INDIVIDUAL GRANT RECIPIENTS: BIOGRAPHIES

The Foundation staff likes to keep track of former recipients and their work. The following individuals have received grants since our inception. If you would like to know more about their work, or how to contact them, please call the Foundation office for more information.

DEBRA BARSHA (Composer): Deb was the composer and co-lyricist of the score to RADIANT BABY (the life of graffiti artist Keith Haring), which was produced at the Public Theatre in 2003, directed by George C. Wolfe.  RADIANT BABY received 3 Lucille Lortel nominations including Outstanding Musical.   Composer credits include: BLACKOUT (Amas), SOPHIE (Jewish Repertory Theater), NBC’s Policewoman Centerfold soundtrack, and her one-woman show GO TO YOUR WOMB.  Barsha has won an ASCAP Popular Songwriter’s Award each year from 1995-2002 and has had her songs recorded by George Clinton, Jackie Mason and Marty Balin among others.  Her own CDs, Women in Windows    and Barsha Raw! (Live at Ars Nova) were also recently released.  Her children’s musicals, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS and THE EMPEROR’S NEW CONDO have been performed in schools throughout the country.  Her music was heard in the 2005 New York Theatre Workshop’s Songs From an Unmade Bed in collaboration with fellow JLPAF Award lyricist Mark Campbell.   She is also working on a rock opera with Mark. In the fall of 2004, Adelphi University Music Theatre Department produced an evening of Debra’s songs called I WAS HERE, which she directed.  Her latest performance was an evening of her own music in a benefit for the LGBT Center in NY in a series called Queer Songbook.

NEIL BARTRAM (Composer & Lyricist): Having graduated with honors as a composition major from Humber College in Toronto, Neil has been a Dora Award winning actor (original Canadian cast of FOREVER PLAID), a music director, a composer and lyricist, and is currently a member of the advanced class of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. He served as music director for the Toronto premiere of the new YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, associate music director for LARRY’S PARTY, directed by Robin Phillips and starring Brent Carver, music associate on the Madison Repertory Theatre production of HEARTLAND and is currently on the music staff of the Broadway Production of Disney’s THE LION KING. In addition he spent four seasons as co-director of the Confederation Centre Young Company, music directing his own composition SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD. In development are a number of projects including THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE, ALOHA, THE STORY OF MY LIFE and NOT WANTED ON THE VOYAGE. THE STORY OF MY LIFE received a workshop at Toronto’s acclaimed Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and NOT WANTED ON THE VOYAGE has been optioned by CanStage, Toronto's largest non-profit theatre, and is in development under the direction of Susan H. Schulman. Neil has studied under Adam Guettel through Musical Theatre Works and is a recipient of a Dramatists Guild Jonathan Larson Fellowship.

JIM BAUER (Composer & Lyricist): began studying piano at an early age on the barren plains of Texas with Katherine Freiberger. He went on to study piano with Emilio del Rosario in Chicago, and as a student at Dartmouth College continued his piano studies with Gabriel Chodos, while beginning his music theory and composition studies. In a stroke of good fortune and a fit of clarity, he left Dartmouth and transferred in his third year to the fertile oasis of Haverford College, where he received a true liberal arts education, studied piano with Temple Painter, and was generously mentored by the late composers John Davison and Harold Boatrite, who between them had enough artistry and dignity to carry the world forward for generations to come. Mr. Bauer spends some of his many waking hours composing and producing music scores for film and television (PBS, Nova, VH 1, Behind the Music, A & E Biography, Discovery Channel, History Channel), many hours in the last several years developing THE BLUE FLOWER in collaboration with his wife Ruth -- their first work for theatre -- some number of hours onstage with The Weimarband as singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist, and the remaining hours underground writing songs, spreading his maps and dreaming of reducing his debts. He is currently writing a new narrative song cycle, DAGMAR, about a man unable to get out of bed in the morning.

RUTH BAUER (Visual artist): comes from a long line of steely-eyed, tough-talking Texas prairie women, but grew up in the suburban sprawl of Stamford, Connecticut where she spent half her time reading books, another half making pictures, and a third half trying to escape. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, her oil paintings, watercolors, collages and monotypes have been shown in both group and solo exhibitions in museums and galleries across the United States. Museum exhibitions include The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Hudson River Museum, The Tucson Museum of Art, The DeCordova Museum, The Brockton Museum, and the Rose Art Museum. Gallery exhibitions include The Clark Gallery/Boston, the Kathryn Markel Gallery/NYC, the Maxwell Davidson Gallery/NYC, The Drawing Center/NYC and the Thomas Segal Gallery/Boston. As an illustrator, she has created book jacket covers for Houghton-Mifflin, Viking, Harvard University Press and Orchard Books. She is currently represented by The Clark Gallery (Boston) and Kathryn Markel Fine Arts (NYC). Ruth believes as strongly in nurturing young artists as in making art, and is proud of her work as a faculty member and Head of the Art Department at Shore Country Day School in Beverly, Massachusetts.

CHAD BEGUELIN (Lyricist & Bookwriter): Chad is a recipient of the Edward Kleban Award for Outstanding Lyric Writing, the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, and the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theater Award. Chad wrote the book and lyrics for THE RHYTHM CLUB, which was produced at the Signature Theater and was nominated for seven Helen Hayes Awards. He also wrote the book and lyrics for the musical WICKED CITY, which was produced at the American Stage Company and wrote the book for Disney's stage version of ALADDIN. Chad is currently writing a musical version of THE WEDDING SINGER for producer Margo Lion and New Line Entertainment, as well as GET SHORTY for Clear Channel and MGM. He completed a yearlong screenwriting deal with Walt Disney Pictures and has a project in development at Paramount Studios.

