23rd Annual Festival of New Musicals

Jill Abramovitz BMI Workshop (Harrington Award), Dramatists Guild Fellow, Weston Playhouse New Musical Award (Dogs of Pripyat).  Contributing lyricist on It Shoulda Been You, past NAMT selectee now headed for the George Street Playhouse and The Village Theatre.  Currently adapting  Martha Speaks for Theatreworks USA with composer/husband Brad Alexander, with whom she is also adapting the film Bread and Roses.  Acting credits include 9 to 5 and Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me on Broadway, and many off-Broadway and regional credits including past NAMT shows See Rock City (Barrington Stage) and Band Geeks (Goodspeed).

Composer/Additional Lyricist: Nona (commissioned by Weston. Six productions including The Atlantic Theatre and a National Tour by Maximum Entertainment.);Training: Dramatists Guild Fellow, BMI Workshop (Harrington Award). B’way: Sister Act (Assistant Conductor), Little Mermaid (Keyboard 1), Billy Elliot (Casting, Rehearsal Pianist). Regional: Calvin Berger at George Street (Incidental Music/Music Director). Workshops: Aladdin, Up Here, Newsies, Addams Family, Hello My Baby, Red Clay. TV: Regis and Kelly, and Wendy Williams with American Idol Finalists. Education: BA in Music Composition with distinction from St. Olaf College.

Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond are an Emmy-nominated writing team for the stage and screen. Their musical ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS (with Emma Rice) debuted to rave reviews at Shakespeare’s Globe. They wrote more than 150 songs for Disney’s VAMPIRINA, reaching over 100 million viewers in 115 countries. Other television work includes RIDLEY JONES, DEAD END: PARANORMAL PARK, and SPIRIT RANGERS. Stage projects include THE NOTEWORTHY LIFE OF HOWARD BARNES (Village Theater, NAMT 2013), ORPHIE & THE BOOK OF HEROES (The Kennedy Center), THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF PERCIVAL VON SCHMOOTZ (Adirondack Theatre Festival), JUDGE JACKIE: DISORDER IN THE COURT (Pittsburgh CLO; Concord), DANI GIRL (Concord, NAMT 2011), GOLDEN GATE (Williamstown Theatre Festival), HOMEMADE FUSION (London’s Ambassadors Theater) and JUNIOR CLAUS (Orlando Repertory Theatre). Their debut album, OUT OF OUR HEADS, and the world premiere recording of THE NOTEWORTHY LIFE OF HOWARD BARNES are now available on iTunes and Spotify. Learn more at www.koomandimond.com

ADAM GWON Off-Broadway: Scotland, PA (Roundabout Theatre Äì Drama Desk nomination, NYT;Critic’s Pick), Ordinary Days (Roundabout Theatre, Keen Company revival – Drama League;nomination), Old Jews Telling Jokes (Westside Theatre, NYT Critic’s Pick); Regional: Witnesses;(California Center for the Arts Äì Craig Noel Award, Outstanding New Musical), String (Village;Theatre), Cake Off (Signature Theatre – Helen Hayes nomination, Bucks County Playhouse),;Cloudlands (South Coast Rep), The Boy Detective Fails (Signature Theatre), Bernice Bobs Her;Hair (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma); West End: Ordinary Days (Trafalgar Studios). Awards: Kleban, Ebb, Loewe, and Rodgers Awards, Second Stage Theatre’s Donna Perret;Rosen Award, Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, ASCAP Harold Adamson Award, MAC;John Wallowitch Award. Recordings: Ordinary Days (Ghostlight Records), Audra;McDonald’s Go Back Home (Nonesuch), Artists in Residence (Broadway Records), The;Essential Liz Callaway (Working Girl Records), Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Album.

Joe Iconis has been nominated for two Drama Desk Awards, a Lucille Lortel Award, and is the proud recipient of an Ed Kleban Award and a Jonathan Larson Award. He is the author of Bloodsong of Love, The Black Suits, ReWrite, The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks and We The People. His concert act, The Rock and Roll Jamboree, frequently plays The Laurie Beechman Theater and Joe’s Pub, and the Original Cast Recording of Things To Ruin, Joe’s theatrical rock concert, is available on Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight records. Joe is greatly inspired by Robert Altman, Dolly Parton, The Rolling Stones, whiskey, The Muppets, and The Family of artists he frequently surrounds himself with. https://www.MrJoeIconis.com

David Javerbaum has won 11 Emmys for his work as head writer and executive producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He was a principal author of its best-sellers America (The Book) and Earth (The Book). He is also a Kleban Award-winning lyricist whose work includes 2008’s Cry-Baby, for which he was Tony-nominated; eight original Christmas songs for the 2008 television special, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!  for which he won a Grammy; and “Broadway: It’s Not Just for Gays Anymore!,” the opening number to the 2011 Tonys. He also collaborated with God on His upcoming memoir, The Last Testament.

