2009 Tony Award Nominees: 'Best Book Of A Musical'

Lee Hall (Billy Elliot)
Lee Hall was born and bred in Newcastle Upon Tyne and educated at Cambridge University. Lee was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay of Billy Elliot the movie. Among his theatre work are The Pitmen Painters (Live Theatre/Royal National Theatre, 2008), Cooking With Elvis (nominated for an Olivier Award) and the multi-award-winning Spoonface Steinberg. He has also adapted many plays including The Good Hope (Royal National Theatre), A Servant to Two Masters (RSC/Young Vic), Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti (Almeida), Leonce and Lena (Gate Theatre), Mother Courage (Shared Experience), The Barber of Seville (Old Vic Bristol). He has worked extensively for the BBC in both radio and television, most recently with a TV adaptation of "The Wind in the Willows." His version of I Pagliacci opened in September 2008 at the English National Opera. He has been writer in residence at the Live Theatre, Newcastle Upon Tyne and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is currently working with Roger Waters on a theatrical version of Pink Floyd's The Wall.

David Lindsay-Abaire (Shrek The Musical)
David Lindsay-Abaire was most recently awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Rabbit Hole, which premiered on Broadway last season at MTC's Biltmore Theatre. The play also received five Tony Award nominations, including Best Play, and the Spirit of America Award. His other plays include Fuddy Meers, Kimberly Akimbo, Wonder of the World and A Devil Inside, among others. In addition to his work in theater, David wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Newline feature Inkheart, and is currently at work on screen adaptations of his plays Rabbit Hole for 20th Century Fox, starring Nicole Kidman, and Kimberly Akimbo for DreamWorks. David is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Juilliard School, as well as a proud member of New Dramatists, the Dramatists Guild and the WGA.

Brian Yorkey - (next to normal)
Theatre credits include Making Tracks, which has played Off-Broadway and regionally; the musical adaptation of Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet; and the new country musical Play It By Heart. Film and TV include the features Time After Time, in development at Universal with Marc Platt, and Sluts for Lionsgate and Furst Films; he is currently writing Love Undercover for Pandemonium Films and Overture, and Chase for Anonymous Content and Rosenzweig Films; and he co-created "Bears," a new series for the Logo network. He has directed Off-Broadway and regionally, and for seven years was associate artistic director at Village Theatre in Washington state, one of the nation's leading producers of new musicals. He's a graduate of Columbia University, where he was artistic director of the Varsity Show, an alum of the BMI/Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and the WGA.