Notes From Now - Off-Broadway Creative Team

Jay Adana, fka Jennifer Loring, is a singer-songwriter based out of Brooklyn. She was the lyricist for The Woodsman (New World Stages, 59E59, ARS Nova) directed and conceived by James Ortiz, Edward W. Hardy, and Strangemen & Co. She also contributed music and lyrics to Jeff Augustin’s The Last Tiger in Haiti (Berkeley Rep, La Jolla Playhouse). She was a member of the second cohort of #BARS at the Public Theater (created by Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal) where she first met and collaborated with writing partner Zeniba Britt on an adaptation of Beloved by Toni Morrison. She is currently ... read more MASI ASARE is a composer, lyricist, and playwright. Shows include: THE FAMILY RESEMBLANCE (book/music/lyrics; Theatre Royal Stratford East commission, Eugene O’Neill Center); a new musical about a story of racial passing (book/music/lyrics) commissioned by Barbara Whitman/Grove Entertainment; the new musical adaptation of Mira Nair’s film MONSOON WEDDING (lyrics); a one-act play about Ms. Marvel MIRROR OF MOST VALUE (Marvel/Samuel French); a new musical commissioned by Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theatre/Toulmin Foundation; and spy musical SYMPATHY JONES (music/lyrics/concept; NYMF; Playscripts). A past Dramatists Guild Fellow, Masi won the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award for a woman composer of musicals, both the Holof Lyricist ... read more Actor: Broadway: Into the Woods, Threepenny Opera, Damn Yankees, How to Succeed…, A Class Act. Off-Broadway: Murder for Two (Lortel nomination), Anyone Can Whistle (Encores!), Forever Plaid. NY Philharmonic: Sweeney Todd (Live from Lincoln Center), Candide (Great Performances). TV/Film: "30 Rock," "The Good Wife," Joseph … Dreamcoat, "Will and Grace," "Law and Order(s)." Composer: 2011 Fred Ebb Award, Urban Cowboy (Tony nomination), The Jeff Blumenkrantz Songbook Podcast, I've Been Played: Alysha Umphess Swings Jeff Blumenkrantz. www.jeffblumenkrantz.com ... read more Michael Cassara, CSA is a Casting Director and Producer based in New York City and dedicated to developing and fostering the growth of new musicals and musical theatre artists. Recent credits include Forbidden Broadway (most recent two editions and cast albums), Fat Camp (Off-Broadway and regional), I Love Lucy® Live On Stage (2014–15 national tour), dozens of regional theatres and countless readings and workshops. Resident Casting Director: NYMF, NAMT, NAAP. Film: The Hyperglot (dir. Michael Urie, Artios nomination for excellence in casting), Contest, Grantham & Rose. Upcoming: The 12 (Denver Center/world premiere). Originally a performer, Michael is a native ... read more A native of Monterrey, Mexico, Jaime Lozano earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music and Composition from the School of Music at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, and was the recipient of a full TSOA academic scholarship while earning his Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. In addition, Jaime is the first Mexican to be accepted and graduate from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Jaime’s works have been produced at various important theatres such as Goodspeed Opera House, Juilliard School of Music, The Triad Theatre, Theatre for ... read more Douglas Lyons is an actor, writer, director, composer, and playwright. Writing - TV: Fraggle Rock (Apple TV). Theater: Polkadots (Off Broadway Alliance Winner Best Family Show, Atlantic Theater Company), Sunshine (Long Wharf Theatre), Pete(Her)Pan (Pace New Musicals), Five Points (world premiere Theater Latte Da), Fatigue with Jodi Piccoult, We The People (TheatreworksUSA) and The Hamlet Remix. Acting - Broadway: Beautiful (Original Cast) and The Book of Mormon. Tours: Rent, Dreamgirls and The Book of Mormon 1st National. Douglas is the founder of The Next Wave Initiative, a scholarship program dedicated to supporting the future of Black Theater artists. ... read more RYAN SCOTT OLIVER is currently writing the score for Disney Theatrical’s stage musical Freaky Friday, directed by Memphis’s Christopher Ashley. 2011 Lortel Award Nominee, 2009 Jonathan Larson Grant Recipient, 2008 Rodgers Award Winner. Music and lyrics for 35mm (directed by Daisy Prince), Darling (featured on NBC’s The Apprentice), Mrs. Sharp (Playwrights Horizons July 2009 starring Jane Krakowski, dir. by Michael Greif), Out of My Head, and the 2010 Writer’s Guild East Awards; a collection of his work, Rated RSO, played the Kennedy Center, Joe's Pub, New York Musical Theatre Festival; Off-Broadway and elsewhere: TheatreWorksUSA's We the People, Rosie ... read more Stephen Schwartz was born in New York City on March 6, 1948. He studied piano and composition at the Juilliard School of Music while in high school and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1968 with a B.F.A. in Drama. Upon coming back to live in New York City, he went to work as an A&R producer for RCA Records, but shortly thereafter began to work in the Broadway theatre. His first major credit was the title song for the play BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE; the song was eventually used in the movie version as well. In 1971, he wrote the music ... read more