Download 2016 National Music Theater Conference

2016 National Music Theater Conference
Writer Bios
David H. Bell
The Museum of Broken Relationships
David H. Bell has served as Artistic Director of the Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. and Associate Artistic Director
to Kenny Leon at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, and is currently the Artistic Director of the American
Music Theatre Project and Director of the Music Theatre Program at Northwestern University. As director,
choreographer, or author, David has received 44 of Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award nominations (winning 11),
5 Carbonell nominations (Florida), as well as the Dramalogue Award (LA), the Helen Hayes Award (DC.), and
numerous awards in Atlanta. His musical Hot Mikado (book, additional lyrics) was nominated for the Olivier award
(London's West End). David has written and directed Cowboys and Lawyers (Goodspeed Opera House) and The
Good War (Northlight Theatre), both with Craig Carnelia; Fanny Brice (Maltz Jupiter, Asolo Rep); Matador
(Coconut Grove Playhouse); The Bowery Boys (Marriott Theatre); The Rules of Love (AMTP); Don’t Stop the
Carnival (Coconut Grove Playhouse); Hot Mikado (Ford's Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Pittsburgh CLO, Alliance
Theatre); The Theatre of Dreams (Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, England); and Die Schone und das das Biest
(European Tour). He directed the world premieres of Murder for Two (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, HERO,
Marriott Theatre, and Asolo Rep), Elmer Gantry (Ford’s Theatre), Peggy Sue Got Married (Marriott Theatre), and
many others. He has worked on original musicals with Cy Coleman, Dolly Parton, Jimmy Buffett, Herman Wouk,
Joe Kinosian, Kellen Blair, Russell Baker, George Stiles, and others.
Daniel Green
The Museum of Broken Relationships
Daniel Green is a composer/lyricist and music director. He was the associate conductor of Rocky on Broadway
and has also played or conducted on Broadway for several other shows. As a composer, Daniel is a graduate of
the BMI Musical Theatre Advanced Workshop. His show The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen, written with Lezlie
Wade, was presented at the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop for Stephen Schwartz, with guest panelists Stephen
Flaherty and Dick Scanlan. It was also showcased at Bound for Broadway with Liz Callaway, the Finger Lakes
Musical Theatre Festival, and the Toronto SummerWorks Festival, and had a reading at the American Music
Theatre Project. Other honors include a NAMT grant from the National Fund for New Musicals, a retreat at
Running Deer Musical Theatre Lab, a Weston Playhouse New Musical Award nomination, and a feature in NEO
at the York Theatre. Other composing credits include Fanny Brice (Asolo Rep), A Midsummer Night's Dream
(Northwestern University), and Twelfth Night (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival).
Zakiyyah Alexander
GIRL Shakes Loose
Zakiyyah Alexander is a writer for stage and television. Her plays include: 10 Things To Do Before I Die (Second
Stage), Sick? (Summer Play Festival), The Etymology of Bird (Central Park Summerstage, Hip Hop Theater Festival,
Providence Black Repertory Theatre), Blurring Shine (Market Theater, Johannesburg; NY International Fringe
Festival), Sweet Maladies (Brava Arts Center, Rucker Theatre, Bay Area Playwrights Festival), something new
(commissioned by Philadelphia Theater Company), and (900). A recipient of a Joyce Award for the development
of the new musical, GIRL Shakes Loose with composer Imani Uzuri, featuring the poetry of Sonia Sanchez. Other
awards include: Helen Merrill Emerging Playwriting Award, ACT New Play Award/Lorraine Hansberry Prize, Stellar
Network Award, Theodore Ward Prize, Jackson Phelan Award, Van Lier Award at New Dramatists, Drama League
New Directors/New Works, New Professional Theatre Playwriting Award. Education: Yale School of Drama (MFA
in playwriting). Most recently, a writer for the television show Grey’s Anatomy.
Imani Uzuri
GIRL Shakes Loose
Composer and vocalist Imani Uzuri’s work has been called “stunning” by New York Magazine. She travels
internationally creating concerts, experimental theater, performance art, and sound installations in venues/festivals
including Joe's Pub, The Kitchen, Whitney Museum, Central Park Summer Stage, Performa Biennial, and MoMA
(Museum of Modern Art). The Village Voice says, “Imani Uzuri is a constant surprise...seamlessly combining jazz,
classical, country, and blues motifs into highly personalized compositions.” Uzuri is currently composing a new
musical, GIRL Shakes Loose with book by playwright Zakiyyah Alexander (featuring the poetry of Sonia Sanchez).
She recently premiered her first orchestral composition, Placeless, at Ecstatic Music Festival and was subsequently
named by The New Yorker as one of the emerging “female composers edg[ing] forward.” Uzuri was a 2015 Park
Avenue Armory Artist-In-Residence, and she is currently composing her first opera, Hush Arbor, as a 2015 MAP
Fund grantee. The New York Times has called Uzuri’s music “stirring.” During Spring 2016, Uzuri will mark her
Lincoln Center American Songbook debut. www.imaniuzuri.com.
Daniel Zaitchik
Darling Grenadine
Daniel Zaitchik is a composer-playwright, singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor. His musicals include Picnic at
Hanging Rock (book/music/lyrics), Darling Grenadine (book/music/lyrics), Ula (book/music/lyrics), and Suprema
(with playwright Jordan Harrison.) His work has been developed at Lincoln Center Theatre, Ars Nova, New
Dramatists, the National Music Theater Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and the Johnny Mercer
Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. As a singer-songwriter, Zaitchik has played throughout New York and
Los Angeles at venues including Joe's Pub, 54 Below, Canal Room, Rockwood Music Hall, Room 5, and the
Bootleg Theater. His albums include Summer of the Soda Fountain Girls (with his band Blue Bottle Collection) and
Bad Dancer. As an actor, Zaitchik has worked at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Cherry Lane,
Williamstown Theatre Festival, Barrington Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Intiman
Theatre, and others.