Mr. LaPierre first became involved with musicals at the age of four, when he was Pig Pen in a production of A Charlie Brown Christmas Special.  He continued performing through all the rest of his schooling, graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Southern Maine with a B.A. in theatre.  While at the university, his musical performances included Carl Magnus in A Little Night Music, for which he received an Irene Ryan Award, and the world premier of Grannia, a musical about the Pirate Queen of Conaught that was brought to the American College Theatre Festival.  He wrote two musicals in college, Round in a Box, which received a workshop production, and What’s a Romantic to Do?, which received a full production in the Russell Square Theatre.  He did an internship with Maine State Music Theatre, a CORT Equity house, where he performed in all five of the musicals, including the East Coast Premier of Phantom with original director Chuck Abbott.  While performing as an actor for Seacoast Repertory Theatre, he received a commission to write a musical adaptation of Hansel and Groethel, his first children’s musical, which he wrote with composer Paul Johnson.  After appearing in The Nutcracker as the Father and Mouse King with Portland Ballet, he moved to New York City.  He auditioned for summer stock jobs, and was brought out to Portland, Oregon to do seven weeks of work.  People kept offering him jobs in the theatre, so he stayed.  He has worked in theatre production ever since, eventually giving up performing in favor of dedicating all his creative energies to writing. 

 Between jobs as the Production Stage Manager for Bodyvox, Lighting Designer for the Oregon Children’s Theatre and freelancing as a sound designer, he has continued his writing career.  He was hired by Argyle Productions to write three songs for his first, and only, television pilot The Other Sock.  Working with composer Peter Cavan, he wrote another children’s theatre piece, The Tinderbox, as a valentine to his fiancé.  Tinderbox was first produced by Stark Raving Theatre, where it broke box office records for their children’s series.  In the 2001-2002 season, Tinderbox had a very successful tour of the southeast coast, which was produced by Theatre West Virginia.  After viewing The Tinderbox, the Artistic Director for Tears of Joy Theatre commissioned him to write a new musical version of Cinderella for two women to perform with puppets.  Cinderella opened in the 2000-2001 season, toured until June 2003 and was revived in 2006.

 Mark attended the Lehman Engel Music Theatre Workshop by commuting each month to Los Angeles.  Here he met Chris Guardino, who composed the music for Cinderella.  At the end of the Lehman Engel Workshop process, he wrote lyrics for Out of Hand with fellow workshop members Dan David (composer) and Archie Washington (librettist), which the Workshop produced with a full Equity company.  In 1999, Mark and Diane Englert formed their own production company, SPECTRE Productions, and co-produced A Grimm Late Night - the first ever late night series at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts.  He contributed two of the three pieces that comprise A Grimm Late Night with composers Paul Johnson and Jodi Eichelberger. 

 Mr. LaPierre attended the Eugene O’Neill Center where a workshop performance of a portion of his new musical Heart Failure met with great success.  While there, he started the score for a new musical with librettist Chris McLaughlin, which combines Pinocchio and Frankenstein.  Pinokenstein had a successful run at the University of Connecticut in 2002.  Also in 2002, he was commissioned to write a score for a new production of Aristophane’s The Birds, which opened that September with Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon.  Mark received a 2004 Professional Development Grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council to fund a new recording and distribution project.  Recently, he provided music for Shakespeare in the Park’s production of As You Like It and sound/music for Oregon Children’s Theatre’s The Giver, Miracle Theatre’s Clean, and Lakewood Theatre’s Arcadia.  In 2007, Mark received a workshop production of his musical Heart Failure as the new Composer-in-Residence for Stumptown Stages, a musical theatre company in Portland, Oregon.  Mark is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild.

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