BIOGRAPHY

Arthur Yorinks has written and directed for opera, theater, dance, film, and radio and is the author of over forty acclaimed and award-winning books, including Hey, Al, a children’s book, which earned the Caldecott Medal in 1987. In addition to his literary career, he is considered one of the leading figures in the reinvention of audio theater.

Born on Long Island, New York, Yorinks, from the age of 6 studied to be a classical pianist under former Juilliard professor Robert Bedford. At 17, veering from a potential profession as a classical musician, and moving to New York City, Yorinks began his over five decades-long work in the literary and performing arts. His wide-ranging career is known for unique collaborations among a broad spectrum of celebrated artists—from Andre Serban and Richard Foreman to Bill Irwin and Maurice Sendak to legendary filmmaker Michael Powell among many others.

In the field of opera, Yorinks was Philip Glass’s librettist for the operas The Juniper Tree and The Fall of the House of Usher, both of which have been performed all over the world. In theater, Yorinks has written and directed numerous plays at The Kennedy Center, the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York, The Flea Theater, The Billie Holiday Theater and several other venues.

In the 1990's, Yorinks collaborated with Maurice Sendak to form The Night Kitchen Theater. For nearly ten years, they developed, created, and produced compelling work culminating in a new production of Hans Krasa's opera, Brundibar, with an English libretto by Tony Kushner.

In the field of dance, Yorinks helped create a full-length dance/theater piece entitled A Selection with the renowned dance company Pilobolus.

Among his many published works for adults and children, his writings for children have been hailed as “one of the most distinctive prose styles in children’s literature.” Through his over forty years of picture-book making, he has teamed up with many famed illustrators including William Steig, Sergio Ruzzier, Mort Drucker, David Small, Richard Egielski, and Maurice Sendak. His book, Mommy?, was a New York Times bestseller. Making Scents, his graphic novel, was published in June 2017. Presto and Zesto in Limboland, his collaboration with Maurice Sendak, was published in September, 2018.

Yorinks’s recent book, One Mean Ant, was published in February, 2020. The second book of the One Mean Ant trilogy, One Mean Ant with Fly and Flea was published in October, 2020. The third book in the triology, One Mean Ant with Fly and Flea and Moth was published in October, 2021.

Bringing all his talents to the fore and compelled by the use of sound in the theater, Yorinks has, for over thirty years, experimented with the relationship between audio and live performance. He is at the forefront of a quest to redefine audio theater and create and produce what he has coined A New Theater of Sound for the 21st century—theatrical work in which the core of the dramatic narrative comes primarily from the use of sound—as both a live experience and a recorded and broadcast medium.

He has written and directed over 40 original audio plays performed live in several series he established at The Kennedy Center, The Henry Street Playhouse, The Jacob Burns Film Center, and The New Victory Theater in New York City as well as other venues across the country. His audio work has been broadcast nationwide on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio and on New York Public Radio.

Yorinks has directed the radio works of Tom Stoppard, adapted and directed for radio Garson Kanin's The Rat Race, Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Gogol's The Portrait, Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and many other works of literature. His multimedia audio theater work, The Invisible Man, was commissioned by WNYC Radio and premiered at the opening of The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in New York. In 2012, Yorinks wrote an original audio play adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. The play, starring Phylicia Rashad and Roslyn Ruff, was performed live in New York City and was directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Yorinks directed the radio broadcast, which premiered on September 14, 2012. A live version of the play re-opened the historic Billie Holiday Theater in Brooklyn, NY. Yorinks's three and a half hour audio play, Dubliners: An Audio Play Suite, based on the work of James Joyce, premiered to great acclaim in June 2014.

Exploiting his talent in the field of theatrical audio, Yorinks wrote and directed the 14 episodes of the edgy comedy series - Taking Care of Paul. He also created the audio play cycle American Song, in which Yorinks wrote 13 dramatic audio plays covering the landscape of America from the 1900’s to the present. Developed with Jim Simpson and The Flea Theater, along with the help of Bruce Fagin, American Song has included the talents of Sigourney Weaver, Frances McDormand, Peter Gerety, Reg E. Cathey, Linda Powell, Danny Burstein, Rebecca Luker, Francis Jue, Jay O. Sanders, Lois Smith, Adam Driver, Maryann Plunkett, Annette O’Toole, David Hyde Pierce, Brandon Dirden, Jennifer Van Dyck, Mandi Masden, Kianne Muschette, Steve Mellor, Stephen deRosa, Dana Ivey, Karen Ziemba, Aedin Moloney, Catherine Russell, and many others.

For the stage, Yorinks created a new theater work which was in residence at MassMoCa based on the opera The Fall of the House of Usher. His commissions have included a stage adaptation of Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are for The Maurice Sendak Foundation and First Day of School for the National September 11Memorial and Museum in NYC.

Along with his writing and directing for his Short Plays series, Yorinks is working on recording his American Song Play Cycle for audio broadcast. He continues to write and direct for the theater and pursue his career as an author.

In addition, in 2023, Yorinks took on the role of Artistic Director of AMT (American Mime Theatre), redefining and rebuilding the 72 year-old theater company and school as well as creating a new evening-length play for its Performing Company.

Mr. Yorinks and his wife, Ania, live with their two dogs in Salem, New York and New York City.

VIEW Yorinks’s profile on the PBS SHOW - ARTICULATE