CREATIVE TEAM

MARISA MICHELSON received a 2011 Jonathan Larson Award and was the only women to receive a 2009 "American Musical Voices: The Next Generation" Award from the Shen Family Foundation. Musicals include book and/or music for Tamar and the River (Signature Theatre, 2010; upcoming collaboration with Choral Chameleon and NYTB); The Grid (NAMT-awarded residency with Millikin University); Still Life with Toe Shoes (Old Deerfield Productions; Musical Theatre Society of Emerson College); Hotel Sarajevo (CAP 21; hotInk Festival; Smith College); The Lovers (Prospect Theater Company; Vineyard Playhouse on Martha’s Vineyard; Calliope Theatre Company.) Marisa was commissioned with playwright Jason Grote by Montclair University’s New Works Institute to write Scheherezade - a musical adaptation of Grote’s acclaimed play, 1001. Her songs have also been featured at the Kennedy Center, the York (Dir. Daniel Goldstein), New World Stages (NAMT), the Duplex Theater, the Flea (Civilians Theater), and Birdland. Her lullaby, “All New” was recorded by Tony-Award winner Nikki M. James for the Broadway Lullaby Project 2012 CD and ebook. Residencies: New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio, New Dramatists Playtime Residency, Theatreworks Palo Alto, and Earthdance’s “eMerge” interdisciplinary artists residency. Further honors include the 2006 St. Botolph Award for Composition and a Global Arts Village grant to study Indian Hindustani Singing in India. Marisa sang with Meredith Monk in Songs of Ascension at BAM and has sung her more experimental vocal work at the Basillica in Hudson, NY and the Goetheanum in Switzerland. She teaches singing lessons and vocal/movement improvisation workshops in NYC and upstate NY. www.marisamichelson.com.

Margot Bassett is a vocalist, mover, and performance-maker based in Brooklyn, NY. She is honored to have worked with Marisa Michelson for the past 3 years. Margot received her MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University, and has also studied at The Juilliard School and the European American Musical Alliance in Paris.

Jason Grote is the author of the plays 1001, Maria/Stuart, Civilization (all you can eat), and Hamilton Township. He wrote for season one of "Smash," including episodes 7 ("The Workshop") and 13 "Tech". He is currently adapting 1001 into a musical, cheherazade, with Marisa Michelson. Current projects include an original pilot in development with HBO, a commission about Shostakovich for ACT, and an adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time for Oregon Shakespeare.

Chad Goodridge: Chad is an actor currently residing in New York City. Broadway: Passing Strange. Off-Broadway: The Public, PS 122, The Cherry Lane among others. Regional: Passing Strange (Berkeley Rep), Proof, Macbeth, Once In a Lifetime, Skin of Our Teeth (Williamstown), Hamlet (The Geva Theatre). Television: Law & Order: S.V.U., One Life to Live, All My Children. He has also acted in several independent films. Training: Chautauqua Conservatory Theater Company (2002 and 2003) and Ron Van Lieu. While at Dartmouth, Chad studied Theatre, Psychology, and Modern Dance (with Marianne Hraibi). Chad is currently has several screenplays in development.

Joshua H. Cohen: 2011 Larson Grant with Marisa Michelson for Tamar and the River and Still Life With Toe Shoes. In 2011 alone, performances at Vineyard Playhouse, Calliope Theatre, Momentum Rep, Western Kentucky University, Libra Theatre, Judson Church, Jewish Ensemble Theatre, Emerging Artists Theatre, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, Emerson College. www.joshuahcohen.com

Frank Terry: HELLO OUT THERE (music, workshop: Goodspeed, reading: Playwrights Horizons, production: ATF), FOR LOVE OF THE BOY (book/music/lyrics, NYU and Yale), GRIMM (music/lyrics, NJP), JUDE (music, Strasberg), PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (music, NYU), DEVIL ON THE CROSS (book, Century Center), WAXING WEST (music, Strasberg). 2009-2010 Musical Theatre Resident at Playwrights Horizons.