Meet the writers of the 21st Annual Festival of New Musicals shows!

GABY ALTER (Lyrics/Music, Band Geeks!) is a 2008 Jonathan Larson Grant recipient, and winner of the San Francisco Theater Critics' Circle and New York Fringe Festival Songwriting Awards. Projects include Reality! with Itamar Moses (Cape Cod Theatre Project 2008), and the pop song cycle 29 (NYU Steinhardt Spring Musical, 2007). Songs have appeared at the Public Theater, Barrington Stage Company and Lincoln Center Library. Gaby has also written songs for PBS TV’s Kids Block and music for public radio’s Backstory. MFA, Musical Theatre Writing, NYU Tisch.  He can be found on the web at www.gabyalter.com.

MARK ALLEN (Music, Band Geeks!) is winner of a 2009 Jonathan Larson Award.  He has been a published songwriter and musician since he was ten.  A studio vocalist and an award-winning actor, director and film composer, Mark has been a part of theatre his whole life.  Mark is a graduate of Samford University and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, where he was the winner of the 2005 ASCAP Max Dreyfus Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre Writing.  Mark wrote Tinyard Hill, (NAMT Festival 2007)with Tommy Newman.  He can be found on the web at www.markallenmusic.com.

BARBARA ANSELMI (Music, It Shoulda Been You): The Orphan Train (book and lyrics by Susan Nanus published by Samuel French).  She also composed the music for an adaptation of A Christmas Carol for The Acting Company Salon Series. A proud participant in the York Theater's NEO 2 concert, The Songwriter's Showcase for NAMT, Monday Night New Voices and Musical Mondays.  Her music has been performed at benefits and concerts in New York and throughout the country.  Her song “All Join Together” raised over $40,000 for the New York Times 9/11 Fund.  Member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop (advanced).   

SARA COOPER (Book/Lyrics, Memory is the Mother of All Wisdom) is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc., and a graduate of NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Recent productions: Memory Is The Mother Of All Wisdom (reading, Barrington Stage Company); The Yehuatl (short musical, Lee Strasberg Institute at NYU, music by Jaime Lozano); A Corpse in the Kitchen (short play, Theater for the New City); EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION!: THE MUSICAL (Theater for the New City, music by Chris Shimojima); We Love You, Johnny Hero (NY Fringe Festival, music by Chris Shimojima); and Terrorism & You (short musical, 13th Street Repertory Company, music by Chris Shimojima).

SUSAN DILALLO(Book, Iron Curtain) won a Jonathan Larson Award for her book to Iron Curtain. Other credits include: book and lyrics for Once Upon a Time in New Jersey (Richard Rodgers Award; Global Search for New Musicals Competition winner, Cardiff); book and lyrics for the Clear Channel/Mattel production of Barbie Live! In Fairytopia; book and lyrics for Pinocchio (winner, KIDDSTUFF New Play Competition); libretto for Wild About Harry, commissioned by the New York Musical Theatre Festival; lyrics for That’s Life (Outer Critics Circle nominee) and the new libretto for the classic Dorothy Fields/Arthur Schwartz musical, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. She is a recipient of the coveted Kleban Award.

GORDON GREENBERG (Book, Band Geeks!): Recent directing credits: Working (revised with Stephen Schwartz and Lin Manuel Miranda – Old Globe, Asolo), Jacques Brel… (Zipper Theatre –Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Award noms), Pirates! Or Gilbert & Sullivan Plunder’d (Conceived with Nell Benjamin – Huntington, Goodspeed, Paper Mill), The Baker’s Wife (revised with Stephen Schwartz & Joe Stein –Paper Mill, Goodspeed), Happy Days (redeveloped with Garry Marshall – Goodspeed, Paper Mill, National Tour), The Citizens Band (Spiegelworld, Henry Street Settlement), Edges (professional premier, by Pasek and Paul –Capital Rep.), 1776 (Paper Mill) Education:  Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Stanford University, NYU Film, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab.  www.gordongreenberg.com

BRIAN HARGROVE (Book/Lyrics, It Shoulda Been You) was a writer on the television shows Dave’s World, Caroline in the City, Holding The Baby, and Maggie.   He co-created the show Titus, which ran over three years on Fox, where he also executive produced Wanda at Large.  He created the sit-com Nora for TBS.  He wrote the book My Life as a Dog a mock-ography of Moose, the dog that played Eddie on Frasier - which he later turned into a television movie for NBC. He also co-wrote a new narration for Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnivale of the Animals, performed at the Hollywood Bowl. 

CREIGHTON IRONS (Factory Girls) is a composer/lyricist from beautiful Chapel Hill, NC. His musicals include aliveinsignificance (2001), Ran Together (2003), and Soul Notes (2005), and his original songs have been presented by William Finn at Barrington Stages and performed across the region. Factory Girls, written with collaborator Sean Mahoney, has been workshopped at the American Conservatory Theater (with Young Conservatory and MFA students) and at Goodspeed Musicals’ “Festival of New Artists.” Irons received his BA from UNC-Chapel Hill (Morehead Scholar, 2005) and his MFA from NYU-Tisch’s Musical Theater Writing Program (2008).

KYLE JARROW (Music/Lyrics, Hostage Song) writes for the stage, film, and television and plays in the rock bands The Fabulous Entourage and Super Mirage. His plays include A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant (Obie Award), Armless (currently being made into a feature film), Love Kills, and Gorilla Man among others. Upcoming: Whisper House, a collaboration with Duncan Sheik, at The Old Globe Theatre. You can find more info on Kyle at www.landoftrust.com.

