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Austin P. McKenzie (born August 24, 1993), is an American stage and screen actor best known for his performance as Melchoir Gabor in Deaf West Theatre's regional. and Broadway   productions of Spring Awakening, and for his role as Howie in Dan Harris' comedy picture Speech & Debate

McKenzie, a native of Mesa, Arizona. , worked at Lions Camp Tatiyee, a summer camp for children and adults with mental and physical challenges, where he was first exposed and learnt American Sign Language. McKenzie enrolled at Columbia College Chicago where he studied American Sign Language and Childhood Education for two years.

Film
In October 20, 2014, Blue Seraph Productions announced McKenzie had been casted as Ben Bentley, in their adaptation of Jay Bell's acclaimed novel Something Like Summer. In an email to screenwriter Carlos Pedraza, Jay Bell mentioned that McKenzie has an air about him that seems perfectly suited to the role [of Ben Bentley]; he noted Austin's resemblance to his vision of Something Like Summers ' main character Ben, and that "he can sign!". Additionally,in a post on his website, Bell went on to note how much the actor has in common with Ben Bentley as they both went to Columbia College Chicago, have a lovely singing voice and has stunned audiences with his on stage performances

In June 11, 2015, Blue Seraph Productions announced that due to the success and stellar opening night reviews of the Deaf West Theatre's Spring Awakening revival's reprise, the show was extended targeting McKenzie a lot of industry attention and forcing him to drop out the project as he couldn't commit to Something Like Summer's shoot. The announcement came right after Broadway World indicated heightened discussion of the show's possible move to the New York stage

Directed by Dan Harris and written by Stephen Karam, Speech & Debate—McKenzie's first feature film—is a dark comedy about a trio of misfit teenagers : Liam James as Salomon; Sarah Steele as Diwata and Austin McKenzie as Howie. The film is scheduled to premiere in early 2016.

Theater
Charting the turbulent waters from innocence to experience with extraordinary finesse, McKenzie played the charismatic rebel Melchoir Gabor in Deaf West's production of Spring Awakening. The production ran from September 13, 2014 to November 9, 2014 in the Rosenthal Theater at Inner City Arts in downtown L.A.; and was performed in ASL and spoken English simultaneously as the cast consisted on both, hearing and deaf actors. McKenzie is not deaf, but learned sign language while working at a camp for people with special needs..

"Delivering a Charismatic indie-rock star turn", McKenzie played—for the second time in less than a year—Melchoir Gabor during the reprise of Deaf West's production of Spring Awakening which flawlessly moved to Wallis. The short season was originally planned to run from May 21, 2015 to June 6, 2015, but on June 3, it was announced that the season was extended for six additional performances through June 14, 2015.

Broadway
On June 30, 2015, it was announced that the rebellious students from the acclaimed Deaf West production of Spring Awakening, were transferring with the musical to Broadway. McKenzie made his Broadway debut in June 8, 2015, as Melchoir Gabor in Deaf West's Broadway revival production of Spring Awakening at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. With previews beginning on September 8, and opening night set for September 27, the revival is scheduled for a limited run of 18 weeks thru January 9, 2016. On July 21, it was announced that the Academy and Golden Globe Award winner, and Emmy nominee Marlee Matlin will be joining the original Deaf West cast.