31st Annual Festival of New Musicals

Ben Bonnema is the recipient of the Fred Ebb Award, Jonathan Larson Grant, ASCAP Frederick Loewe Award, and the Harold Adamson Lyric Award. The New Yorker called his musical THE APPLE BOYS “a bushelful of delights” and that he wrote “clever, catchy songs” (book by Jonothon Lyons, HERE Arts Center). ONE WAY, with Christopher Staskel, was developed at the Musical Theatre Factory, Johnny Mercer Foundation Writer’s Colony at Goodspeed, and NAMT 2019.

Ben wrote book, music & lyrics to Adult Swim’s PETER PANIC, a musical video game played by nearly two million people (developed by James Marion). His slumber party musical BOYS WHO TRICKED ME was called “heart-healing musical theatre” by Joshua Barone of the New York Times. Other full-length: THE LOST GIRL with Arianna Rose. Film: MARY POPPINS RETURNS (Music Associate to Marc Shaiman, Oscar nom.). Ben holds an M.F.A. from NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.

Liz Carlson (Director and Developer) is a director and producer of new work. She is currently in her fourth season as the Artistic Producer for New York Stage and Film. Prior to NYSAF, Liz worked as a freelance director and served as the Artistic Director of Naked Angels. She has directed at Ars Nova, The Dramatists Guild, EST, The Flea, Keen Company, Manhattan School of Music, MTC, The New Group, Playwrights Horizons, The Playwrights Realm, Signature Theater Company, Studio 42, Williamstown Theatre Festival, etc. MFA The New School for the Performing Arts. Alumnae of the Drama League Directors Project.

John Dietrich: Director/Choreographer/Writer including 17 years with Radio City Entertainment. Director/ Choreographer for the world-famous Rockettes / Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Bookwriter/Lyricist: Things As They Are (Composer-Jonathan Comisar): New York Musical Theatre Festival Next Link Selection/ “Best of Fest” Award winner. Only Anne (Composer-Will Buck): Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat / Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals. Lautrec at the St. James, The Last War (Composer-Julianne Wick Davis). The Nureyev Project (Composer-Will Buck). Has written/directed for Walt Disney Entertainment, Dolly Parton & Dollywood Entertainment. Education: MFA – NYU Tisch School of the Arts: Musical Theatre Writing, MA – NYU Gallatin: Musical Theatre Structure/Directing Theory, BM (Music) – University of Wisconsin.

Jesse Gage is an NYC-based musical theater writer and veteran of the Bleeker Street music scene, often found wheeling his upright piano around the West Village.  His television credits include Fox, NBC, BBC, PBS and a bevy of Brazilian soap operas. After writing the cult hit Oklahomo: Enforcer of Justice (NYMF 2010), he was awarded a musical theater fellowship at NYU/Tisch, and in 2016 and 2017 was recognized by Barrington Stage Company as one of the “ridiculously talented writers you should know (but probably don’t).” Jesse lives in Coney Island with his amazing wife Marlena and son Jonah Blue.

Scott Gilmour is a book writer and lyricist and one half of writing partnership, Noisemaker. Both graduates of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, alongside composer Claire McKenzie, Scott has worked throughout the UK and internationally creating innovative, original work to challenge the expectations of musical theatre. In 2016 Noisemaker were chosen as New Voices by Walt Disney Imagineering and NMI Inc. and, most recently, won Unique Business of the Year at the Scottish Business Awards 2018.

Noisemaker credits include; Hi, My Name is Ben (Goodspeed Musicals), The Snow Queen, Little Red and the Wolf (Dundee Rep), My Left/Right Foot (NTS/Edinburgh Fringe – Winner of Best Music at Critics’ Awards in Scotland 2019, Fringe First, Herald Angel Award), Legend Trippers (National Youth Music Theatre/The Other Palace), Atlantic: A Scottish Story (Edinburgh Fringe -Winner of Herald Angel Award), Forest Boy (NYMF, Arcola Theatre, The Other Palace) and their new choose-your-own adventure musical The Girl Who (AMTP at Northwestern University, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse). www.noisemaker.org.uk

