Thomas Kail

Hometown: Alexandria, Virginia

Currently: Making his Broadway debut as a director—and Tony nominee—of the hot hip-hop and salsa-infused musical In the Heights.

In the Beginning: "I grew up in the kind of neighborhood where you rode your bike to the park and the local creek," says Kail. "I was kicking a soccer ball from age four to 18." He also played baseball, basketball and tennis but didn't care about "theater stuff" until a high school teacher convinced him to try an acting class—the only one he ever took—which showed him that "there were other things [besides sports] I had left to discover." An American history major at Wesleyan University, Kail rediscovered his love of theater junior year when he directed his first play. "Wesleyan has an incredible student-run theater department, and you can say, 'I want to do this play I wrote,' and they'll say, 'Here's $45 and three lights; you're in the gymnasium May 1st through 4th.' You have to learn how to produce and how to direct and how to cast." After graduation, Kail found work as an assistant stage manager at New Jersey's American Stage Company, lived in a basement apartment with no windows, made $100 a week and, he reminisces, "I could not have been happier."

To the Heights of Broadway: The year after Kail graduated, a Wesleyan sophomore named Lin-Manuel Miranda staged an early version of In the Heights on campus, and several of the budding director's friends happened to catch it. "They sent me this script and demo CD that Lin had recorded," says Kail, "and I was immediately taken by the material. It had the ability to capture the music of today. If you go back in history, popular music and theater music were the same thing. And the fact that it used hip-hop to develop story and character was something I found very exciting." Kail's own favorite musicians include rappers like Tupac, B.I.G., A Tribe Called Quest and The Roots. Fast forward to June 2002, when Miranda and Kail "sat in the basement of the Drama Book Shop on 40th Street and started a conversation that has continued for the last six years of our lives"—culminating in the acclaimed Broadway production of In the Heights.

Brotherly Love: While developing In the Heights at tiny venues around town, Kail and Miranda decided to branch out with an improvisational comedy/hip-hip show that included several guys from the musical. "Lin and I had been poring over script and script and script for so long that we were both immediately attracted to [improv] because it was a non-scripted show," explains Kail, who directed the group, Freestyle Love Supreme. An immediate hit with audiences for its clever marriage of rapping and skit comedy, the group was booked from Australia to Scotland to Canada, creating "a deeper level of trust between all of us," notes Kail. Also helpful was seeing first-hand "the pervasiveness of hip-hop, and the understanding of this way of storytelling, around the globe."

You've Got the Wrong Guy! Almost every time Kail walks out of the stage door at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, he's greeted by eager, wide-eyed fans who want to tell him just how hilarious he is. "Everybody thinks I'm Robin De Jesus," Kail says of the young actor he cast as Sonny. The director's attempts to set the record straight—"I'm not really who you think I am"—are usually ignored and countered with, "But you're so funny in the show!" By now Kail has accepted this case of mistaken identity and occasionally signs autographs as De Jesus, cheerily admonishing the kids he meets to "stay in school."

Team Tony: In the Heights has received 13 Tony nominations—more than any other show—including nods for acting, choreography, score, book, lighting, sets, costumes, sound design, orchestrations and directing. "We're incredibly proud that so many factors of the show have been recognized,"says Kail, the only nominee in his category who did not direct a revival. "I came from playing sports; I was used to being part of a team. And I realize that as a director, people are going to look for you to set the tone. I've been very fortunate to find the best people who also happen to be incredibly talented. To have my first effort [on Broadway] be embraced like this is beyond my comprehension."