Louis Hobson is a musical theater actor and was the artistic director of Balagan Theatre in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

, Washington. His Broadway credits include ''

Next to Normal ''Next to Normal'' (stylized in all lowercase) is a 2008 American rock musical with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt. The story centers on a mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that managing ...

'' and ''

Bonnie & Clyde Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910May 23, 1934) and Clyde Chestnut (Champion) Barrow (March 24, 1909May 23, 1934) were an American criminal couple who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. The co ...

''.

Education and personal life

Hobson grew up in

Puyallup, Washington Puyallup ( or ) is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States, located about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Tacoma and 35 miles (56 km) south of Seattle. It had a population of 42,973 at the 2020 census. The city's name comes from th ...

, and attended

Pacific Lutheran University Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congregations of Region I of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ame ...

, where he majored in theater after switching from music education. He is married and has children.

Career

Early career

Hobson spent the first part of his career in Seattle's theater scene, acting at the

Village Theatre Village Theatre is a major regional theatre located in the Seattle metropolitan area. It is a member of Theatre Puget Sound and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. The theatre was founded in Issaquah, Washington, in 1979 and built a second lo ...

, 5th Avenue Theatre and others. He played leading roles in productions of ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...

'', ''

Miss Saigon ''Miss Saigon'' is a stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera ''Madame Butterfly'', and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed rom ...

'', '' Evita'', and ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fi ...

''. In 2002, he portrayed Dan in a Seattle reading of ''

''.

Broadway

In the fall of 2008, Hobson moved to New York City "to work with great actors and great directors" and was cast as the two doctors in the Broadway production of ''Next to Normal'', roles he played for the duration of the show's 22-month run. After ''Next to Normal'' closed in 2011, Hobson appeared in supporting roles in three short-lived Broadway musicals: ''

The People in the Picture ''The People in the Picture'' is a musical with book and lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart and music by Mike Stoller and Artie Butler. The musical is about a grandmother recalling her life in the Yiddish theater and the Holocaust. Production ''The Peopl ...

'' (2011), ''

'' (2011), and ''

Leap of Faith A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something outside the boundaries of reason. Overview The phrase is commonly attributed to Søren Kierkegaard; however, he never used the term, as he ...

'' (2012). He then worked briefly on producing musicals and readings in New York City.

Balagan Theater

In 2013, Hobson returned to Seattle to become artistic director of Balagan Theatre. He starred as Jean Valjean in Balagan's 2013 production of ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

'' and directed

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

winner and former ''Next to Normal'' co-star Alice Ripley in an October 2013 production of '' Carrie''. Hobson left Balagan Theatre to co-found a for-profit theatrical producing group with former Balagan executive director Jake Groshong. Balagan subsequently closed due to revenue issues.

Filmography

Lucky Them ''Lucky Them'' is a 2013 American comedy-drama film directed by Megan Griffiths. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, and in a June 2014 screening at the Greenwich International Fil ...

(2013) * Laggies (2014) * Outside In (2018)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobson, Louis Pacific Lutheran University alumni 21st-century American male actors People from Puyallup, Washington Year of birth missing (living people) Male actors from Washington (state) Living people