36th Annual Festival of New Musicals

Chaz Cardigan (Music & Lyrics) is a versatile creator who has thrived in the age of algorithms. He’s created music for the YouTube Audio Library, had a top 15 Alternative radio hit with “Not OK!” in 2020, contributed “As I’ll Ever Be” to the NETFLIX film To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, and has amassed 24+ million streams across all platforms. Cardigan composed the upcoming musical The Brass Teapot — a timely and magical dark comedy. Cardigan’s original score takes influence from show tunes and alternative rock, opening a new chapter of his career.

Anthony Fedorov (Music & Lyrics) is a singer-songwriter-producer-actor-activist, born in Yalta, Crimea. Song placements: SoCal Gas, Hulu’s “Future Man,” “Tet’Emcombo” (award-winning short “The German King”) co-written with producing partner Latin Grammy® Award Winner Jeeve Ducornet, “PINK AND BLUE: Colors of Hereditary Cancer,” “Enough is Enough” (Moms Demand Action), “Our Story is One” (Baha’i International Community), “The Power of a Girl” (Mona Foundation). Fedorov has independently released pop/rock and children’s music (“Auraganix”), earning TuneCore’s collective Billions Club status with over 23-million streams. Stage: Love Actually, LIVE (The Wallis), The 12 (Denver Center), RENT revival (New World Stages). American Idol season 4, 4th place finalist. IG: @anthonyfedorovmusic

Erik Kaiko (Co-conceiver, Producer) is a creative producer with over a decade of professional experience in theatre management and arts marketing. With a background as a dramaturg, company manager, general manager, marketing director and producer, he is proud to be leading The Brass Teapot‘s musical development team. Chicago: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Filament Theatre, Writers Theatre, Token Theatre. New York: Joey Parnes Productions, Invisible Wall Productions, Snug Harbor Productions, New York Theatre Workshop. B.S. Northwestern University, MFA Columbia University.

Tim Macy (Book) is an author, screenwriter and playwright. His work has been performed at The Kennedy Center, and two of his stories have been adapted into films. Currently, he has two feature films in pre-production. Tim lives in Kansas with his wife and two children. MFA University of Kansas.

Veronica Mansour (Music & Story) is a 2024 Richard Rodgers Award Winner and Jonathan Larson Grant winner, recently nominated for a Marvin Hamlisch International Music Award, selected for DreamWorks Theatricals, MTI & NBCUniversal Emerging Writers Program (How To Train Your Dragon Jr.), and a 2023 Write Out Loud Contest Winner. Current works: LIGHTHOUSE (O’Neill NMTC Winner 2024, Rhinebeck 2024, Syracuse NWNV 2024, Olney Theatre Vanguard Arts Fund Finalist 2023, NYTB New Works Series 2023) and The Dark Lady (O’Neill NMTC Winner 2023, Syracuse NWNV Finalist, MTW New Works Festival, 2024 Johnny Mercer Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals, 2024 South Carolina New Play Festival).

Dylan MarcAurele (Music) is a New York-based musical theatre writer and composer. His newest musical, Pop Off, Michelangelo!, was developed at the JMF Writers Grove at Goodspeed and will have its world premiere at the upcoming 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Other recent musicals include MEG4N, The Real Housewives Of NYC, and Lewis Loves Clark (2023 Richard Rodgers Award; book and lyrics by Mike Ross). Last year, he wrote the song “Say Bravo!” for NBCUniversal’s inaugural Bravo Awards, sung by Andy Cohen and the cast of Vanderpump Rules. He also runs the 28K-follower musical Instagram account @rhonymusical. Harvard University, ’16. dylanmarcaurele.com.

Jack Miles (Music & Lyrics) is an Offie-nominated composer/lyricist from Suffolk with a Master’s degree with Distinction in Musical Theatre Writing from Goldsmiths University, London, where he is based. In Clay is his first show with writing partner Rebecca Simmonds. His other work includes St. Anne Comes Home (The Actors’ Church), and The Problem with Fletcher Mott (Drayton Arms/Tristan Bates Theatre). He is currently developing new musicals Chocolate, Lust & Lies, and Why Do We Return Here? with Millie Gaston. Jack is also an associate artist of Profugo Arts, as well as an Iris Theatre Platform Artist.

Ramaa Mosley (Book) is a filmmaker and activist who directed her first documentary at the age of 16. Since then, she has directed feature films and hundreds of award-winning commercials and is a director and showrunner on premium television series. Ramaa has been named one of Shoot Magazine’s top 10 Female Directors and is the founder of the youth-focused advertising agency Adolescent Content. A vocal advocate for girls’ and women’s rights around the world, she is also known for launching the U.S. social media campaign behind Bring Back Our Girls.

