33rd Annual Festival of New Musicals

Melis Aker is a writer, actor and musician from Turkey. Her scripts have been commissioned by and developed at the Atlantic Theater (Middle Eastern Mixfest), Ars Nova (Play Group member), NYTW (2050 fellow), O’Neill, Cannes Film Festival, IFP, New Group, Dramatists Guild (DGF fellow), Roundabout, Lark (MEA writers room), Noor, 24 Hour Plays and Magic Theatre in the U.S., as well as the Finborough and Park theatres in London. Previously: developed a screenplay with Revelations Entertainment headed by Morgan Freeman, wrote teleplay “Fractio Panis” starring Brian Cox for Homebound Project/No Kid Hungry and released her NYT-reviewed radio-play ÄúScraps and ThingsÄù on Playing On Air, starring Carol Kane. Selected acting credits include “The EqualizerÄù (CBS), “The Blacklist: Redemption” (NBC), ÄúSenecaÄù (HBO Max), Love in Afghanistan (Arena Stage & Roundabout). Currently developing a musical play with Benjamin Scheuer, and a commission by Ars Nova. Her play Field, Awakening (Kilroy’s List) will receive its world premiere at the Finborough Theatre (COVID-19 pending). Melis is a recipient of the Sundance Interdisciplinary Program grant. Training: Columbia (MFA), RADA (Acting). Representation: CAA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. www.melisaker.com

Greg Dean Borowsky is a Grammy-nominated songwriter and music producer from South Africa, signed to Sony Music Publishing. Greg’s debut album, was nominated for a MetroFM Best RnB Award, and his single, Chocolate Vanilla, was nominated for a Best RnB Channel O Africa Award. In 2014, Greg was commissioned to co-write and produce South Africa’s official 20 Years of Freedom song. Shortly thereafter, Greg moved to New York to develop MANDELA – The Musical, which will be premiering at The Young Vic Theatre in London 2022 and releasing a Broadway/West End all-star album through Sony Masterworks in 2022.

ELLAROSE CHARY (she/hers)’s musical TL;DR: THELMA LOUISE; DYKE REMIX won the Richard Rodgers Award, was awarded a Rhinbeck Triple R Residency, was featured at NAMT, was an O’Neill NMTC Incubator Project and was a Relentless Award HM. It will receive its World Premiere at Diversionary Theater in 2024. She’s been in residence at Ars Nova, Roundabout Theatre, and as a Harvard TDM Guest Lecturer. Her work has been produced by The Civilians (City Center, Joe’s Pub, The Greene Space), The Rose Theater, Theo Ubique & the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre. She is a Dramatists Guild Fellow, Civilians R & D Group alum, and current member of the New Georges Jam. She has written for The Lilly Awards Blog, HowlRound, and Musical Theater Today (contributing editor) and been featured in American Theatre Magazine. She believes the future of American theater is universal healthcare. MFA: NYU Tisch, BA: Brown University.

Jacinta Clusellas is a composer, guitarist and singer-songwriter based in New York City. Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jacinta brings together South American folklore, jazz and chamber music, in the context of songs influenced by poems, literature and nature from South America. She is the composer-arranger of the bilingual musical AZUL, inspired by her concept album El Pájaro Azul, which was published in Japan under the record label Inpartmaint Inc. She has toured across the US (Lincoln Center, SXSW) and internationally in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Canada, Greece and Italy. She has arranged for A.R. Rahman (Boston Symphony Hall) and Alejandro Sanz. Jacinta is a Teaching Artist at the Very Young Composers Program for the New York Philharmonic. www.jacintaclusellasmusic.com

Georgina Escobar is a queer Mexican playwright and maker of sci-femme narratives, ultra-human mythos and Frontera-funk stories. She works textually with the impossible to excavate Latin American perspectives & create genre-fiction with heart. She is a MacDowell Fellow, Djerassi Artist and recipient of the Darrell Ayers Award. Her work has been featured in the Kilroys List, The Texas Review, Los Bárbaros, McSweeney’s Anthology and New Passport Press. Her plays have been produced across the USA and internationally in Mexico, UK, Italy, Denmark and Sweden. Her work has been performed at INTAR, New York Children’s Theatre, Project Y, Clubbed Thumb, Lincoln Center, Bushwick Starr (NY), Two Rivers, Milagro, Aurora Theatre and the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center.