NELL BENJAMIN: In addition to the 2003 Jonathan Larson Foundation grant, Nell Benjamin is the proud recipient of the 2003 Kleban Foundation Award for lyrics. Nell wrote lyrics for the musical SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL (music by Laurence O’Keefe), which began as a children's musical for Theatreworks/USA, ran Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theater, and was developed into a full-length musical for general audiences at the 2003 Eugene O’Neill Music Theater Conference. The full-length version of SARAH was selected for the National Alliance for Musical Theater’s 2003 conference. Meanwhile the children’s version of SARAH continues to tour the country; a CD of the Lortel production is available from ShowBiz records. Nell also wrote lyrics for THE MICE, one of three short musicals produced as 3HREE by Harold Prince at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia, where it won the Barrymore Award for outstanding overall musical. 3HREE was later produced at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, where it was nominated for an Ovation Award. Nell continues her happy collaboration with award-winning composer Laurence O’Keefe. They are again working with Theatreworks/USA, writing book, music and lyrics for CAM JANSEN AND THE CURSE OF THE EMERALD ELEPHANT, based on the popular series of children's books., They are also working on their new musical about love, jealousy and violence at a Renaissance Faire, tentatively titled HUZZAH! and on several original movie musicals. Nell is writing the libretto to an original opera with composer Michael Roth, and has completed her first play.

BETH BLATT and JENNY GIERING (Lyricist & Composer): Beth and Jenny’s show THE MISTRESS CYCLE was chosen as the inaugural presentation by the new musical-producing organization, AWOL, and received an all-star reading in New York in the fall of 2004. In December 2004, their work entitled CARABOO (with book by Marsha Norman) had a reading at TheatreWorks Palo Alto. The team's musical version of ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS finished a successful two-year tour for TheatreWorks/USA. Beth received the Georgia Bogardus Holof Lyricist Award from the O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference (2003). Jenny completed two solo record projects; she was the 2003 Clifton Artist in Residence at Harvard last spring, and had of reading of her THE HOTEL CARTER at Second Stage Theatre. Together they have received the Dramatists Guild fellowship (2002), 2econd Stage Theatre Klinsky (2001), and of course, a Larson grant (2000).

JOHN BUCCHINO (Composer & Lyricist): In 2004, John released a solo piano CD called On Richard Rodgers' Piano (chosen by Show Business Weekly as the best instrumental cabaret CD of the year) on which he performs some of Rodgers' best-loved songs on the composer's own Steinway. John and director Daisy Prince created a revue of his songs called It's Only Life, which was produced as part of the Summer Play Festival here in New York City. He is currently at work writing the songs for a new musical called A CATERED AFFAIR with a book by Harvey Fierstein.

SCOTT BURKELL and PAUL LOESEL (Composer & Lyricist): Scott and Paul’s musical, SIX OF ONE, received a workshop in May 2005 at CAP21. In February 2005, their songs were performed for the American Songbook Series at Lincoln Center, and the New Voices Collective at Symphony Space. They have also optioned a novel that they are busy musicalizing. Currently, Paul is a keyboardist at WICKED.

MARK CAMPBELL (Lyricist): wrote the libretto for VOLPONE, a full-length comic opera with music by John Musto that premiered at Wolf Trap in March 2004. Other productions include: THE PARADISE PROJECT with composer Michael Torke (The Kitchen); SPLENDORA (Bay Street Theatre Festival and American Place Theatre, directed by Jack Hofsiss); CHANG & ENG (Spirit of Broadway Theatre), AKIN (presented by Music-Theatre Group at LaMama, music by Richard Peaslee); LIGHT SHALL LIFT THEM (BAM’s Next Wave Festival); NOTHING FOREVER (Workshop Production, New York Theatre Workshop); THE SWEET REVENGE OF LOUISA MAY (Olney Theatre), RING AROUND THE ROSIE for the Parsons Dance Company (music by Richard Peaslee, produced by Music-Theatre Group); AWAKENING (P.S. 122); and BROKEN MORNING (HERE). Mark was honored with the first Kleban Foundation Award for Lyricists. Other awards include: two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Rockefeller Foundation Award, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship. Mark is a three-time MacDowell Fellow, a member of the Dramatists Guild, a New York Theatre Workshop “Usual Suspect” and a two-time alumnus of the Sundance Theatre Lab. Mark most recently worked on a solo theatre work for performer Michael Winther with 18 composers entitled SONGS FROM AN UNMADE BED, which premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in May 2005. He is also shopping around his first screenplay with co-writer Ivy Meeropol, an adaptation of Dawn Powell’s novel, THE HAPPY ISLAND.

KIRSTEN CHILDS (Composer & Lyricist): Kirsten is in the midst of finishing her musical MIRACLE BROTHERS, which will be produced next season at the Vineyard Theatre. She is also working on musicals with Walter Mosley, and Charles Randolph-Wright.

NATHAN CHRISTENSEN (Lyricist & Bookwriter): received his BA in theatre studies from Brigham Young University in 2002. He earned his MFA from New York University’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program in 2004, where he wrote BROADCAST with Scott Murphy. His previous work includes HERE IN THE HEARTLAND (a Brechtian musical about the realities of small town life in America), SMALL COURAGE (an impressionistic portrait of Sir James Barrie, author of Peter Pan), THE BATTLE CREEK CURE (a dark comedy dealing with the bizarre health fads at the turn of the last century), and CAMBICES, KING OF PERSIA (a verse adaptation of an Elizabethan play, integrating puppetry and live actors). He was the recipient of the Dramatists Guild's 2004 Jonathan Larson Musical Theatre Fellowship, and the 2005 Daryl Roth Award.

