Rinde Eckert is a writer, composer, librettist, musician, singer, actor, and director whose theater, musical theater, and dance theater pieces have been performed throughout the US and abroad. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition, a Marc Blitzstein Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an Obie Award for his musical And God Created Great Whales, and a Grammy Award for the album Lonely Motel. In 2009, he received the Herb Alpert Award, and in 2012 he was named a Doris Duke Performing Artist. Eckert was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2007 for Orpheus X. His play Horizon was given a Lucille Lortel Award and was nominated for two Drama Desk awards, including "Outstanding Play." In 2018, he served as a Center panelist in Performance.