Julia Jordan musical books include Sarah Plain and Tall (NAMT Festival 2003)and The Mice, both written with Larry O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin. Upcoming musicals: Storyville and Murder Ballad.  . Plays include Smoking Lesson, Tatjana in Color, St. Scarlet, Boy, Dark Yellow, and Jones.  Currently in development, the film Tell Me Something I Don’t Know with Glen Luchford slated to direct. Kleban Award, Francesca Primus Prize, Lucille Lortel Playwriting Fellowship, Manhattan Theater Club Fellowship, Jonathan Larson Award, Heideman Award and LeComte Nouy Award. She is one of the founders of The Lilly Awards and sits on the Council of the Dramatists Guild.

Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond are an Emmy-nominated writing team for the stage and screen. Their musical ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS (with Emma Rice) debuted to rave reviews at Shakespeare’s Globe. They wrote more than 150 songs for Disney’s VAMPIRINA, reaching over 100 million viewers in 115 countries. Other television work includes RIDLEY JONES, DEAD END: PARANORMAL PARK, and SPIRIT RANGERS. Stage projects include THE NOTEWORTHY LIFE OF HOWARD BARNES (Village Theater, NAMT 2013), ORPHIE & THE BOOK OF HEROES (The Kennedy Center), THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF PERCIVAL VON SCHMOOTZ (Adirondack Theatre Festival), JUDGE JACKIE: DISORDER IN THE COURT (Pittsburgh CLO; Concord), DANI GIRL (Concord, NAMT 2011), GOLDEN GATE (Williamstown Theatre Festival), HOMEMADE FUSION (London’s Ambassadors Theater) and JUNIOR CLAUS (Orlando Repertory Theatre). Their debut album, OUT OF OUR HEADS, and the world premiere recording of THE NOTEWORTHY LIFE OF HOWARD BARNES are now available on iTunes and Spotify. Learn more at www.koomandimond.com

Gordon Leary’s musicals include THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (2023 Flint Repertory Theatre premiere, 2022 Theatre Row showcase), THE LONELIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD (2018 Diversionary Theatre premiere, 2016 NAMT Festival, 2015 Polyphone Festival, 2014 Ars Nova OutLoud Series), REB+VoDKa+ME (2017 Tisch New Musical Workshop, 2017 Yale Institute, 2016 Civilians’ FINDINGS Series), SOMETHING BLUE (2020 Diversionary Theatre/NAMT Frank Young Fund Workshop, 2019 Page 73, 2019 Chicago Musical Theatre Festival), PREGNANCY PACT (2012 Weston Playhouse premiere, 2011 NAMT Festival, 2011 Yale Institute, 2011 Weston New Musical Award), CHEER WARS (2015 York Theatre Company, 2009 Richard Rodgers Award), and ACROSS THE RIVER (2013 Seoul Musical Festival, 2009 Daegu International Musical Festival.) They have developed work with Page 73’s Interstate 73, SPACE on Ryder Farm, 92Y Musical Theatre Development Lab, Musical Theatre Factory, Fresh Ground Pepper’s Playground Playgroup, The Civilians’ R&D Group, Ars Nova Uncharted, and the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program. www.omfgordon.com

Dan Lipton and David Rossmer are longtime collaborators who have created several original musicals, jointly writing all music, book and lyrics. Their musical comedy The Blonde Streak was commissioned by Broadway Across America and developed at the Orchard Project. Their form-bending musical satire JOE! (NAMT Festival 2000) was seen at the Kennedy Center’s Theater Lab and Chicago’s Equity Library Theatre.  JOE! is currently in development as a 3-D movie musical.  Rossmer & Lipton are currently working for Araca Group on adapting a bestselling memoir, with playwright Jessica Provenz.  Their sketch comedy musical Rated PĶ for Parenthood, written with Sandy Rustin, premiered at SOPAC in NJ and is optioned for production off-Broadway.  Other projects include:  a Depression-era book musical with television writer Janis Hirsch, a futuristic concept musical with Kirsten Guenther, and a biographical show about B-movie king Roger Corman with Wayne Rawley.  Lipton & Rossmer have written special material for singers including Kelli O’Hara (ÄúAlwaysÄù album, Lincoln Center, Town Hall) and Sutton Foster (Joe’s Pub).  And the duo co-created, with Steve Rosen and Sarah Saltzberg, the comedy improv variety show Don’t Quit Your Night Job, which began at Joe’s Pub and ran off-Broadway.