MICHAEL L. COOPER (Lyricist & Bookwriter): has been writing and directing musicals since he was 13 years old. He has worked both on and off-Broadway (VISITING MR. GREEN, assisting director Lonny Price; A CLASS ACT Tokyo Pre-Production, assisting librettist Linda Kline) and has also interned at Musical Theatre Works. New York productions include: READY OR NOT (Producer, Music and Lyrics, with Phoebe Geer) and Thirteenth Night Theatre Company’s production of LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST (Sound Design and Original Music). A Native of Nogales, Arizona, Michael received his BA from Williams College, where he was awarded the Ruth Sanford Prize (2001) and the Class of 1945 World Fellowship. He also spent half a year in London, studying drama at Goldsmiths University of London. Michael received his Masters degree from New York University’s Tisch Musical Theatre Writing Program, where he wrote the book and lyrics for two full-length musicals. His collaboration with Hyeyoung Kim, SUNFISH, was recently named a finalist in the Alliance Theatre’s Graduate Playwriting Competition.

SAM DAVIS (Composer): Sam is a founding member of the New Voices Collective at Symphony Space, and his music is featured regularly on their concerts. His songs were heard in last year's CHEF'S THEATER at the Supper Club, and will also be performed on Rebecca Luker's upcoming concert at Lincoln Center's American Songbook series. Sam is currently at work on projects with collaborators Georgia Stitt and Mark Waldrop, and continues to work frequently as a musical director, arranger, and pianist.

MINDI DICKSTEIN (Lyricist): is currently writing book and lyrics for a new original musical commissioned by Playwrights Horizons in New York. She wrote the lyrics for LITTLE WOMEN -- THE MUSICAL, which played Broadway's Virginia Theater in 2004-2005 and which begins a 49-week national tour of the United States in August 2005 starring Maureen McGovern.  Her songs were included in Lincoln Center's American Songbook series as part of  "Hear and Now: Contemporary Lyricists."  Other collaborative work includes: NOTES ACROSS A SMALL POND, produced by the Bridewell Theater, London; BEASTS AND SAINTS, performed at the Boston Music Theater Project, ASCAP Workshop, and Musical Theater Works; and several musicals for Theatreworks/USA, including THE MYSTERY OF KING TUT, an original musical which completed a three-year national tour in 2004.  Her work has been performed at New York Theatre Workshop, The Women's Project, Second Stage, Westbeth Theater Center, and the Cucaracha Theater.  She has received numerous awards in addition to the Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, including, the Second Stage Theatre Constance Klinsky Award for Excellence in Music Theater, New York Foundation for the Arts and Massachusetts Artists Foundation playwriting fellowships, the Jane Chambers Award, and the ASCAP Bernice Cohen Award.  She received her MFA from New York University's Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program, where she was an Oscar Hammerstein Fellow.

JOHN DIDRICHSEN (Composer & Lyricist): I'm living happily up here in Suffern with my wife and three children. I teach fifth grade in the Bronx, which is everything that I anticipated and more: long days, rewarding work, tough love. I'm currently writing the sequel to OVERPASS, starting from the birth of the Child and following the new family through Her first day on earth.

PETER FOLEY (Composer & Lyricist): Peter is about to begin his third season as composer for the Emmy-nominated PBS series, Art 21: Art In The 21st Century. Meanwhile, he is collaborating (separately) on stage works with writer-actors Todd Cerveris and Ellen McLaughlin, and his songs continue to pop up in concerts at Symphony Space and in the Lincoln Center American Songbook series. Baby Grace is 18 months old!

ANDREW GERLE (Composer): Andrew is the composer and co-librettist for MEET JOHN DOE (with Eddie Sugarman), a participant in the first New York Musical Theater Festival, last spring's New York ASCAP Workshop, and last fall's NAMT festival. Andrew is a three-time recipient of the Richard Rodgers Award for THE TUTOR (book and lyrics by Maryrose Wood), produced last fall by the Prospect Theater Company. With Ms. Wood, he has also written THE GIFT, and Love, Mom, a musical short film starring Tonya Pinkins and directed by Ted Sperling that was a featured selection in half a dozen U.S. and international film festivals last year. His music has been performed at the Public Theatre, the Lincoln Center Songbook Series, Symphony Space, and on Public Radio International. His orchestrations have been performed by the Boston Pops and over a dozen other orchestras across the country. Visit www.andrewgerle.com.

PAUL SCOTT GOODMAN (Composer & Lyricist): Paul is currently writing BURN RATE, a musical based on Michael Wolff's novel about the 90's Internet boom, as well as JOE and ISABEL, a rock and roll love story. HIM AND HER and ROOMS are complete. ROOMS was presented as part of the 2005 NYMF Festival in New York City. BRIGHT LIGHTS/BIG CITY was performed at the Guggenheim and plans are underway for a comeback.

RICKY IAN GORDON (Composer): The publication through Rodgers and Hammerstein/ Williamson Music of the full vocal score of MY LIFE WITH ALBERTINE; a new publishing deal with Carl Fischer Music Publishing (3 New Books...A Songbook, a book of piano pieces, and "Orpheus and Eurydice" a song cycle for Clarinet, Soprano and Piano); a new dance piece with Sean Curran Dance Company, "Art/Song/Dance" at The Joyce Theater in June; "Orpheus and Eurydice" will premiere at Lincoln Center as part of new Visions, Great Performances and The American Songbook; "The Grapes Of Wrath", an opera, with libretto by Michael Korie premieres in February 2007 at Minnesota Opera and then goes to Utah Opera; June 3rd, 2005, the release of "Dream True" on PS Classics.