Jennifer Paz (Book & Lyrics) is an award-winning performer, writer-producer whose original screenplays have collectively earned a dozen accolades, and placements on the Coverfly all-time red list. Her original pilot Proud Marys won the Outstanding Screenplays TV Pilot Competition 2021, and received development at JMF Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals, 2024. Paz is a 2024/25 Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellowship Finalist. Credits: Miss Saigon (1st Nat’l, various regional), Les Miserables(Broadway), Flower Drum Song (Mark Taper Forum), Voiceover: “Steven Universe” (Lapis Lazuli). Manila-born, Seattle-raised, Paz is a recovering dead ingénue who enjoys writing subversive and quirky women-led stories trying to find their way. IG: @jenniferpazofficial

Barrett Riggins (Music & Lyrics) is a Brooklyn-based actor and songwriter. The New York Times once called him “very funny.” He composed and orchestrated original music for The Panic of ’29 (59E59). His studio albums Smoke Machine and Good Ol’ are available on all streaming platforms. His song “More Than an Apology” was released by Audible as part of You Are Here: An Evening with Solea Pfeiffer, recorded live at the Minetta Lane Theatre. Barrett is a proud member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. BFA: University of Michigan. www.barrettriggins.com.

Mike Ross (Book & Lyrics) is an award-winning New York-based lyricist/librettist, dramaturg and author for young readers. His musical work includes original tragicomedy Lewis Loves Clark (Book & Lyrics; 2023 Richard Rodgers Award; 2020-21 Dramatists Guild Fellowship), Kerrigan-Lowdermilk’s The Bad Years (Additional Lyrics; dir. Stephen Brackett); and family musicals The Land of Forgotten Toys and The Mystery of Custodia (Book and Additional Lyrics; Broadway Licensing). Plays include Sorry (Harvard Playwrights Festival) and Space: Four Stories in Boston. He has five books out for young readers through Scholastic; they have sold almost a million copies to date. BMI Advanced Workshop. Hello! www.mikerosswrites.com.

Parisa Shahmir (Book, Music & Lyrics) is an actress, singer and songwriter based in London. She began songwriting in 2014 while on tour with Mamma Mia and has since been writing, recording and releasing her own music for the past 10 years. In 2021, during the development run of Fisherman’s Friends the Musical, a show where Parisa also played the leading role, she wrote a song called “The Tidal Pool” which, after being heard by the creative team, was subsequently added into the show for the UK Tour (2022-2023). This experience sparked her desire to begin writing her first original musical project, Medusa.

Rebecca Simmonds (Book & Lyrics) is an Offie-nominated book writer/lyricist with a master’s degree in Musical Theatre Writing from Goldsmiths University, London, where she is based. She is a Selladoor New Writers Programme alum; a Book, Music & Lyrics Advanced Group member; and has previously directed and produced Edinburgh Fringe productions with Bedlam Theatre, EUSOG & For the Fans Productions. In Clay is her first show with writing partner Jack Miles. She is also currently developing a new musical, entitled The Sesh with composer Rob Gathercole, which received a first reading at The Other Palace Theatre in May 2024.

Be Steadwell (They, She, He, Be) (Book, Music, Lyrics) is a queer pop composer and storyteller from Washington DC. Be’s original music features earnest lyricism, unabashed corniness and affirming queer content. Be’s goal as a musician is to make other black girlies, introverts and weirdos feel seen and loved. Be earned a BA in Black Studies from Oberlin College and an MFA in film from Howard University. In 2019, Be wrote and directed A Letter to My Ex, the musical. A Letter to My Ex imagined a queer black woman’s experience of healing after a breakup. In 2021 Be released their latest album, Succulent. In 2023, Be joined the cast of Parable of the Sower the Opera by Toshi Reagon and Dr Bernice Johnson Reagon. Be currently works as a full-time musician and part-time lecturer at Howard University’s School of Communications.

Graham Techler’s (Book & Lyrics) plays include The Panic of ’29 (59E59), The Tycoons! (Less Than Rent), and Trust Fund (Finalist; O’Neill). He’s developed work with Fresh Ground Pepper, The Brick, Adult Film, New Jersey Rep, Playwrights Downtown, Urban Stages, and the Ensemble Studio Theatre, where he’s a member of the Obie-winning playwrights collective Youngblood. He contributes humor writing to The New Yorker and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, performs monthly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, and writes songs for Stage Time with PJ Adzima (The Slipper Room) with Barrett Riggins. He lives in Brooklyn. BFA: University of Michigan. www.grahamtechler.com.

abs wilson (Book, Lyrics & Story) is an NYC-based playwright/lyricist. She’s a Richard Rodgers Award winner (2024), Eugene O’Neill NMTC winner (2024), NAMT winner (2024), selected writer for Syracuse’s New Works New Voices program (2024), Write Out Loud winner for song “Runaway Girl” (2023), NMTC & NAMT finalist (2023), Vanguard Commission recipient (2023), THE SEVEN winner (2023), and David Einhorn Prize finalist (2022). She’s had work done at Playwrights Horizons, Paper Kraine, the Tank, the Brick, Fusion Theatre, St. Olaf College and Syracuse University, with songs performed at 54 Below and Joe’s Pub. She holds an MFA from NYU Tisch’s Musical Theatre Writing Program.