17th Annual Festival of New Musicals

Cheryl Coons is the Chicago Regional Representative for the Dramatists Guild. She has written lyrics and/or book for more than a dozen original musicals, including River’s End (ASCAP Foundation Harold Arlen Musical Theatre Award, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, Theatre for the American Musical Award), At Wit’s End (Carbonell Award), Sylvia’s Real Good Advice (Joseph Jefferson Award), Female Problems  (After Dark Award), and Phantom of the Country Opera, published by Music Theater International. Her work has appeared on the stages of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Northlight Theatre, the Marriott Theatre at Lincolnshire, Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, Florida Stage and Marin Theatre Company. Her original musicals have been developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Music Theater Conference, and she is a two-time participant in the ASCAP workshops in Los Angeles and Chicago. She has had two projects featured in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s annual Festival of New Musicals, and her musical River’s End was a featured selection at the New York Music Theatre Festival, where it was honored with the Theatre for the American Musical Award. Cheryl appeared at Carnegie Hall, singing her original songs in an evening sponsored by ASCAP and hosted by Michael Feinstein. She has served as an animateur for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Chicago Voices program, a mentor/instructor for the Writing the Musical Class at Northwestern University, and an instructor of musical theatre writing at Columbia College Chicago. She designed and taught a curriculum for musical theatre writing for Chicago Dramatists, where she has been a Resident Playwright since 2008, as well as a series of musical theatre writing and appreciation classes and for Porchlight Music Theatre. She is a Program Manager and Teaching Artist with Storycatchers Theatre, working with incarcerated youth at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center.

Violet, Playwrights Horizons 1997, Kleban, Lortel, & NY Drama Critics Circle Awards; Broadway 2014, Tony Nominee, London & Japan 2019.
A Little Princess, Theatreworks 2000, Royal Festival Hall concert, 2017.
Upcoming: Narcolepsy with Heather Christian. Yale BA; ACT MFA

Ryan Cunningham is a Jonathan Larson Award-winning lyricist and bookwriter, and a Drama Desk and MAC Award nominee. His Off-Broadway musical, written with composer Joshua Salzman, I Love You Because, was in the NAMT Festival of New Musicals and went on to be produced all over the world in five languages. His next musical also with Salzman, Next Thing You Know, has been produced at CAP 21 in New York, across America and in Europe. He also wrote the book and lyrics to The Legend of New York (O’Neill Conference finalist) and Michael Collins (ASCAP Musical Workshop winner) both currently in development with Salzman. Ryan is a graduate of the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and is a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild. He teaches musical theatre writing at Northwestern University where is also the Associate Artistic Director of the American Music Theatre Project.

Andrew Gerle is a composer/lyricist, librettist, pianist and author. His works for the theater include the musicals MEET JOHN DOE (Jonathan Larson Award, cast album on Broadway Records), GLORYANA (Kleban Award, Richard Rodgers Award), THE TUTOR (three Rodgers Awards) and LA TEMPESTA (with Fantasticks lyricist Tom Jones, Tokyo premiere 2019). He has performed as piano soloist with the National Symphony, the Yale Symphony Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and on programs for National Public Radio and Television. He is also the author of “The Enraged Accompanist’s Guide to the Perfect Audition” and “Music Essentials for Singers and Actors” (Hal Leonard/Applause Books), and is on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. This spring, he produced and engineered the benefit album ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE, featuring all new songs and performances from Tony and Grammy Award-winning writers and actors about our temporarily constrained lives.

Jenny Giering’s current musical commissions include Summerland (book by Sean Barry & Laura Eason, lyrics by Sean Barry, directed by Amanda Dehnert) for Chicago Shakespeare Theater; and Alice Bliss (book by Laura Harrington, lyrics by Adam Gwon, directed by Mark Brokaw) for Playwrights Horizons. Her other scores include The Mistress Cycle (produced at Apple Tree Theater, New York Musical Theater Festival); Crossing Brooklyn (commissioned and produced by The Boston Music Theater Project, also produced by The Transport Group; Kleban Award for best libretto); Alice Unwrapped (commissioned by Premieres, Inc. and produced at the Zipper Theater with Jennifer Damiano); Saint-Ex (2011 World Premiere at The Weston Playhouse Theater Company, Weston VT, Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, ASCAP/Dreamworks Musical Theater Workshop, Sundance’s White Oak Workshop). Her incidental scores include The Tempest (Shakespeare Theater, directed by Ethan McSweeney), As You Like It (Chicago Shakespeare Theater, directed by Gary Griffin). More info at: www.jennygiering.com

