17th Annual Festival of New Musicals

Beth’s award-winning songs, plays and musicals have been seen and heard at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the United Nations, across the US, Europe and Asia. Beth has won awards from Second Stage, NYMF (New York Musical Festival) and the O’Neill Musical Theatre Festival, and received grants from the National Association of Musical Theatres and the Jonathan Larson (Rent) Foundation, fellowships from the Dramatists’ Guild and America-In-Play.

Her musicals include The Mistress Cycle, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Oneida, Princess Caraboo (book Marsha Norman). Her play, In Her Words, based on her interviews with women refugees, has been performed in New York City, Westchester County and online. Her essay about that experience appears in the book Fast Fierce Women.

Commissions include Oneida (Village Theatre), Island of the Blue Dolphins, and a musical based on the life of Catherine the Great. She has developed her work at Williamstown, Sundance (UCross), Johnny Mercer Writers’ Colony (Goodspeed), Festival of New Musicals (Village Theatre), Musical Theatre Factory (NYC), Theatre Works Palo Alto, Vox Theatre festival (Dartmouth College).

Beth is the founder/CEO of Hope Sings, which creates original songs inspired by true stories from women-focused charities. She conceived, co-produced and co-wrote the anthem for UN Women, featuring 25+ international stars, including Bebel Gilberto, Anoushka Shankar and Angelique Kidjo.

Cheryl Coons has written lyrics and/or book for more than a dozen original musicals, including River’s End (NAMT Festival, 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 (NAMT Festival), published by Music Theatre International. Her work has appeared on the stages of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (Lyrics), Northlight Theatre, the Marriott Theatre at Lincolnshire, Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, and Marin Theatre Company. Her original musicals have been developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Music Theatre Conference, and featured at the NAMT Festival, NYMF, and the ASCAP Workshop in Los Angeles. She served as an animateur for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Chicago Voices program. She serves on the National Council of the Dramatists Guild.

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 projects include Alice Bliss commissioned by Playwrights Horizons and Stacey Mindich Productions (2018 Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, 2019 Orchard Project Residency, 2021 Theatreworks/Silicon Valley New Works Festival), and What We Leave Behind (co-written with Sean Barry, 2019 TheatreWorks Writer’s Retreat, 2019 Weston Theater Company Writers Retreat, 2019 Theatre Aspen’s Solo Flights Festival) for which she received a 2021 Barrington Stage Spark Grant. She has written numerous incidental scores including music for Silent Sky (TheaterWorks 2015), Peter Pan & Wendy (Shakespeare Theater, 2019), Georgiana & Kitty (Marin Theater Company, 2021) all by Lauren Gunderson, Gertrude and Claudius (Barrington Stage, 2019) by Mark Saint-Germain and many others. Her many awards include the Jonathan Larson Award, the Constance Klinsky Prize from Second Stage, and the Tilles Music Chair from Chicago Shakespeare Theater. When she’s not writing music, you can usually find her making French Macarons.

Richard Oberacker is the conductor for Cirque Du Soleil’s ÄúKAÄù. As a composer and co author, he has collaborated with Robert Taylor on the Broadway musical Bandstand, which won director/choreographer Andy Blankenbeulher (Hamilton) his third TONY Award for Best Choreography. Their new musical Bruce premiered at the Seattle Repertory Theater while another new musical, Angel of Arkansas is in development with director/choreographer Susan Stroman. Oberacker & Taylor’s darkly comic musical The Sandman had its American premiere at the Majestic Repertory Theatre after its European premiere in Denmark’s Fredericia Theatre. Other original musicals include Ace at the Old Globe Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse and the Signature Theater, Journey to the West at the New York Musical Theater Festival and The Parenting Project at The Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati. Mr. Oberacker composed the score to a musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby which premiered in Tokyo, Japan before a Japanese National Tour.

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 CollinsÄîwinner 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 ÄùBlue Bloods,Äù ÄúBoardwalk EmpireÄù and ÄúMalcolm X.Äù 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.

Co-lyricist/librettist Robert Taylor has collaborated with Richard Oberacker on several new musicals. Their†TONY Award winning musical Bandstand, which premiered on Broadway at the†Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, was filmed for nationwide release, and launched a National Tour. Their musical Bruce, based on the behind-the-scenes mayhem of the filming of Jaws, recently premiered at Seattle Rep, and is now slated for production in the UK, while their musical, Angel of Arkansas is in development with five-time TONY winning director/choreographer Susan Stroman. Their darkly comic musical The Sandman received its American premiere at the Majestic Repertory Theatre after its European premiere in Denmark’s Fredericia Theatre. Other musicals include Ace at the Old Globe, Cincinnati Playhouse and Signature Theater, Journey to the West at New York Musical Theater Festival, and The Parenting Project at Ensemble Theater Cincinnati. Robert Taylor is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild.