Political Subversities (Joe’s Pub); co-founder of experimental theatre company harunalee (Ars Nova’s Makers Lab; The Public’s Under The Radar Festival; LaMama; Bushwick Starr).

As an actor, Andrew has performed Off-Broadway in Ars Nova/Soho Rep’s Lortel-winning production of César Alvarez’ FUTURITY; in Theatre For A New Audience’s Obie-winning production of The Skin Of Our Teeth; in Haruna Lee’s plays Memory Retrograde (Ars Nova/UTR); War Lesbian (Dixon Place); Drunkfish Oceanrant (JackNY); Plum De Force (Bushwick Starr); and TROIKA (Target Margin Lab); in On The Rocks Theater Company’s shows Wolfert; The White Stag Quadrilogy; MacBeth; and Edelweiss; in Jacklyn Backhaus’ plays Set In The Living Room of a Small Town American Play and The Three Seagulls (Theater Reconstruction Ensemble); in Nate Weida’s musical BYUIOO (Pipleline Theater Co); in Willam Burke’s Comfort Dogs (JACKNY); in César Alvarez’ musicals The Universe Is A Small Hat (Baby Castles); The Elementary Space Time Show (NYSAF); and The Potluck (NYSAF); and in the work of playwrights and companies including Shaina Taub, The Talking Band, The Mettawee River Theatre Co., Mike Brun, Quinn McGee, and many more. Andrew holds a BFA in Drama from NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing.