Mark Houston

Mark Houston (December 5, 1946 – February 28, 1995) was an American composer, lyricist, playwright, actor, and newspaper columnist. Born in Texas and educated in Oklahoma, he began his career as an actor with the Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado. While he was predominantly active with theatre companies in Kansas City, Missouri, he worked nationally as a director, composer, writer, and actor. He was best known for the musical Six Women with Brain Death or Expiring Minds Want to Know for which he served as both composer and lyricist. He also composed the opera Hazel Kirke which was commissioned by Lake George Opera (now Saratoga Opera). In his later career he wrote the political and cultural commentary column “Is It Just Me? " for the Oklahoma Gazette. His father worked in the petroleum industry. He was one of five children born to Dan and Polly Houston. In 1969 Houston was conscripted in the Vietnam War draft. In a 1989 interview, Houston described his war experience as “the darkest time in my life.” Conjur Man in Howard Richardson and William Berney’s Dark of the Moon (1974), Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1974), Sir Andrew in Twelfth Night (1975; also co