Composers & Writers

Aaron Downs

Originally from South Jersey, Aaron is actor/singer-songwriter that focuses on lyric driven music written to connect people. He trained in Musical Theatre at AMDA NY in pursuit of an acting career. After Covid, he moved out to Long Island where he transitioned to social media. With hundreds of millions of views on his personal account as well as working with many clients, Aaron uses his expertise and experience on the internet to influence the writing of The Cave: A Musical About Truth. The Cave takes place in a reimagining of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, where instead of people seeing shadows on the wall, they are scrollers attached to their phones connected on social media. This musical brings this several millennia old story into the 21st century taking the themes further than Plato ever did. The show follows the Programmer (Plato) and their creation, the Algorithm (Socrates) as they conduct an experiment in CoolCave to see how enlightened the scrollers are. Aaron has recorded and produced his own album and several singles as well as a multitude of song parodies for social media. Both of his songs, "Love Will Find a Way" and Chasing Nowhere were semi-finalists in the Music City Songstar Song Writing Competition.

Andrew "Ash" Lake

A 30-something, he/they kinda playwright and composer. Classically trained actor, mostly self-taught musician, two-time EdFringe playwright, budding show composer. Stories in my blood.

Ashley Jana

Ashley Jana is not just a musician - she is a magnetic blend of mystic, rebel, visionary, and soul alchemist. From her beginnings as a celebrated dance-pop artist, Ashley has continually evolved, building entire worlds through sound and story. She is the heartbeat behind sweeping scores that dare to blend the mythical with the modern - infusing her narratives with dark magic, angelic highs, and themes of transformation. As the composer, lyricist, and librettist of Figaro: An Original Musical, Figaro isn't just a musical - it's an uprising of voice, identity, and reclamation. And what comes next is destined to be even more expansive. With over 70 million streams, a musical debut at the world famous London Palladium, numerous TV/Film//Artist placements, and a fanbase that spans continents, Ashley continues to prove that artistic excellence and soul-led authenticity are not mutually exclusive - they are, in fact, her signature. Whether composing the ethereal score of Figaro, collaborating as a producer with diverse vocalists, or conjuring the next chapter in her musical universe, Ashley moves with both intention and wildness, honoring the muse, the message, and the meaning. ​ Ashley's stories invite us to reclaim ourselves, to venture into the unknown, and to believe in the magic we've forgotten. And this? This is only the beginning. The world has only just started to hear her song. And when it does-when it truly listens-it won't forget the name Ashley Jana. “Ashley Jana is an extraordinarily gifted composer whose keen pop sensibilities combine perfectly with her soaring melodies and dramatic writing style to create a modern musical theater score” -Van Dean, Center Stage Records "Ashley is in touch with a magical divine fairy world from which only she can hear." -Blake Donovan, Stellar Maze "Jana's score is among Figaro's strongest aspects, performed by the ever-phenomenal London Musical Theatre Orchestra." -Broadway World

Christopher J Orton

I am a UK based writer, composer & lyricist. I had a career as a performer, appearing in productions such as Spamalot, Martin Guerre & Oliver!. My passion has always been creating, whether it's new music, stories, games or short films. I love collaboration and being able to bounce ideas around with other people but I find working on my own equally as rewarding. For me, there is no better feeling than hearing and seeing my work being performed by other people or other creatives feeling inspired by my ideas. That is why I do this. That is why I will never stop telling stories.

Daniel K

David Brush

Eamonn O'Dwyer

Eamonn is an award-winning composer and sound designer of Caribbean-Irish origin. his work has been performed at Shakespeare's Globe, the National Theatre, The Old Vic and the Chichester Festival Theatre. He is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, and the recipient of the Black British Theatre Award for Best Sound Design, 2025. The score for his original musical ‘The House of Mirrors & Hearts’ won the MTM Award for Best New Score at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010, and after its critically acclaimed run at the Arcola Theatre in 2015 has now been performed in Australia, Russia and the US. ‘Mrs Beeton Says’ and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ are now available for licensing through Concord Theatricals Ltd. In 2021 his new musical Fanny & Stella was featured in the NAMT 33rd Annual Festival of New Musicals in New York, and in 2022 Eamonn made his own NYC debut performing an evening of his work at the celebrated 54 Below in Manhattan.

