Chris Wink

Chris Wink (born 1961 in New York City, New York) is an American performer and director of theatre, and one of the founding members of the Blue Man Group, as well as co-founder of Blue School. He has won numerous awards as a writer and performer, including a Grammy nomination, and is a frequent guest speaker on the topic of creativity.

Early life

Wink was influenced early in his education when he attended an experimental elementary school located in the Teachers College at Columbia University. The school focused on creative writing and scientific exploration, rather than a rigid adherence to a standard curriculum. This helped shape what would become Wink’s lifelong commitment to creativity, following his passion for artistic exploration. After attending high school at the Fieldston School, Wink majored in American Studies at Wesleyan University with a concentration in art history and pop culture. It was at Wesleyan that Wink started drumming. After graduation, Wink played drums by night with post-punk bands. A full-time job as a cater-waiter at Glorious Foods followed, where he worked with longtime friend Phil Stanton.

Funeral for the eighties

Together with Wink's childhood friend Matt Goldman, Stanton and Wink began performing as Blue Men in small downtown venues such as LaMaMa E.T.C. and P.S. 122.^{[1] [2]} In 1988, Wink and his friends planned the very first Blue Man Group event, "Funeral for the 80’s," a procession through Central Park. There they set fire to what they considered the worst aspects of the decade, including a Rambo doll and a piece of the Berlin Wall.^[3] The event captured the interest of MTV, thrusting the character into the public consciousness.

Blue Man Group

In 1991, "Blue Man Group: Tubes" opened at the Astor Place Theater with Wink, Stanton, and Goldman.^[4] They expected the early shows would appeal only to the downtown scene, but soon they were adding performances and playing to sold out crowds. Wink performed in over 1,200 shows without an understudy before they started to expand, training other performers in the qualities, humanity, and talents of the blue man. It was at this point that Wink and his co-founders started to consider other venues for their popular character.

The company’s careful expansion, starting in 1995 in Boston at the Charles Playhouse and 1997 in Chicago’s Briar Street Theatre, now extends internationally, with additional productions in Las Vegas, Orlando, and Berlin, as well as National and International Tours. Wink and Stanton, who now run Blue Man Productions as Co-Founders (Goldman left the company to lead the Blue School in 2010), have guided the company to become a wildly popular phenomenon. The Blue Man Group theatrical show is constantly evolving and changing as Wink and Stanton continually develop new content and new music with their team of creatives.

In addition to the numerous theatrical successes, Blue Man Group has been featured on numerous television programs such as Arrested Development, The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, The Simpsons, I Can Do That, Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris, Family Guy, America’s Got Talent, Ellen, and a record nineteen appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The Blue School

In 2009, Wink, Goldman, and Stanton founded Blue School, a progressive educational model based on the same principles of learning and wonder that the trio had brought to the theatrical productions. The mission of the school, "to develop and share an inquiry-based approach to education that fosters creativity, promotes academic excellence, nurtures human relationships and inspires a growing passion for learning," proved popular with New York City parents and the Blue School has since expanded to the eighth grade.

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