Jacinth Greywoode is a Brooklyn-based composer and music director. Recent credits as Music Director/Arranger/Orchestrator include ROSE TATTOO (American Airlines Theater); SOLDIER’S PLAY (American Airlines Theater, National Tour) and I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE (Classic Stage). Recent Credits as composer include BLACK GIRL IN PARIS (Joe’s Pub), IRON JOHN (Irish Arts Center), HOW TO BREAK (Village Theater), and BLENDED HARMONY (History Theatre). www.jacinthgreywoode.com

Rebecca Hart is a performer, composer and writer based in NYC. On stage: ‘SWEAT’ (Public Tour), The Revolutionists (CT Critics Circle Award), Midsummer (TheatreWorks Hartford – CT Critics Circle Nom), Rimbaud in NY (The Civilians @BAM), Microcosmos (The Civilians), and frequent gigs with her six-piece altfolk band. Writing/composing credits include: Microcosmos and Rimbaud in NY (Civilians), GLORIA (Woolly Mammoth—Helen Hayes Nomination), The Cabaret at the End of the World (NY Innovative Theatre Award), Aaron Jafferis’ How to Break (NAMT 2014), Iron John (2019 O’Neill Semifinalist, NYU staged workshop), and her album The Magician’s Daughter. Civilians Associate Artist, MFA NYU GMTWP. 

Michael R. Jackson†holds a BFA and MFA in playwriting and Musical Theatre Writing from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He wrote book, music, and lyrics for the musicals†White Girl In Danger and A Strange Loop (which will receive its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons Theatre in May of 2019). He has received a 2017 Jonathan Larson Grant, a 2017 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, a 2017 ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Award, a 2016/2017 Dramatist Guild fellowship, and was the 2017 Williamstown Theatre Festival Playwright-In-Residence. He has commissions from Grove Entertainment & Barbara Whitman Productions and LCT3.

Anna K. Jacobs is a Brooklyn-based composer, lyricist and librettist. In addition to Teeth (O’Neill Musical Theater Conference), her musicals include POP! (Yale Rep, Pittsburgh City Theatre, Studio Theatre), Harmony, Kansas (Diversionary Theatre), Anytown (George Street Playhouse), Echo (The Gallery Players, MTF), Kaya: Taste of Paradise (NY Film Academy), and Stella and the Moon Man (Sydney Theatre Company/Theatre of Image). Currently, she and playwright Anna Ziegler are collaborating on a new musical for Barbara Whitman Productions and Grove Entertainment. Anna is the proud recipient of the 2018 Eric Salzman Award for New Music Theater Composition and 2016 Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award. MFA NYU-Tisch.

Melissa Li (she/her) is a composer, lyricist, performer, and writer based in NYC and Montreal. A recipient of the 2023 ASCAP Harold Adamson Lyric Award, 2021 Kleban Prize, and 2007 Jonathan Larson Award. Musicals include Interstate (New York Musical Festival, Winner

Claire McKenzie is a composer and one half of writing partnership, Noisemaker. Both graduates of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, alongside bookwriter/lyricist Scott Gilmour, Claire has worked throughout the UK and internationally creating innovative, original work to challenge the expectations of musical theatre. In 2016 Noisemaker were chosen as New Voices by Walt Disney Imagineering and NMI Inc. and, most recently, won Unique Business of the Year at the Scottish Business Awards 2018.

Noisemaker credits include; Hi, My Name is Ben (Goodspeed Musicals), The Snow Queen, Little Red and the Wolf (Dundee Rep), My Left/Right Foot (NTS/Edinburgh Fringe – Winner of Best Music at Critics’ Awards in Scotland 2019, Fringe First, Herald Angel Award), Legend Trippers (National Youth Music Theatre/The Other Palace), Atlantic: A Scottish Story (Edinburgh Fringe -Winner of Herald Angel Award), Forest Boy (NYMF, Arcola Theatre, The Other Palace) and their new choose-your-own adventure musical The Girl Who (AMTP at Northwestern University, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse). 