Fox Indigo

Fox Indigo is a Brooklyn-based composer and musician with over sixteen years of dedicated experience in composition, songwriting, event production, and live performance, with an MFA in Music Composition for Media from Brooklyn College. Fox’s original genre-blending musical "BLOOM" was accepted into the SheNYC Theater Festival out of 300 submissions. They had an award-winning, sold-out run, where she served as the composer, co-writer, lead actress, and music director. She then attended the Casa Uno Residency in Costa Rica and the Artists-In-Residence program at the Grünewald Guild in the Washington Cascades to continue work on this project. She has also music directed, orchestrated, and arranged for several other independent musical theatrical productions in NYC. Fox Indigo performs in an indie-rock project under the same name. She is set to release an EP of new music this May. With over twenty years of studying jazz and classical piano, proficiency in multiple instruments including cello, guitar, mandolin, ukulele, voice, banjo, and drums, as well as a masterful knowledge of music theory, Fox Indigo is an accomplished composer who’s performed live with Gotye and had performances at renowned venues like Lincoln Center, Mercury Lounge, and the historic Connelly Theater.

Hope Anderson

Hello! I have a B.A. in music (piano, voice, and music composition) and I've always been a musical theatre fan. ♫ I'm a chameleon; I can write in your style. My dream is to be hired to compose a musical based on a popular book or movie that you've acquired the musical rights to. Send me a snippet of your lyrics and I'll send you a sample of what I can do with it! I don't use AI (🤮), I promise. Looking forward to connecting!

J Douglas Waterbury-Tieman

Jacob Sanford

James Walker Reid

Montreal-based. Background in bands, cabaret, film & video.

Jamie Maletz

Jamie Elizabeth Maletz is a composer/lyricist and bookwriter. She writes supernatural dramatic comedies full of heart, humor, and chaos. Expect ghosts, curses, monsters and magic, and characters trying to find themselves in the middle of it all. In New York, her works have been featured at Lincoln Center, Feinstein's/54 Below, Joe's Pub, and more. She received her MFA from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU Tisch. Maletz has written 12 full-length original musicals, most of which have received workshops/readings or productions in New York and Arizona. As a composer/lyricist, Jamie has studied with Mindi Dickstein, William Finn, Rachel Sheinkin, Michael John LaChiusa, Steven Lutvak and Sybille Pearson. Jamie has worked for Maestra Music, Tom Viertel/The Commercial Theater Institute and Ken Davenport. She is a member of Maestra and ASCAP.

Joey Contreras

Joey Contreras is a New York based, Mexican-American musical theatre and pop songwriter, internationally known for his various projects which have garnered over sixty million streams across music and social media platforms. He is a two-time Fred Ebb Award finalist, three-time Jonathan Larson Grant finalist and an alum of the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project. His musicals include IN PIECES, FORGET ME NOT (co-written with Kate Thomas), HEARTBREAKERS IN HELL (co-written with Benjamin Halstead), ROBBY GREEN IS ALL GROWN UP and additional untitled works in development with Storyboard Entertainment and RGN Theatrical/Talnek Communications. Additionally, he has composed for the Walt Disney Company, The 5th Avenue Theatre and various short films. He regularly teaches private songwriting coaching and masterclasses at universities and musical theatre training programs. He received his MFA in Musical Theatre writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Follow along on all socials: @joeycontreras

Kurt Rosenberg

Kurt Rosenberg is an award-winning composer, lyricist, theatremaker, and filmmaker, based in Portland, Oregon. He has worked with internationally renowned ensembles including The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (England’s National Orchestra), The WJM Palmer Orchestra (Dublin, Ireland), Hertfordshire Chorus (England), and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (Vancouver, WA, USA). Kurt’s musical, "For the Lack of Laura", had its international premiere in Galway, Ireland in 2024, followed by the UK Summer Tour 2025. While audiences loved the music and the “romantasy” feel of the show, London reviews were mixed. Based on those illuminating critiques, Kurt’s team decided to “roll-up their sleeves” and started redeveloping the musical by bringing on a new Creative Team. Lezlie Faith Wade joined the project as Bookwriter/Lyricist, with John Trent Wallace coming on-board as the musical’s Arranger/Composer. Kurt is an Associate Member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (USA), a member of the Dramatists Guild (USA), a Limited Member of the Society of Composers and Lyricists (USA), and a Patron of the Entertainment Community Fund (New York, NY). He is also a member of the Musical Theatre Network (UK), Mercury Musical Developments (UK), and the London Arts Club.

Lesley-Anne Hogan

Lesley - Anne Hogan is a composer, librettist, producer, novelist & occasional financial services lawyer. She is a member of UK new musical organisation Mercury Musical Developments, IMRO in Ireland & mentee of Broadway producer Ken Davenport's Theatermakers Program. She recently produced '1588 A Song Cycle' with multi award-winning Irish Musical Director, David Hayes. She is represented by Jonathan Williams Literary Agency for the novel version of '1588' which is due to be published in late 2026. Lesley's passion for writing both music and literature and her love of Spanish history and culture (she is married to a Spaniard and has four bilingual boys) led her to an account of a Spanish Armada survivor in Ireland. It inspired her to write both the historical fiction novel and the book, lyrics and music for the show.

