CREATIVE TEAM
MICHAEL WELLER (Book)
Michael Weller's work came to public notice with his play of student life in the late 60s, Moonchildren, which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London then transferred to Broadway, Off-Broadway, and productions around the world. Among his dozens of produced plays since then, the best known are Loose Ends, Spoils of War, Fifty Words, and the screenplays for Hair, Lost Angels, and Ragtime (Academy Award® Nominee). He was writer/producer on the television series "Once and Again," and is President of the Writer's Guild Initiative of the WGA, a lifetime member of The Dramatists Guild of America, and teaches at the New School for Drama. MICHAEL KORIE (Lyrics)
Michael wrote lyrics for Grey Gardens, Far From Heaven, Happiness, Doll, and librettos to the operas The Grapes of Wrath, Harvey Milk, Hopper's Wife, Kabbalah, Where's Dick?. His shows with composer Scott Frankel have been nominated for Tony® and Drama Desk Awards, received The Outer Critics Circle Award, and have been produced on Broadway, Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center Theater, nationally, and abroad. Grey Gardens opens in London this summer. Operas he created with the composers Stewart Wallace and Ricky Ian Gordon have been produced at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera, BAM Next Wave Festival, Carnegie Hall, and Disney Los Angeles Symphony Hall. He has enjoyed collaborations with playwrights Doug Wright, Richard Greenberg, Donald Marguiles, John Weidman, and with directors Michael Greif, Christopher Alden, Susan Stroman, and Richard Foreman. Concert works include Gay Century Songbook with composer Larry Grossman at Carnegie Hall, and Positions 1956 with composer Conrad Cummings at Knitting Factory. Korie's lyrics have received the Kleban Prize, Jonathan Larson Award, and the ASCAP Richard Rodgers Award. His songs with composer Frankel were spotlighted at The Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage Broadway Today. He serves on the council of The Dramatists Guild, contributes to The Dramatist, and moderates the musical theater division of the Dramatist Guild Fellows Program. He teaches lyric writing as part of the Shen Curriculum for Yale College and Yale School of Drama. |
LUCY SIMON (Composer)
Lucy is a Grammy Award-winning, critically acclaimed singer/songwriter and composer for the American musical theater. Born into a musical family, Ms. Simon began her professional career at age 16 with her sister Carly as part of The Simon Sisters. This was followed by a career as a songwriter and recording artist. While she was raising her children, she co-wrote and produced the children’s albums, “In Harmony” and “In Harmony 2,” both of which won Grammy Awards. She found her true calling writing for the musical theater. Ms. Simon made her Broadway debut in 1991 as the composer of The Secret Garden for which she received Tony® and Drama Desk nominations, The Drama-Logue Award, and a Grammy nomination for the recording of the score. The Secret Garden was produced in Australia in 1995 and for the Millennium, in the UK by The Royal Shakespeare Company. It broke box office records in its run at Stratford before transferring to the West End. Ms. Simon wrote and produced the songs and soundtrack for the multi-award winning HBO movie, “The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom.” Ms. Simon returns to home ground as she develops her next musical based on an iconic and beloved American story. AMY POWERS (Lyrics)
Amy is an Emmy®-nominated lyricist and songwriter who has made her mark across multiple musical genres. Two songs she co-wrote for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard were multi-platinum releases for Barbra Streisand, with "As If We Never Said Goodbye," also a viral hit for Chris Colfer on "Glee." Other major artists to record her songs are R&B's Brian McKnight, Country's Alabama, Contemporary Christian music's Avalon, and international pop stars from Tina Arena to RBD. In live-action and animated film and television, Powers has worked extensively for global brands such as The Walt Disney Company, Universal, and Mattel's Barbie Brand, with credits ranging from Oscar-winning When We Were Kings to Anne Hathaway starrer Ella Enchanted. Powers, a Harvard-trained lawyer and Columbia MBA, also co-produced the 2014 Drama-Desk nominee Heathers. |