Richard Oberacker is the conductor of CIRQUE’S “KA”. Prior conducting: CIRQUE’S “DRALION”, THE LION KING, CATS. Original musicals as composer and co-lyricist & author: A LITTLE THEATER (Aurelia Theater), IN THAT VALLEY (NAMT Festival), DRACULA (CCM Corbett Theater), THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO FISHMAN (Signature Theatre), ACE, (NAMT Festival, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse, Old Globe, Signature Theatre), JOURNEY TO THE WEST (NYMF Festival), THE PARENTING PROJECT (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati), and THE SANDMAN (NAMT Festival, Fredericia Theatre in Denmark). Their TONY Award winning musical BANDSTAND opened at The Paper Mill Playhouse and premiered on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, was filmed for release in cinemas nationwide, and launched a National Tour. Mr. Oberacker composed the score for a new musical adaptation of THE GREAT GATSBY which premiered in Tokyo, Japan before a Japanese national tour. Upcoming, BRUCE (Seattle Repertory Theatre and Paper Mill Playhouse).

Joshua Salzman is a Jonathan Larson Award-winning composer and MAC Award nominated songwriter. His Off-Broadway musical written with bookwriter/lyricist Ryan Cunningham, I Love You Because has been produced all over the world. Also written with Cunningham, his musical Next Thing You Know has been produced at CAP 21 in New York, and across America and in Europe. Along with Ryan, Joshua is currently at work on the new musical Michael Collins—winner of the 2017 ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop. Joshua is a graduate of the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and a proud member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two daughters.

Eddie has written lyrics or book and lyrics for musicals including Meet John Doe (with Andrew Gerle), The Nutcracker Sings (with Jihwan Kim), and Cinderella, After the Ball (with Jihwan Kim).

He is the Executive Director of The Theatre of Western Springs, a community theatre just outside of Chicago. He has worked in arts management at several Chicagoland theatres including the 16th Street Theatre in Berwyn and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.

Eddie is a proud alumni of The University of Michigan Musical Theatre program. Also, he had the coolest job on Broadway when he was a stuntman in the original production of the musical Ragtime.

Eddie lives in Western Springs, Illinois with his amazing wife, Kara, and their very cool kids, Sam and Lucy.

Lee Summers has directed productions regionally and in numerous New York venues, most recently On Kentucky Avenue at CUNY’s Aaron Davis Hall (2018). As a writer/composer, his works include Ella, First Lady of Song, conceived and directed by Maurice Hines starring Freda Payne (Delaware Theatre 2018); The Bayard Rustin Musical, songs recently premiered at Lincoln Center; conceiver/co-librettist/co-composer-lyricist/lead producer of Off-Broadway’s From My Hometown (8 AUDELCO Nominations); co-librettist/lyricist/composer, The Funkentine Rapture, for NAMT starring Billy Porter; lyricist/librettist for Pangaea, 2017 Bingham Theatre Competition winner/ Marymount production, 2018. His Broadway debut was in the Original Dreamgirls, reprising for the 20th Anniversary performance/recording with Audra McDonald and others. TV and film roles include ”Blue Bloods,” “Boardwalk Empire” and “Malcolm X.” Summers, former adjunct professor for Motlow College, presently works at NRDC. He is an alum of Tennessee State University, BA from SUNY/ESC and MFA from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts.

Mr. TAYLOR is the co-lyricist/librettist with Richard Oberacker of several new musicals, including ACE, (NAMT Festival, St. Louis Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Old Globe, Signature Theatre), JOURNEY TO THE WEST (NYMF), THE PARENTING PROJECT (Cincinnati Fringe, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati), THE SANDMAN (NAMT Festival, Fredericia Theatre), and their TONY Award winning musical BANDSTAND, which premiered on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, was filmed for Fathom Events nationwide release, and launched a National Tour.  Their newest musical, BRUCE will premiere in co-production with Seattle Rep and Paper Mill Playhouse in the ’21/’22 season.  A principal player with New York Chamber Soloists and the Mozart Orchestra of New York, Mr. Taylor is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild, and leads Birding & Nature Tours around the world for the Audubon Society.