More Info on The Negro ProblemSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Mark Stewart (born 1961), known by his stage name Stew , is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles . In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name. His 2000 release Guest Host was named Album of the Year by Entertainment Weekly and his 2002 album, The Naked Dutch Painter and Other Songs , repeated that feat. He toured in support of Love's Arthur Lee (musician)|Arthur Lee in 2002 and in 2003 he was invited to take part in the Lincoln Center 's American Songbook series of concerts.
Starting in 2004, he began writing the book, lyrics and music (with Heidi Rodewald) for his semi- autobiographical rock musical Passing Strange , produced with the support of the Sundance Institute and The Public Theater , which won him the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics . In 2005, he wrote and performed " Gary's Song " for the SpongeBob SquarePants episode " Have You Seen This Snail? (Where's Gary? ) ". In 2006, he and Rodewald continued to produce Passing Strange as well as working on a film project with The Sundance Institute. Passing Strange had successful runs at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California , in the fall of 2006, and off-Broadway at The Public Theatre in New York City during the spring of 2007. It received critical praise from both the New York Times and Variety (magazine)|Variety and opened on Broadway theatre|Broadway at the Belasco Theatre in February 2008 under the aegis of producer Liz McCann and the Shubert Organization . The play garnered seven Tony nominations in 2008, with Stew receiving four nominations and winning the award for Best Book. The play closed in July 2008, with Spike Lee filming the final performances for a feature film which screened at the Sundance Festival in January 2009.
Stew and Heidi debuted a new show, "Making It," at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn in February 2010.
In December 2011, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis announced that its 2012 new theatre series, Ignite& #33; would feature a reading of a stage musical adaptation of the graphic novel Stagger Lee with a book by the graphic novel's author, Derek McCulloch (comics)|Derek McCulloch and music and lyrics by Stew and Heidi Rodewald. http://www.repstl.org/ignite/ Ignite& #33; The Rep's New Play Festival» Repertory Theatre of St. Louis
Discography
With The Negro Problem
Post Minstrel Syndrome (1997)
Joys and Concerns (1999)
Welcome Black (2002)
Blackboot (2003)
Making It (2012)
As Stew
Guest Host (2000)
Sweetboot (2001)
The Naked Dutch Painter . . . and Other Songs (2002)
Something Deeper Than These Changes (2003)
With The Lullabies
''Lullabies' Lullaby (2003)
As producer
At Apogee (2004) by Mr. Smolin
The Crumbling Empire of White People (2007) by Mr. Smolin
References
reflist
External links
http://www.stewsongs.com/ Stew's official website
http://passingstrangeonbroadway.com/ Broadway Production of Passing Strange official website
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p225310|pure_url=yes allmusic entry for The Negro Problem
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p282073|pure_url=yes allmusic entry for Stew
http://www.passingstrangeonline.com/ Passing Strange official website
http://www.calendarlive.com/music/cl-ca-passing22oct22,0,4337858.story Los Angeles Times article on Passing Strange
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/119 Stew sings "Black Men Ski" at TED2006
http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php? a=negro_problem Trouser Press Entry for The Negro Problem
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? f=/c/a/2008/05/13/DD9110L19U.DTL Tony nominations for 'Passing Strange,' Stew on SFGate
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2008/06/15/passing-strange-wins-tony-award-for-best-book/ Passing Strange wins Tony Award for best book on A+E Interactive
http://festival.sundance.org/2009/film_events/films/passing_strange Passing Strange on the Sundance Film Festival website
DramaDesk Lyrics 2001–2025DramaDesk Music 2001–2025Persondata | NAME = Stew, | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = 1961 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Stew, Category:1961 births Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:Living people