Lindsey Augusta Mercer

Matt DeMaria

Matt DeMaria is Chilean-American, award winning composer based out of Long Island. He has enjoyed many years dabbling in all facets of the arts. From acting on stage, to composing, to directing, to orchestrating. His commitment to bringing fresh, new and original ideas to the performing arts is unequivocal. His original musical VINCENT, inspired by Vincent Van Gogh, had its New York City premier May 2023. It was nominated for 5 awards and won “Best Score” for Matt DeMaria & “Best Direction” for director Alyssa Kakis. It has since been produced at Long Island University and a full cast recording was released April 6, 2026. For 2 years Matt was seen traveling the world as the Music Director/Conductor on the 20th Anniversary tour of the Pulitzer Prize winning show RENT. After a brief hiatus he went back on the road touring RENT for its “25th Anniversary Farewell Tour.” In 2023 he was the associate conductor of SUMMER - THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL (The Gateway). June of 2026 will find him as the music director of a 29 hour reading of a new folk-rock fantasy musical called TERESTEA. He played drums, guitar and keyboards for Miriam Pultro’s indie-rock musical GLASS TOWN at the Tank in 2021. His orchestrations could be heard in MEDICINE THE MUSICAL which premiered off-broadway in 2018. THE DEATH OF THE LIVING CLUB had a one night only concert at Green Room 42 on July 29, 2023. A concept album was released April 21, 2024. He is one of the founding members of DEAD STAR THEATRE CO.

Paul Gordon

Paul Gordon is a Tony Award nominated composer for his musical Jane Eyre, which makes its West End debut in the fall of 2026. Other works include Sense and Sensibility (winner of the 2015 Jeff Award for Best New Work), Daddy Long Legs (2009 Ovation Award, 2 Drama Desk Award nominations, Off-Broadway Alliance Award nomination and 3 Outer Critic Circle award nominations). He is the co-founder of StreamingMusicals.com and VirtualStageLab.com where his musicals Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Estella Scrooge, Being Earnest, No One Called Ahead, Ribbit and My Improbable Sisters can currently be streamed. Knight’s Tale, written with John Caird, continues to have multiple productions in Japan. In his former life, Paul was a pop songwriter, writing several number one hits. For more visit Paulgordon.com

Peter Cavell

Peter Cavell (pronounced kuh-VELL) is a composer/lyricist, pianist, writer, and occasional thereminist. He is best known for the original musicals People Suck: a musical airing of grievances (with Megan Phillips) and The Pirate Queen of the Stars (with Andrew Templeton). He holds degrees in classical composition from the University of Western Ontario and the University of Victoria, where his music was described as "sarcastic", "very sarcastic", and “Peter, this wasn’t the assignment”. Since then, his works have been performed throughout Canada, the US, the UK, Holland, Bosnia, Singapore, Japan, and Australia. For ten years, Peter worked as a Musical Director at the Second City Training Centre of Toronto, where he taught musical improv and composed or improvised music for hundreds of performances. Peter delights in tackling unexpected stories and genres, experimenting with form, and turning tropes upside-down. His work sometimes touches on topics like mythology, ritual, religious baggage, and geek culture. Most of all, Peter loves to create living, breathing, character-driven musicals that blur the boundaries between comedy and drama, making you laugh and then sucker-punching you right in the feels. An incorrigible Canadian, Peter lives in Toronto with his wife and their two young sons.

Peter J Casey

Rachel Dean

Rachel Dean is a New York City-based composer, pianist, and music director. She has worked as a rehearsal pianist for Hamilton and Moulin Rouge on Broadway as well as a staff pianist at NYU Steinhardt. An ASCAP award recipient, Rachel’s work has been performed in New York, Tokyo, Miami, and half a dozen other states, with upcoming performances in Canada. Musicals include The Anxiety Project (with David Brush), Medusa (with Wes Braver), and The Ballad of Janis Matthews and the Dodo Scouts (with Giancarlo Rodaz). Rachel is a member of ASCAP and AFM Local 802.

Sadie Lynch

Hi there! I'm a 3rd year composition student at university. My course work focuses on contemporary classical music, but I have always loved musical theatre and just this year I have written my first a score for a musical! I am now throwing myself fully into the game, with a collaboration with an online musical writing group in progress and plans to debut an original musical at a queer arts festival in early 2027. Hit me up if you're looking for someone to collaborate with, particularly if you're tackling queer and trans themes (or space travel).

Steven Gallagher

Tyler Tafolla

Tyler Tafolla is a Southern California-based composer & playwright who's new original musicals have been produced in New York, Los Angeles and San Diego. Tyler is an AMDA Graduate and a proud member of ASCAP. Writing Credits; Seasons: A New Musical Song-Cycle, Scott Robbins and the Traveling Show, DanceLand, Dead Moose. Tyler also is the songwriter for The Aquarium of the Pacific's Pacific Pals. For more visit tylertafolla.com