Seth Moore is a polyartist who works in theater, film, visual art, and music. His play Jonesin’ was produced by The University of Michigan; it won the 2008 McIntyre Prize, the Naomi Saferstein Literary Award, and The Avery Hopwood Award for Drama. In 2009, his play The Man With America Skin also received the McIntyre Prize and The Hopwood Award and was produced for The Araca Project in 2012. Other Writing: Ghosts In the Tapestry (The Claque), Catch (Cincinnati Fringe), Wolf Inside (WNYC); He makes films with his company, Sheep Eats Wolf, and is a frequently commissioned muralist and Illustrator.

Christopher Staskel is a writer and musical theatre lyricist-librettist. Recent projects include One Way (Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed; Rhinebeck Writers Retreat) with Ben Bonnema and The Firebird (2014 NMTC/O’Neill finalist) with Lisa Whitson Burns. He was a 2015 Kleban Prize finalist and a winner (with Max Mamon) of New York City Center’s Sondheim Remix contest, which granted him the surreal opportunity to rap for Stephen Sondheim.He holds a BFA in Music Theatre from Elon University and an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch.

The Lobbyists (Tommy Crawford, Eloise Eonnet, Alex Grubbs, Will Turner, Tony Aidan Vo and Douglas Waterbury-Tieman) are a NYC-based band and theater company that creates and performs original music and innovative music-theater. The group takes its name from the lobby of The Flea Theater, where the founding members met in 2012 while working on the Drama Desk-nominated These Seven Sicknesses. Since then, the group has played many iconic venues in New York, such as Joe’s Pub, Rockwood Music Hall, and Mercury Lounge, and toured to various locations in the northeast. As a theatrical and songwriting collective, the group’s work has been developed with NY Stage & Film, Cape Cod Theater Project, Ars Nova, Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat, Playwrights Realm, and Musical Theater Factory. The group’s debut theatrical piece, SeaWife, was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lighting in a Musical in 2016. New and upcoming projects include The Golden Spike with Don Nguyen. Stay in touch and learn more at

Julianne Wick Davis; Jonathan Larson 2012; Billie Burke Ziegfeld, 2018; Fifty Women to Watch 2020; 2020 Lotte Lenya Competition Songbook Series Award. TREVOR (music), with Dan Collins (book and lyrics) Writer’s Theatre, Jefferson Award Outstanding New Musical; off-Broadway 2021. SOUTHERN COMFORT with Collins, The Public Theatre, NY Times Critic’s Pick, Lortel, Outer Critics Circle Nominations Outstanding Musical; 2012 NAMT; Barrington Stage; reading at Playwrights Horizons; CAP21 (GLAAD Media Award, TimeOut NYC, NY Times Critic’s Pick). THE PEN, Inner Voices with Collins, NY Times Critic’s Pick. WHEN WE MET (music & lyrics), O’Neill Musical Theater Conference, York NEO Development Series, Broadway Bound Concert Series, CAP21. THE WILLARD SUITCASES (book, music, & lyrics) American Shakespeare Center 2019, Top Ten 2019 Theatrical Events by the Washington Post, Broadway Bound Concert Series. LAUTREC AT THE ST. JAMES (music) John Dietrich (book and lyrics), NAMT 2019 Conference, Applause Concert Series, Olney Theatre Center in 2021.

Kit Yan is a Yellow American New York-based artist, born in Enping, China, and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Kit is a 2019 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, 2019 Lincoln Center Writer in residence, a 2019 MacDowell Fellow, 2019-2020 Musical Theatre Factory Makers Fellow, and a 2019-2020 Playwright’s Center Many Voices Fellow. Works include Interstate, which won Outstanding Lyrics at the 2018 New York Musical Festival, and Queer Heartache, which won five awards at the Chicago and SF Fringe Festivals. Their work has been produced by the American Repertory Theater, the Smithsonian, Musical Theatre Factory, the New York Musical Festival and Diversionary Theatre. They have been a resident with the Civilians, Mitten Lab, 5th Avenue Theatre and the Village Theatre.