MATT GOULD (Composer/Lyricist): Matt resides in New York but is wont to take up artistic residency in LA and West Africa. He received his BFA from Boston University and served two years in the Peace Corps, where he founded an all-female theatre troupe in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Matt has composed, written and collaborated on several original musical plays including his one-man show, Mamadou, the BU cult classic Desire: The Epic Fornication, and the Mauritanian national tour of Romeo and Juliet in Pulaar. When not writing for the stage, Matt can be found acting, singing, or twisting his body into unseemly yoga postures. (Matt took second place in the NYC Bikram Yoga competition.) For more info and to hear his stuff, check out www.mattgouldinc.com.

AMANDA GREEN (Lyricist): is an award-winning songwriter and performer. She was tapped by Arthur Laurents to write additional lyrics for a revival of HALLELUJAH BABY! (score by Jule Styne, Betty Comden and her father Adolph Green). It opened last October at The George Street Playhouse, and also played at the Arena Stage in Washington. Working with composer Tom Kitt, she has written special material for several Broadway stars, including Kristin Chenoweth and Christine Ebersole for the upcoming film Showstopper. She wrote the lyrics for and appeared in FOR THE LOVE OF TIFFANY: A Wifetime Original Musical (composer Curtis Moore; 2003 Fringe Festival). Also with Mr. Moore, she wrote UP THE WEEK WITHOUT A PADDLE (L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award Nomination (Best Score), Backstage West’s Garland Award (Best Score), and ONCE UPON A PRIMETIME. The Second Stage Theater has produced two concerts of her work, PUT A LITTLE LOVE IN YOUR MOUTH! and GREENPIECE, co-starring Amanda and a host of Broadway performers. She has won 2 MAC Awards, a Bistro Award and the Abe Olman Award. She originated the role of Gary Coleman in early workshops of AVENUE Q. She and many others have performed her songs in concerts at Carnegie Hall, Manhattan Theater Club, Joe’s Pub, Birdland, etc., and on Broadway in NOTHING LIKE A DAME. Her CD Put A Little Love In Your Mouth! is available at www. greenpiecemusic.com. She is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Workshop.

CYNTHIA HOPKINS (Composer & Lyricist): is a creator and performer of her own unique form of musical theater. She formed the band Gloria Deluxe in 1999, and has since produced five full-length albums (including the newly released Accidental Nostalgia) and performed numerous concerts in New York City and elsewhere. The band is featured in her operetta ACCIDENTAL NOSTALGIA, which has been performed at the Whitney at Altria, MASS MoCA, St. Ann's Warehouse, On the Boards, and the Walker Art Center. She is currently at work on a new performance/music piece called MUST DON'T WHIP UM. In addition to her own work, Ms. Hopkins has composed and performed for many theatre and film projects, including Big Dance Theater's Antigone, Shunkin, and Another Telepathic Thing (2001 Bessie Award for composition, 2000 Obie Award for performance) and Ridge Theater's production of Mac Wellman's Jennie Richee (2001 Obie Award as part of the collaborative team). She recently completed a composition called 'Song Before Love Songs (a post-apocalyptic requiem for the human race)', which was commissioned by Bang on a Can's 'People's Commissioning Fund' and premiered at a concert on February 3rd, 2005.

LANCE HORNE (Composer/Lyricist): Musicals, scores for plays, and classical works seen at NYTW, Joe's Pub, Lincoln Center, Mark Taper Forum, NAMT, NYMF, Lucille Lortel, HERE, American Opera Projects, Juilliard, NYU, Bard, Interlochen.  Opening numbers for Actors Fund, BC/EFA Gypsy of the Year '04 & '05.  Vocal arrangements for LITTLE WOMEN, Broadway & National Tour.  BM, MM the Juilliard School.  Faculty: Juilliard, NYU and EAMA, Paris.  Residencies:  O'Neill Center NMTF, Franklin Furnace, HERE. Recordings: SONGS FROM AN UNMADE BED (Ghostlight), "One Life, Many Voices" (One Life to Live), LITTLE WOMEN (Ghostlight), "A Season's Promise" (New World Records.  His band, Lance Horne & The One Night Stands, plays internationally. www.lancehorne.com

JOE ICONIS (Composer/Lyricist): Joe recently received his MFA from the NYU/Tisch Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program and his BM from NYU’s Music Composition Department.  His lyrics have been published in The Dramatist magazine and his songs have been heard in numerous venues around the city.  His garage-band rock musical, THE BLACK SUITS, (for which he wrote music, lyrics, and co-wrote the book with Robert Maddock) is currently being developed at MCC.  Joe’s other projects include the one-armed-man geek-pop extravaganza PLASTIC! The Musical (music by Joe and Reza Jacobs, book and lyrics by Robert Maddock) and NELSON ROCKS (with Reza Jacobs), the ultimate experience in profane 20-minute musicals about asking Jenny Veccharelli to the prom.  Joe proudly rips off from The Ramones, Dolly Parton, Weezer, The Rolling Stones and many of his other idols.

PETER JONES (Composer & Lyricist): Peter is currently collaborating with Michael Wolk of Gorgeous Entertainment on an original musical. Meanwhile, he is returning to college to complete his education in Philosophy and Literature to teach at the college level.

JULIA JORDAN (Bookwriter): Julia has finished two new plays DARK YELLOW and ASTRONOMICAL QUITCLAIM DEEDS and is missing musicals.