Julia is composer for musical theatre (and the occasional film and computer game score.) Her musicals include PREGNANCY PACT, REB+VoDKa+ME, and THE LONELIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD. She and her collaborator Gordon Leary write aggressively empathetic shows that help them understand completely foreign points of view, like Anita Bryant’s anti-gay-rights crusade, online fan communities around high school shooters, and teenage girls who decide to get pregnant together. Julia’s work has been produced at the Weston Playhouse, Diversionary Theatre, and Flint Rep, and developed through groups like Page 73, Ars Nova, the Civilians, 92Y, and exciting acronyms like MTF, NAMT, NYMF, and YIMT. She is a Larson, Rodgers, and Billie Burke award finalist, and her work has received grants from the Anna Sosenko trust, Opera America, the Dramatists Guild Foundation and the NEA. Julia holds a BA in Music from Yale and an MFA from NYU’s GMTWP. www.juliameinwald.com.

Brendan Milburn is a music teacher (voice, keyboards and occasionally mandolin, guitar, bass, or drums as the need arises). In his former life he toured in a rock band called GrooveLily for about 15 years, and wrote a lot of musicals which were produced in NYC and at regional theatres around the country. He also has songs in live shows running at Disneyland, Disney World, and Disneyland Paris. in four movies about Tinker Bell (Disney). Awards: Jonathan Larson, ASCAP/Richard Rodgers, LA Ovation (best musical, best music direction), LA Drama Critics Circle (best score of a musical), LA Stage Raw (best musical). Proudest productions: sixteen-year-old Mose, five-year-old Arlen, and 3-year old Rory.

Peter Mills (Lyrics & Additional Music) wrote music, lyrics and co-book for Off-Broadway’s The Hello Girls, nominated for three Drama Desk Awards and four Outer Critics Circle Awards. Other shows include Illyria, Golden Boy Of The Blue Ridge and The Honeymooners. He has won the Kleban Prize, the Fred Ebb Award, the Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, the Cole Porter Award, a Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation grant, the Donna Perret Rosen Award, and received two Drama Desk Award nominations for The Pursuit Of Persephone. ASCAP member, NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program alum and faculty, and a founding member of Prospect Theater Company. www.PeteMillsMusic.com

Leah Napolin made her Broadway playwrighting debut in 1975 with Yentl, produced by Cheryl Crawford and the Chelsea Theatre Center.  In 2003, Yentl returned to New York for a successful run at the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater. In 1979, Ms. Napolin completed her second play Lost Island, about monks and nuns in the eleventh century, followed by Trash and Treasures (1981); Aristophanes’ Retreat (1985); Split at the Root, a Novel in Three Acts (2010); and Twister (2011).  She is a member of P.E.N. and the Dramatists Guild, and the winner of the John Gassner Memorial Playwriting Award for The Dogs of Pripyat (2004).

Cara Reichel (Book) has co-authored shows with Peter Mills including The Hello Girls (2019 Drama Desk Award nominations), The Flood, The Underclassman, Death for Five Voices and others. For Theatrical Rights Worldwide, she wrote The Olympians: A New Muse-ical, a female-forward jukebox show drawing on hits from the BMG music catalog. She is the bookwriter for Marion Adler and Peter Foley’s I Capture the Castle, and has developed work at the Goodspeed Johnny Mercer Writers’ Grove, Rhinebeck Writers’ Retreat, and the Bogliasaco Fellows program in Italy, among others. She is the Producing Artistic Director of NYC’s Prospect Theater Company. www.CaraReichel.com

Dan Lipton and David Rossmer are longtime collaborators who have created several original musicals, jointly writing all music, book and lyrics. Their musical comedy The Blonde Streak was commissioned by Broadway Across America and developed at the Orchard Project. Their form-bending musical satire JOE! (NAMT Festival 2000) was seen at the Kennedy Center’s Theater Lab and Chicago’s Equity Library Theatre.  JOE! is currently in development as a 3-D movie musical.  Rossmer & Lipton are currently working for Araca Group on adapting a bestselling memoir, with playwright Jessica Provenz.  Their sketch comedy musical Rated PĶ for Parenthood, written with Sandy Rustin, premiered at SOPAC in NJ and is optioned for production off-Broadway.  Other projects include:  a Depression-era book musical with television writer Janis Hirsch, a futuristic concept musical with Kirsten Guenther, and a biographical show about B-movie king Roger Corman with Wayne Rawley.  Lipton & Rossmer have written special material for singers including Kelli O’Hara (ÄúAlwaysÄù album, Lincoln Center, Town Hall) and Sutton Foster (Joe’s Pub).  And the duo co-created, with Steve Rosen and Sarah Saltzberg, the comedy improv variety show Don’t Quit Your Night Job, which began at Joe’s Pub and ran off-Broadway.