Brandon James Gwinn (he/they) is a Drama League nominated, Richard Rodgers and Bistro Award winning composer-lyricist, performer, pianist and producer. Winner of the Broadway World Award for Best Piano Bar Entertainer and a LiveNation artist, Brandon opened for Trixie Mattel’s North American Tour and appears in MOVING PARTS on Netflix. Solo albums: BULLIT (Queer Global Arts Festival Winner) & NOT TOO LATE Music producer: TWO BIRDS & ONE STONE (Billboard #1) by Trixie Mattel, LOVE FOOL by Alexis Michelle for Broadway Records, PLACE & TIME. Theatre: THE SEANCE MACHINE (The Tank, Obie-Award) TL;DR. THELMA LOUISE; DYKE REMIX (Richard Rodgers Award, Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat, UArts Polyphone Festival, O’Neill, NAMT), COTTON CANDY & COCAINE (Theatre C), SMALL TOWN STORY (Village Originals, Seattle. World Premiere: American Theatre Group) Residencies: Ars Nova, Dramatists Guild Fellow, Roundabout Space Jam. Recording Academy Grammy Voter, Local 802 AFM and ASCAP. MFA NYU’s GMTWP. Represented by WME. www.brandonjamesgwinn.com

Robi Hager (He/Him) is a Mexican-American musical theatre writer and performer who has appeared on Broadway with Spring Awakening, How To Succeed in BusinessĶ, Doctor Zhivago and Bye Bye Birdie. His musical Little Duende was accepted for the 2021 NMTC at The O’Neill Center and was also selected for the 2021 NAMT festival. His other musical Siluetas was selected the following year for the 2022 NMTC at The O’Neill Center and will be receiving a production in Philadelphia with Power Street Theatre Co in June of 2024. He’s the composer of LGBTQ musical Basic Witches, for which he received a 2018 Barrymore Award nomination for best original score. Robi’s been commissioned by the Arden Theatre Co. to write a new children’s musical based on the legends of King Arthur. For more information visit robihager.com

Born and raised in Singapore, Cheeyang Ng is an award-winning singer-songwriter who writes at the intersection of queer, Asian and immigrant stories. They have performed around the world, including Lincoln Center with Carole King and Carnegie Hall with a cappella group Vocalosity and are the first Singaporean to headline a concert at Joe’s Pub and Millennium Stage at Kennedy Center. Musicals in development include Eastbound (Village Theatre Festival of New Musicals, NAMT ’20) with Khiyon Hursey and Māyā (Live & In Color, Hypokrit) with Eric Sorrels. BMus: Berklee. MFA: NYU. www.cheeyang.com

Eamonn O’Dwyer is an award-winning composer and an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. He has written original music for Lady Chatterley’s Lover (UK Tour); Twelfth Night & Henry V (Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, York); It Never Happened (ArtsEd); Mrs. Beeton SaysĶ (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School); The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (NYMT, The Other Palace); The Comedy of Errors & Julius Caesar Re-imagined (RSC, Swan); Flesh & Bone (National Theatre Studio); Grimm Tales & Peter Pan (Chichester Festival Theatre); Jeeves & Wooster (Barn, Cirencester); Stones in His Pockets (Dukes, Lancaster); The Glass Menagerie (Theatre Chipping Norton). The score for his original musical The House of Mirrors & Hearts won the MTM Award for Best New Score at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010, and after its critically acclaimed run at the Arcola Theatre in 2015, it has now been performed in Australia and the US. For more info, visit www.eamonnodwyer.com

Marshall is a writer and director for theater, and is the proud owner of a wildly untrained, but ultimately well-meaning terrier-mix. He directed, composed and co-wrote the Off-Broadway musicals Who’s Your Baghdaddy, which was a two-time NY Times Critic’s Pick, and Triassic Parq, which went on to win the Ovation Award for Best Musical for its LA premiere. Other select writing includes Loch Ness (Best Musical/Best Director ’19 BWW Awards); Claudio Quest (six NYMF Awards for Excellence); Shrek the Halls (DreamWorks Theatricals); The Magic School Bus (TheaterWorks USA). Film Veggie Tales: Noah’s Ark starring Wayne Brady (Original Songs). He’s written and directed for RKO Stage, Atlantic Theater Company, PBS and lots of other cool places. Graduate of Yale University. www.marshallpailet.com