MICHAEL MAHLER(How Can You Run With A Shell On Your Back?) is the Chicago-based composer/lyricist of How Can You Run With A Shell On Your Back? (with Alan Schmuckler) and Knute Rockne: All-American (with David H. Bell and Buddy Farmer). He has contributed to The American Dream Songbook (Next Theater); What U Will (La Red Productions) and others. His musical reviews 5 to 9 and Moving Forward, Looking Back have been performed at The Beechman in NY, Northwestern University, and St. Olaf College. His songs have been featured in NAMT’s 2005 New Works Summit and 2007 Songwriters’ Showcase, in MAC/ASCAP songwriter showcases in NY and Chicago, in The New Composer Project at CCM in Boston, in Ballads. Also, Uptempos at Ars Nova, and in Chicago’s Monday Nights, New Voices series. Projects in development include an adaptation of The 9/11 Report (with Jessica Redish) for La Red Music Theatre; and Boyfred, a musical TV series (with Alan Schmuckler, Jarrod Zimmerman and Blake Silver). www.michaelmahler.com

SEAN MAHONEY (Factory Girls) is a composer, lyricist, and bookwriter. He is also a professional DJ, guitarist, educator, and independent record producer. His work has been performed at Goodspeed, Joe’s Pub, ACT-San Francisco, Ars Nova, and Barrington Stage. He lives in the East Village with his wife Emily and son Tee.

CLAY McLEOD CHAPMAN (Book, Hostage Song) is the creator of the rigorous storytelling session “The Pumpkin Pie Show”. He is the author of rest area, a collection of short stories, and miss corpus, a novel -- both published by Hyperion books. He teaches writing at The Actors Studio MFA Program at Pace University.

PETER MILLS (Lyrics, Iron Curtain) received the 2007 Fred Ebb Award for emerging songwriters, 2005 Drama Desk Award nominations for his show THE PURSUIT OF PERSEPHONE, and a 2002 Jonathan Larson grant.  As a composer/lyricist, his shows include ILLYRIA, THE FLOOD, THE ROCKAE and GOLDEN BOY OF THE BLUE RIDGE. He holds an M.F.A. in Musical Theater Writing from NYU and a degree in English/Dramatic Literature from Princeton University. Peter is a founding member of Prospect Theater Company.  www.pcmills.com

DUANE NELSEN (Ripper) worked as composer-in-residence for off-Broadway’s Equity Library Theatre before starting his own music production company in 1988, scoring national TV spots for McDonald’s, Kellogg’s, Disney, Pillsbury and many others. Ripper was presented at the 2004 STAGES festival, and received it’s first commercial reading in New York in March 2007. Other shows include The Last Charade, Division Street and the new musical comedy Spa. His concert music has been performed by orchestras here and abroad. Professional affiliations: ASCAP, SAG, Dramatists Guild. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Catherine Hug, and their two sons. www.ripperthemusical.com

TOMMY NEWMAN (Book/Lyrics/Concept, Band Geeks!) is a book writer/composer-lyricist and a commissioned songwriter.  He is a graduate of Troy University and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts GMTWP.  He has been recognized by the American College Theatre Festival at the Kennedy Center and received a fellowship at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center.  Composed original scores for a number of regionally produced plays and independent films.  Recent projects include 29, with Gaby Alter, Tinyard Hill (NAMT Festival 2007) with Mark Allen (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Red Mountain Theatre, Birmingham, AL) and Band Geeks!  He can be found on the web at www.tommynewman.com.

ZACH REDLER(Music, Memory is the Mother of All Wisdom) is an active composer, pianist, arranger, copyist, musicologist and musical director in and out of New York City.  Recent productions: Memory Is The Mother Of All Wisdom (reading, Barrington Stage Company); May Day (GMTWP Reading); Adeyele (short musical, GMTWP Reading); Perez Hilton Saves the Universe(Best Musical Fringe Festival 2008 and Best Musical in the Talkin' Broadway 2008 Summer Theatre Festival Citations).  He is a member of ASCAP, Local 802 and recent graduate of NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.

ALAN SCHMUCKLER (How Can You Run With A Shell On Your Back?) has contributed music and lyrics to What U Will (La Red Productions); Plus One (Duplex); and The Out-of-Towners and Performers for Peace (Triad). His songs have been featured in NAMT’s 2005 New Works Summit and 2007 Songwriters’ Showcase, and in Chicago’s Monday Nights, New Voices series. Projects in development include The Emperor’s New Clothes (with David Holstein) for Chicago Shakespeare Theater; an adaptation of Charles L. Mee’s Summertime (with Jessica Redish) for La Red Music Theatre; and Boyfred, a musical TV series (with Michael Mahler, Jarrod Zimmerman and Blake Silver). More at alanschmuckler.com.

STEPHEN WEINER (Music, Iron Curtain) has composed scores to Rocket Science (Book by Patricia Cotter, Lyrics by Jason Rhyne), The Hudsucker Proxy and newyorkers (Book & Lyrics by Glenn Slater), Once Upon A Time in New Jersey (Book & Lyrics by Susan DiLallo),and Spittin’ Image (Book by Karin Kasdin, Lyrics by Laura Szabo Cohen). Proud recipient of the Richard Rodgers Award, The Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, The ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award and The Global Search for New Musicals Award.  www.stephenaweiner.com

The Festival of New Musicals is supported in part by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art, and by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.