Duncan Sheik, the musical mastermind behind the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Spring Awakening, will be speaking in Iowa City at the University of Iowa Theatre Building from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15. Sheik’s visit coincides with the UI Theatres Mainstage production of Spring Awakening, which runs Nov 9-17.

The event is free and open to the public, and will be moderated by Nathan Halvorson, director of UI’s production of Spring Awakening, and Jenni Page-White, dramaturg for the production.

Sheik and his band, who are just releasing a new album called Covers 80’s Remixed, will also be performing through Legion Arts at CSPS Hall in Cedar Rapids 7 p.m. Nov. 15. Tickets for that event are available through Legion Arts at 319-364-1580 or legionarts.org/calendar-list.

Launching his musical career in 1996 with his self-titled debut, Sheik quickly earned a Grammy nomination for Best Male Vocal for his hit “Barely Breathing,” which spent 55 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. He subsequently garnered critical accolades for his unique brand of folk-pop music with 2006’s White Limousine and his 2-CD collection of songs titled Brighter/Later: A Duncan Sheik Anthology.

Sheik then composed the original score and collaborated with lyricist Steven Sater for 2007’s Spring Awakening, which went on to win eight Tonys. Sheik alone earned awards for Best Orchestration and Best Original Score as well as a Grammy award for Best Musical Show Album. He followed with musical theater production Whisper House, which was directed by Peter Askin (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) and written by Kyle Jarrow. Sheik is currently working on stage productions of Brett Easton Ellis’ American Psycho and Hans Christian Andersen’s The Nightingale.

Sheik’s new album was recorded on his Sneaky Records/MRI label, and will be officially released Nov. 6. For this new offering, Sheik created a remixed edition of his 2011 album Covers 80’s in which he reinterpreted the standalone pop songs from his teen years along with the synth-pop era’s classic and obscure songs. The album includes tracks by Depeche Mode, Thompson Twins, New Order, the Cure, Love and Rockets, the Smiths, Tears for Fears, and more. For Covers 80’s Remixed, Sheik enlisted Samantha Ronson, El-P, Gabriel & Dresden, Chico Mann, and Terry Urban, among others, to decode these songs again. Sheik will begin a 30 date headline tour across the U.S. in November as part of this first annual “Sunset Sessions Tour.”

The UI Theatres Mainstage production of Spring Awakening features 19 songs with music by Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sater. The musical is based on the controversial and once-banned German play of the same name by Frank Wedekind. With its soaring melodies and urgent lyrics, Spring Awakening explores the secret yearnings, anxieties, disappointments, and rage of teenagers as their bodies and minds become consumed with their burgeoning sexuality. The show is an explosive and thrilling event that perfectly captures the confusing, mortifying, and electrifying experience of becoming an adult.

Spring Awakening is intended for mature audiences and contains nudity, adult language, adult themes, and simulated violence. For questions, contact the Department of Theatre Arts at 319-335-2700. Tickets are available at the Hancher Box Office at 800-426-2437 or 319-335-1160, or online at www.hancher.uiowa.edu/tickets.

View a related story, University Theatres Mainstage presents 'Spring Awakening'.