Mark Campbell is making his HGO mainstage debut. In 2017 for the company, he and Kimberly Reed co-wrote the libretto for world-premiere chamber opera Some Light Emerges, a one-act chamber opera about the Rothko Chapel composed by Laura Kaminsky. Campbell has created 41 opera librettos, lyrics for seven musicals, and the text for nine song cycles and five oratorios. His other important works include The Shining, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, As One, Sanctuary Road, A Nation of Others, Unruly Sun, Edward Tulane, A Thousand Acres, The Manchurian Candidate, and Later the Same Evening. In addition, Campbell created and funds the first award in the history of opera for librettists—the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize—and co-conceived the True Voice Award to support the training of transgender and non-binary singers. In 2024, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Opera Association, and in 2025, he became the first librettist to be inducted into OPERA America’s Hall of Fame.