KAIT KERRIGAN and BRIAN LOWDERMILK (Composer/Lyricist): Kait and Brian are writing TheaterworksUSA's adaptation of HENRY & MUDGE, which will premiere Off-Broadway next season at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Other shows include THE UNAUTHORIZED AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SAMANTHA BROWN (2005 NAMT Songwriters Showcase), and THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS (2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival). They are 2004-2005 Dramatists Guild Fellows. Kait graduated from Barnard College with a degree in English Literature. Her plays include TRANSIT AND IMAGINARY LOVE. Brian studied at Harvard University and NYU, and is the recipient of a Richard Rodgers Award and an Alan Menken Award.  www.kerrigan-lowdermilk.com

HYEYOUNG KIM (Composer): is originally from Seoul, Korea. She received her MFA from New York University’s Tisch Musical Theatre Writing Program, and holds degrees in music composition from Sun-wha Arts High School and E-wha Woman's University. In Korea, Hyeyoung composed, arranged, performed in, and served as musical director for a variety of a cappella groups and choirs including VOB (Voice of Bridge: R&B women a cappella group) and participated in “The Korean Independent Arts Festival” in 1999. She composed the opening song for PIOUS, created original music and lyrics for Beth Henley’s CRIMES OF THE HEART, and composed five songs and directed the choir for the play, THE DEATH OF REVOLUTIONARY MARA, which was performed by the rehabilitation hospital under the direction of Sade, written by Peter Vice in 1998. While studying musical theatre composition and film scoring in New York City, Hyeyoung composed music for the 10-minute musical, CAT & DOG, the 20-minute musical DRUM and created the score for a modern dance piece (in collaboration with the NYU Dance Department). SUNFISH, Hyeyoung’s first full-length musical, written as her 2004 graduate thesis project, was recently named a finalist in the Alliance Theatre’s Graduate Playwriting Competition.

DAVID KIRSHENBAUM (Composer & Lyricist): David received a grant from the National Alliance for Musical Theatre establishing him as artist-in-residence at Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, CT for the 2004-2005 season. His musical PARTY COME HERE had developmental workshops this year at TheatreWorks in California and the Roundabout Theatre Company in NY. He is currently at work on several new projects, including a musical based on Jack Heifner's long-running off-Broadway play VANITIES, and an original song cycle he is writing with Georgia Stitt.

MICHAEL KORIE (Composer): Michael has written lyrics to Scott Frankel’s music for GREY GARDENS, book by playwright Doug Wright, adapted from the Maysles Brothers’ documentary. Following a recent workshop production at The Sundance Institute at White Oak the musical is headed for a New York production. Korie has written the libretto to Larson Award recipient Ricky Ian Gordon’s music for THE GRAPES OF WRATH, an opera premiering in 2007 at Minnesota Opera and Utah Opera. He is writing lyrics to Lucy Simon’s music for ZHIVAGO, book by playwright Michael Weller based on Pasternak's novel, which is going into production this summer at La Jolla Theater.

GIHIEH LEE (Composer): grew up in Seoul, Korea and is still growing up in NYC. She won a 2004 Jonathan Larson Award and was a Musical Theatre Fellow in 2001-2002 at The Dramatists’ Guild of America. Her musicals include: SHAKESPEARE: THE REMIX (Book/Rap/Lyrics by Aaron Jafferis, commissioned by TheatreWorks, Palo Alto), TOCK TICK (Book and Lyrics by Tim Nevits, which got a workshop at Second Stage Theatre in June 2002 and won a NYU Frederick Lowe Theatre Reading in October 2003, both directed by Graciela Daniele), DREAMLAND (Book and Lyrics by Robert Frisch, developed with Scott Schwartz.) SPAMLET (Book, Lyrics and Direction by Anton Dudley). Other works include: Vocal Arrangement for ELEGIES: A SONG CYCLE by William Finn and incidental music for plays including ENCHANTED PIG, GREATER MESSAPIA, CUCHULAIN CYCLE. As a Translator/Music Director, she just came back from her job in Seoul, Korea on I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE. Current projects include YOU ARE NOT ME (with Aaron Jafferis), an upcoming musical LEAVING NEVERLAND (with Heejun Lee), expected in Seoul, Korea in 2005, and a translation of MAN OF LA MANCHA. Her work has been performed in various places from Carnegie Hall, NYC to some nameless tiny venue in Seoul, Korea and by many people, from Betty Buckley to herself. M.F.A: The Tisch School of the Arts, NYU.

MELISSA LI / ABE RYBECK (Composer/Lyricist/Bookwriter team): Melissa is a 23-year-old singer/songwriter who has performed all over the Greater Boston area. Additionally, she is a filmmaker who has completed dozens of short films and videos, one of which was nominated Juror's Selection as part of a competition at the Coolidge Corner Theater. She met Abe when joining The Theater Offensive's True Colors Out Youth Theater Troupe. Surviving the Nian is their first collaborative project as writers. Abe has also created Pure PolyESTHER: a biblical burlesque (music by John Thomas), This is Not a Test (music by Dana Moser) and Blame it on the Big Banana. His plays include Immaculate Infection, (created with Brenda Cotto Escalera and Noelia Ortiz Cortés), Bombshell, and Dirt. He is the founding Artistic Director of The Theater Offensive, New England’s leading gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender theatre company. Abe’s work in musical theatre started as the cofounder of the gay men’s street theatre troupe United Fruit Company, for which he wrote the revue I Am What I Wear. Abe is the recipient of awards from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, Elliot Norton Theater Awards, Independent Reviewers of New England, Boston Women’s Fund, the AIDS Action Committee, and the Greater Boston Business Council.