Tatiana Pandiani is a Latine writer & director-choreographer who works in English and Español. She serves as the Associate Director of the Broadway tour of What the Constitution Means to Me. Recent: Blood Wedding at Yale. Upcoming: multilingual Our Town at Dallas Theater Center. Tatiana has directed new work at the Park Theatre (London), Long Wharf, Cleveland Playhouse, NYTW, IATI, Primary Stages, Signature. As a choreographer, Tatiana works with Latine artists in concerts & music videos. Tatiana is the New Works Director at Miami New Drama and a professor at Hofstra University and the Atlantic Acting School. Member of SDC. MFA: Columbia. Reps: Paradigm. www.tatianapandiani.com

Kyle Puccia is a Platinum-selling songwriter, composer and musician. His co-write, “Kids In Love,” debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Kyle earned a Swedish Grammy nomination in 2018, and his songs have charted on Billboard’s Top 40 Hot Dance Club Play & Top 10 UK Commercial Pop Charts. Kyle has composed dozens of scores for Microsoft and T-Mobile commercials. He has garnered song placements on such TV shows/films/brands as HBO, World Of Dance, Pretty Little Liars, Legacies, The Titan Games, Love Island, Siesta Key, The Vineyard and Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List. He has music-directed and/or created vocal arrangements for TV’s Lucifer (Netflix), LA workshop productions for Rock of Ages and Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion, The Musical.

Kalani is an award winning screenwriter for Ancestor Eyes, his self-directed short film that played at nearly 40 festivals, winning 14 awards, including the Rhode Island International Film Festival’s Directorial Discovery Award. For his musical, Missing Peace, Kalani is the recipient of the 2019 Native Voices Playwrights Retreat, 2020 Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, 2021 & 2022 Johnny Mercer Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals, 2021 NAMT Festival of New Plays, and the 2022 Rhinebeck Writers Retreat Triple R. Kalani is a long time collaborator with Chadwick Johnson, creating an extensive library of music together, including developing and directing his one man show, Music and Me. Most recently, Kalani and Chadwick wrote and released a thirteen song album, Unbreakable. Kalani is currently developing his episodic comedy, When You Miss Aloha, as well as his feature film, Stored and Safe, showcasing his birthplace and culture as the backdrop in his character driven projects.

SEVAN is an award-winning London and NYC-based actor-writer. His work has been seen in London and New York at The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, The Flea Theater, The Sheen Center, The Bush Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Theatre503, Rich Mix, The Old Red Lion, The Space and Access Theater. He was a member of the Bush Theatre inaugural 2015 Emerging Writers’ Group; The Public Theater 2011 Emerging Writers Group; NYTW Usual Suspect; Rising Circle Theater Collective 2010 InkTANK Writer’s Lab. NYTW 2011/2012 Teaching Artist. 2021 Orchard Project Performance Lab Fellow. 2017 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist. 2014/2015/2016 Princess Grace Award Semi-Finalist. 2014 Papatango Playwriting Prize Shortlist. 2014 Saroyan Social Justice/Human Rights Playwriting Award Finalist. 2010/2012 William Saroyan Playwriting Prize Finalist. He has won the 2016 Kondazian Playwriting Award for Armenian Stories and the 2016 Arch and Bruce Foundation Playwriting Prize. www.justsevan.com

Originally from Tennessee, Eric Sorrels is an award-winning songwriter and professional choral singer. He is a member of the choirs of St. John the Divine and Temple E-Manuel in New York City, and he has sung at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and sacred spaces here and abroad. His songs have been heard throughout New York City’s cabaret spaces. Musicals in development include Māyā (Live & In Color, Hypokrit) and Only Us (Drama League Residency) with Cheeyang Ng. Eric’s first solo EP will debut in 2022. BA: University of Tennessee. MFA: NYU. www.ericsorrels.com

Melvin Tunstall, III is an Off-Broadway Alliance Award-winning playwright for penning the book of the TYA phenomenon Polkadots: the Cool Kids Musical. Seen in over 50 productions worldwide, the show also took home the Naledi Award, South Africa’s equivalent to the Tony Award. Melvin resides in New York City, where he is currently working on the musical adaptation of the YA Novel The Supadupa Kid for Barrington Stage Company, and an original movie musical based on the story of the famed Greensboro Four entitled One Week at Woolworth’s. Melvin is represented by William Morris Endeavor.