MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

Steven Tran is a composer and theatre-maker based in Seattle, Washington.

Steven’s interests are wide-ranging; the number of hats he wears is ever-growing. He started playing classical piano at age 3 and started acting at age 8. His journey took him to Princeton University where he graduated in 2015 with a degree in Computer Science and Theatre. After a yearlong detour as an engineering program manager for a mega tech corporation, Steven planted himself as a theater artist in Seattle, Washington in 2017. Since, he has worked as a pianist and music director at ArtsWest Playhouse, Village Theatre, the 5th Avenue Theatre, and Seattle Rep. Outside of the Pacific Northwest, Steven has worked at Green Room 42 (NYC) and for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. As an actor, Steven has appeared onstage with Taproot Theatre and Seattle Shakespeare Company.

Steven is also a self-taught composer, orchestrator, and music producer. Steven’s music combines a sense of play and wonder with emotion and drama. His sonic influences are vast, often drawing from a hybrid of classical and commercial colors. Steven’s broad sense of narrative and storytelling magnify the voices of his collaborators, whether they be lyricists, directors, choreographers, or artists of a different discipline. His original music and orchestrations have been heard at ArtsWest Playhouse, Book-It Repertory, Wooden O, and ReAct Theatre. His high-energy, electronic/rock-tinged orchestrations and additional score contributions for the world premiere of The Last World Octopus Wrestling Champion by playwright Justin Huertas earned Steven a Gregory Award co-nomination in 2019 for Best New Play.

In 2018, Steven completed the Intiman Emerging Artist Program as an emerging director, where he nurtured the development of four short autobiographical solo plays. Shortly thereafter, Steven began the development of his own autobiographical work, The Sonata Years, combining his talents for storytelling, classical piano, and sound design to craft an intensely personal reflection on the Asian-American experience. The Sonata Years was workshopped as part of The Other Season at Seattle Rep in 2019 under the direction of Sara Porkalob.

Most recently, he was the music director for Lizard Boy by Justin Huertas at the NAMT 32nd Annual Festival of New Musicals, co-composer and music producer for A Very Merry Kraken Tea Party, a virtual production at Artswest Playhouse, and the music director for the first ever virtual Public Works production, 12th Night at Seattle Rep. He is a composer in the Jane Lang Creation Lab at Seattle Opera, developing a new electroacoustic chamber opera about NASA’s Voyager program. Future projects include an engagement with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.