ALISON LOEB (Lyricist): Alison is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, where she wrote GRANNY AND THE CARP with Austrian composer Johannes Glück, and began work on CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL with composer Bob McDowell (1952-2005). She is an alumna of Raw Impressions Musical Theatre, for which she wrote TNT FOR TWO (RIMT #18) with composer Aaron Gandy. A past O’Neill Cabaret Symposium fellow, Alison’s cabaret songs have been sung around the country; her “Fortune Cookie” was picked up by the legendary Marni Nixon and sung in Ms. Nixon’s one-woman show in L.A. Current projects include CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL and SHVITZ! with composer Mary Feinsinger.

JEFF LUNDEN AND ART PERLMAN (Composer & Lyricist): Jeff and Art are currently working together on an adaptation of Laura Esquivel's novel, SWIFT AS DESIRE. Their adaptation of THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, is currently touring for Theatreworks/USA. Art is working with composer Louis Rosen on a musical version of John Steinbeck's THE PEARL and Jeff produced an hour-long documentary on Harold Arlen for National Public Radio which aired in February 2005.

STEVEN LUTVAK (Composer & Lyricist): has received, in addition to two Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation grants, a New American Works Grant from the NEA, and the first Johnny Mercer Emerging American Songwriter Award. His musicals include THE WAYSIDE INN (currently under option by Mick Leavitt), ESMERALDA, ALMOST SEPTEMBER, and CAMPAIGN OF THE CENTURY, which was presented in a concert version in October 2004 as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival. He performs his songs across the country, and can be heard on his debut CD, The Time It Takes. He is the co-composer of the score to the film Anything But Love, which opened nationally in 2004 (Samuel Goldwyn), starring Andrew McCarthy and Eartha Kitt. New projects include an adaptation of the film classic KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, and the theme song for the new independent film, Mad Hot Ballroom.

ROBERT MADDOCK (Lyricist): Robert earned his MFA at NYU’s Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program and his BA in English from BYU Hawaii. Maddock is a recipient of a 2006 Daryl Roth Award for his musical PLASTIC! — a nerd-rock spectacular about a one-armed kleptomaniac and a buxom superstar (words by Maddock, music by Joe Iconis and Reza Jacobs). PLASTIC! was featured in the 2006 NAMT songwriter’s showcase at New World Stages and the 2006 Bound-for-Broadway concert series at Merkin Hall. Other projects include Triumphant Baby, a concert of songs by Maddock & Iconis, performed by Lorinda Lisitza, and Women on Fire, an unstable song-cycle that celebrates ladies, diet pills, and firearms (by Maddock & Iconis). Additionally, Maddock is working with Iconis as the co-author of The Black Suits, a fierce new musical in development with the MCC. Aside from his theatre ventures, Maddock has written a novel, “Clouds of Benjamin”, busies himself as an aspiring illustrator, and is inspired by limericks, vintage comics, Sidney Lumet movies, Ouija Boards and The Muppets. www.robertmaddock.com

JOHN MERCURIO (Composer & Lyricist): John wrote the score and co-wrote the book to DIVA DIARIES, which completed a 14-week run at the Lakeshore Theatre in Chicago. It is currently preparing for a tour. He is presently working on MYTH, a contemporary retelling of three Greek myths in modern-day New York City inspired by the work of Joseph Campbell. He is proud to be a part of the Jonathan Larson extended family.

DANIEL MESSE (Composer): My band, Hem, released its 2nd album (Eveningland) on Rounder Records October 2004. We've been featured on CNN, NPR, The New Yorker, and the New York Times. Eveningland was released in Europe on EMI. We are currently touring in support of the album.

BRENDAN MILBURN (Composer): Brendan used to tour around the country all the time in a van with his band GrooveLily; now he stays home a lot more and writes musicals, produces other people's records, and changes his new son's diaper a lot. Current Projects: STRIKING 12: THE GROOVELILY HOLIDAY SHOW (with Valerie Vigoda and Rachel Sheinkin), SLEEPING BEAUTY (with Vigoda and Sheinkin, commissioned by Deaf West), a chamber musical commissioned by the Pittsburgh City Theater, WATT?!? (with the multiple Emmy-award-winning David Javerbaum), WHEELHOUSE (with GrooveLily and Ms. Sheinkin). For more details check www.groovelily.com or www.striking12.com.

CHRIS MILLER (Composer): Elon University (BA), New York University (MFA). THE MYSTERIES OF HARRIS BURDICK with Nathan Tysen and Joe Calarco, THE BURNT PART BOYS, with Tysen. TRUE FANS with Tysen and Bill Rosenfield (for Fox Theatricals). Upcoming: new musical with Stephen Belber, GAP CREEK with choreographer Chase Brock; SONGS FROM AN UNMADE BED (Lyrics, Mark Campbell) NYTW spring 2005.

PETER MILLS (Composer & Lyricist): Peter had his regional debut with the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey's production of his show ILLYRIA, (a musical version of TWELFTH NIGHT.) His new musical called THE PURSUIT OF PERSEPHONE, loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's “This Side of Paradise” – opened off-Off-Broadway last April. But most importantly, on July 31, 2004, he married his longtime collaborator and co-habitator, Cara Reichel.

SCOTT MURPHY (Composer & Lyricist): received his BA in music composition in 2002 from Bennington College, where he studied with Ricky Ian Gordon. He earned his MFA in musical theatre writing from New York University in 2004. His work includes SHARK IN THE CREEK (book, music, and lyrics), BROADCAST (music), and PHOEBE (music). His song “I Miss Him” can be heard on Tom Bogdin’s CD For Your Delight: New American Art Songs, and his song “My Perfect World” was performed by Brian D’Arcy James at the 2003 Children’s Aid Society benefit concert. Scott has held internships at Manhattan Theatre Club and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He received the Dramatists Guild’s 2004 Jonathan Larson Musical Theatre Fellowship, and the 2005 Daryl Roth Award.

