Four Writers Join Theatre Now's Musical Writers Lab

Theatre Now New York, a non-profit artists service organization and theatre company dedicated to supporting musical theatre writers, has added four writers to their Musical Writers Lab.

Writers A.J. Freeman, Jaime Jarrett, and the team of Kenny Harmon and Steve Wallace have joined the ongoing community of musical theatre writing teams who meet regularly to develop new musicals through presenting their work, sharing their process and offering support. They join returning Lab members Ethan Crystal & Garrett Poladian, Jonathan Keebler & Bob Kelly, Casey Kendall & Jonathan Bauerfeld, Will Lacker & Dylan Glatthorn, Paul Cozby, Henco Espag, Michael Finke, Jonathan Lynch, and the musical theatre writing collective Thicket & Thistle.

"We're thrilled to welcome A.J., Jaime, Kenny, and Steve to our Musical Writers Lab as it enters its second season" says Thomas Morrissey, Theatre Now's Artistic Director. "Their artistry is already at a very high level, and we look forward to supporting the continuing development of their work."

A. J. Freeman (Lyricist and Book Writer; she/her/hers) is a writer, teacher, director, and performer originally from Los Angeles, now based in New York. She has worked for over 12 years in educational theatre, directing dozens of full scale productions, and running her own literacy-based musical theatre program for low income students. Through this nonprofit, The Troupe, thousands of children in schools across Los Angeles received free reading books. The Troupe's free musical theatre workshops and assemblies inspired students from all backgrounds to use their gifts and talents throughvisual and performing arts. She is also a cabaret performer, championing brilliant but forgotten music of the 1920s and 30s.

Jaime Jarrett (Composer, Lyricist, Librettist; he/him/his) is a Brooklyn based composer/ playwright. Writing credits include: Wonder Boy (Musical Theatre Factory '20, NYMF's Developmental Reading Series '18, The Dare Tactic '18), Queer Baby Jesus (The Lounge at Dixon Place '19), Normativity (Polyphone Festival '17, NYMF '16). Music direction credits include: The Elementary Spacetime Show (Associate MD, Powerhouse Theatre), Noise (Associate MD, The Public and Playwrights Horizons Downtown). Awards include: NYMF's "Outstanding Emerging Artist" award, The Ira Brind School of Theatre's "Excellence in Playwriting" award. Jaime was a member of Musical Theatre Factory's inaugural Maker's Co-Hort and is currently a member of BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop. Most recently, Jaime performed excerpts from his newest works via livestream through Times Square Alliance's Broadway Buskers and New York Theatre Barn's New Work Series.

Kenny Harmon (Lyricist and Book Writer; he/him/his) was recently accepted into the Advanced class of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. As a performer, he has appeared with a number of opera, operetta, and musical theater companies around New York City. Kenny just presented his fifth solo show, Red, Red, Red at The Duplex earlier this year. As a book writer & lyricist, he has collaborated on original and parody songs for solo singers and a jazz vocal group.

Steve Wallace (Composer; he/him/his) is a singer and composer from Chicago IL and most recently a composer with BMI's Lehman Engel Workshop for composers and lyricists. His professional expertise incorporates a plethora of genres and styles from Soul, Hip Hop, Blues, and Classical. In the span of his career, Mr. Wallace has released 13 of his own albums independently as an artist, produced, performed and written on over 100 albums with credits including Ledisi, Ghostface Killah of the Wu Tang Clan, De La Soul, and Eric Roberson, as well as gaining nods from the likes of Jay-Z, Jadakiss, Just Blaze and others for his fantastic and creative ideas. He was also a go-to man for production and music direction in NewYork City on the Independent New York music scene for over a decade. Steve has shared stages with Robin Thicke, Common, Talib Kweli, and Leon Ware. He has and continues to compose scores for television and film including networks such as MTV, BET, NBC, arranged version of Lift Every Voice and Sing for the NAACP, worked with Sony Music, The Universal Music Group, and in 2010 he was the producer and arranger for the incredible song Be a Humanitarian, which was used as the theme for the United Nation's "Humanitarian Day" as well as in the running for Grammy Awards the same year. As a composer, Mr. Wallace has written a book of 15 art songs, 2 symphonies, 4 operas, 3 musicals and a variety of chamber works for various instruments. Mr. Wallace is also a very accomplished classical singer and has performed worldwide as a soloist, on tours, and as lead tenor roles in operas such as Carmen, La Boheme, and La Traviata with respected opera companies nationwide.

Theatre Now New York is an artist service organization dedicated to the development, production, publication, and circulation of short and long-form musicals, by providing ongoing support for writers and their work in order to nurture voices and forms that push the boundaries of musical theatre. Since 2013, they have produced the annual SOUND BITES Festival of 10-minute musicals. Though currently on-hold, they are in production for developmental runs of three new full-length musicals from their Writers Lab as well as a cabaret series to showcase works in progress. In addition, they offer licensing support for new short- and long-form musicals. More information can be found at TNNY.org.

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