J. OCONER NAVARRO (Composer): Jay recently earned his MFA from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU, where he was the 2005 recipient of the Paulette Goddard Award and a Tisch School of the Arts Scholar. His premiere musical, Awakening, based on the classic novella by Kate Chopin and written in collaboration with Joel B. New, is being further developed with Margo Lion, Ltd. Jay has served in the music department of numerous New York productions, including Avenue Q, The Apple Tree, Mary Poppins, Ricky Ian Gordon’s Art/Song/Dance, Kander & Ebb’s Curtains, and Henry Krieger’s The Flamingo Kid. Regionally, he was music director for Travels With My Discontent at Barrington Stage Company, directed by William Finn. His songs have been performed at venues all over New York City by esteemed Broadway performers, and he additionally works as an arranger, accompanist, audition pianist, and vocal coach. Jay is also a proud faculty member of Applause Theatrical Workshops and Broadway Babies. www.joconernavarro.com

LAURENCE O’KEEFE (Composer & Lyricist): Since winning a 2001 Larson Award, Larry has had more than sixty productions of BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL produced nationwide. Larry wrote music and lyrics for BAT BOY, which began at the Actors' Gang in Los Angeles, won two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, was a hit Off-Broadway, and won the Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics' Circle Awards for Best Musical. BAT BOY went to England and the West End. Larry also won the 2001 ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizon Award for his music and lyrics. With FOOL MOON clown David Shiner, Larry is writing music and lyrics and collaborating on book for DROP EVERYTHING, a new clown show/musical which will be workshopped at ACT in Seattle. David and Larry have performed parts of DROP EVERYTHING at the Tollwood Arts Festival in Munich and at the Lisbon Comedy Festival. Larry has written songs for The Cat in the Hat, The Daily Show, and other movies and television. But Larry’s favorite gig is his ongoing collaboration with the brilliant lyricist/bookwriter Nell Benjamin (see above), with whom he has written SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL, THE MICE, CAM JANSEN AND THE CURSE OF THE EMERALD ELEPHANT, and many miscellaneous pieces, including the notorious “Sensitive Song”, which was nominated for a MAC Award but was deemed “too filthy”. Larry has been performing his songs in New York, Boston and elsewhere, headlining at the Duplex and at the King Kong Room at The Supper Club with the inappropriately titled Larry's Luau Lounge. In February 2004 he conducted the Harvard University Pops Orchestra in an evening of his songs, including the world premiere of his short opera THE MAGIC FUTON.

BENJ PASEK / JUSTIN PAUL (Composer/Lyricist team): Benj and Justin began their collaboration as freshmen at the University of Michigan and completed their BFA degrees in musical theatre in 2006. The team’s musical revue, Edges, has been performed over sixty times at various professional venues and colleges throughout the country and is now available for licensing through Music Theatre International. Pasek and Paul are writers for John Tartaglia’s Disney Channel television series “Johnny and the Sprites” and contributed music to Off-Broadway’s upcoming White Noise [A Cautionary Musical] which won Talkin’ Broadway’s 2006 Summer Theatre Festival Citation for Outstanding Original Score. They have recently played sold-out shows at Joe’s Pub and Ars Nova in New York City featuring a host of Broadway talents, and were invited to participate in the first ever Johnny Mercer Songwriting Festival funded by the American Musical Theatre Project. They are currently developing several original book musicals, including one with Alexandra Cunningham, a writer and producer of the hit ABC television series, “Desperate Housewives”. www.pasekandpaul.com

MIKE PETTRY (Composer/Lyricist): Mike migrated from wild and wonderful West Virginia to New York in 2004. He is constantly searching for ways to merge the traditional with the modern, such as butting the heads of arty theatre music and indie rock. Mike has written music for The Time Travelers Convention, World Of Heroes and the punk-rock song cycle Long Distance with librettist Heidi Hansen-Young. With Tommy Newman, he wrote music for the film Rupture and was commissioned to write Sunday In Montgomery for Troy State University. He wrote book and lyrics for Flipside with composer Andrew Hertz. Mike has also written a Requiem Mass for choir and strings. In addition to accompanying and music directing shows in New York, Mike also played guitar for Things To Ruin at Ars Nova (NYMF) and Joe’s Pub. He has a BA in piano and composition from Shepherd University, and an MFA in musical theatre writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He was the state and regional winner (as well as national finalist) of the 2004 MTNA Composition Contest. www.mikepettry.com

SCOTT RICHARDS (Composer & Lyricist): Scott has been commissioned to write music and lyrics for an adaptation of Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" and directed a production of Porgy and Bess at Opera Delaware in April 2005. His new daughter, Annabel Walkingstick Richards was born September 30, 2004.

WILLIE AND ROB REALE (Composer & Lyricist): Willie and Rob's musical A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD was made into a DVD with the original Broadway cast for a spring 2005 release. They are at work on a new musical in collaboration with the playwright Richard Dresser. For TV, Willie is developing a pilot for FOX and is a writer/producer for Tilt on ESPN.

DAVID SIMPATICO (Lyricist & Bookwriter): David Simpatico and his partner, Will Todd, had a successful first production of THE SCREAMS OF KITTY GENOVESE at the Boston Conservatory of Music. They are currently working with director John Caird and producer John Schreiber on a workshop/reading presentation at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre, towards the goal of a first class NYC or regional production in the United States. David and Will are currently working on DREAM BALLET, a Quantum mechanics variation on the Walter Mitty tale. David is also working with composer Ross Paterson on GLEN OR GLENDA, an updating of the Ed Wood classic movie. In September 2002, David and Will premiered AND MY FRIEND, a chorale tribute to the victims of the 9/11 attack, at the Brave New World Festival at Town Hall.

MATTHEW SKLAR (Composer): Matthew is currently writing the music for two new musicals in development: stage adaptations of THE WEDDING SINGER (produced by Margo Lion and New Line Theatricals) and GET SHORTY (produced by Clear Channel Theatricals and MGM OnStage).

GLENN SLATER (Lyricist): began writing for the theatre at age seventeen, with the off-Broadway production HOW I SURVIVED HIGH SCHOOL (1986) and a stint at Harvard’s legendary Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Perhaps best-known for writing the lyrics for Disney’s animated Western, HOME ON THE RANGE, with composer Alan Menken (April, 2004), Glenn’s recent work also includes the lyrics for the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Obie-Award-winning revue newyorkers (2001 Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations), as well as the lyrics for the six editions of the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus. Upcoming projects include the Broadway adaptation of Disney’s THE LITTLE MERMAID, as well as a musical based on the film Leap of Faith. With composer Stephen Weiner, his collaborator on newyorkers, he is currently penning a musical adaptation of the Coen Brothers’ THE HUDSUCKER PROXY. Glenn is the recipient of the Kleban Award for Lyrics (1996), as well as the ASCAP/Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award (2000). He is an alumnus of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, and a member of both ASCAP and the Dramatists’ Guild. Glenn lives in Manhattan with his wife, composer/ lyricist Wendy Wilf, and son Benjamin.

JEFFREY STOCK (Composer): Jeffrey is currently writing the music for a new musical in collaboration with Tom Meehan (THE PRODUCERS, HAIRSPRAY) and Ira Gasman (THE LIFE). He recently returned from Poland where he oversaw the European premiere of his symphonic/choral work LULIE THE ICEBERG, originally performed at Carnegie Hall featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He has contributed material to the new musical production SONGS FROM AN UNMADE BED, which was presented on the main stage at New York Theatre Workshop in the spring of 2005.

EDDIE SUGARMAN (Lyricist/Librettist): Eddie Sugarman holds a BFA in musical theatre performance from the University of Michigan, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the BMI-Lehman Engle Musical Theatre Writing Workshop. His musical MEET JOHN DOE (music and co-libretto by Andrew Gerle), based on the Capra film, played the first annual New York Musical Theatre Festival and has been developed and/or presented at the BMI Workshop, the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop and the NAMT Festival. JOHN DOE received a developmental workshop at the Carousel Dinner Theatre in Ohio in January and will have a developmental production at the Hartt School in Connecticut in April. He has written book and lyrics to KING OF THE PLAYGROUND (music by Bruce Keisling) and the short musicals TO MAKE A KING (music by Jihwan Kim) and JOE & MARY (music by Sunmee Cho).

NATHAN TYSEN (Composer & Lyricist): Nathan writes and performs (for adults) with the band Joe's Pet Project; he writes and performs (for babies) with the music program Little Maestros. With Chris Miller he has written THE BURNT PART BOYS, THE MYSTERIES OF HARRIS BURDICK (Book by Joe Calarco), and TRUE FANS(Book by Bill Rosenfield). Currently he and Mr. Miller are collaborating with playwright Stephen Belber on a new musical.

STEPHEN WEINER (Composer): most recently wrote the score for ONCE UPON A TIME IN NEW JERSEY (Book and Lyrics by Susan DiLallo), which captured both the 2003 Richard Rodgers Award and the 2003 Kleban Award for Ms. DiLallo’s book, and which has been showcased at staged readings and workshops around the country. Off-Broadway credits include the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Obie-Award winning “newyorkers” (Lyrics by Glenn Slater), which received the Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Off Broadway Musical, and HAMLET SINGS (lyrics by Peter Mills), produced at the Prospect Theater Company. Regional credits include the musical SPITTIN’ IMAGE, which premiered at the Forum Theater in New Jersey (Book by Karin Kasdin, Lyrics by Laura Szabo-Cohen). Awards include the 2000 ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, and the ASCAP Bernice Cohen Award for his unproduced score to LOST IN AMERICA. Steve is currently working with lyricist Glenn Slater on THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, which was recently workshopped at the New Voices Festival in Steamboat Springs, CO, as well as a new musical comedy, IRON CURTAIN, with Peter Mills (Book & Lyrics). He is a graduate of the ASCAP, BMI and Dramatists Guild Musical Theater Workshops, and an ASCAP member. He lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his favorite cast - wife Ryta and daughters Marla, Lisa and Olivia.

AMANDA YESNOWITZ (Lyricist): Since winning the Larson award, Amanda has won a Dramatists Guild fellowship, served as an artist-in-residence at the Hangar Theatre, and had her work performed by Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops. Currently, Amanda is teaching full-time at NYU as well as working on several projects, including BEAU JEST with composer Brad Ross and an original musical about Pierre L'Enfant.

VALERIE VIGODA (Electric violinist/singer/songwriter): Valerie is originally from McLean, Virginia. She has toured the world with Cyndi Lauper, Joe Jackson, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. An honors graduate of Princeton, Valerie founded GrooveLily in 1994 with a CD called "Inhabit My Heart" (Dirty Linen Magazine wrote: "to call Valerie Vigoda talented barely seems to do her justice. She has a great voice, is an intelligent lyricist...and an ace violinist. Methinks we'll hear more of her"). She's collaborated with Brendan Milburn for the last 12 years. Visit her at www.groovelily.com.