I never imagined that I'd ever write, let alone produce, a musical. I did enjoy some music theatre as a child. My favorite shows were Cats, The Secret Garden, Les Miserables, On the Town and even Flora and the Red Menace. Even though I enjoyed these shows and I was also a performer in music theatre growing up, I just never saw myself as a theatre person.
That all changed my senior year when I decided to write, produce and perform in a musical as my senior recital. Due to my great fear of having no one come see the show, I decided to make it a charity event. I ended up selling out two shows and raised $1111.00 for MaxFund No-Kill Animal Shelter. Of course, there's a soundtrack.
The next fall, I was approached by a young man named Sinjin Jones. He wanted to collaborate with me on a slam poetry, sci-fi musical that would be performed by the University of Colorado Denver's Theatre Buffs. I took the opportunity to explore the darker sides of drama and integrated hip-hop and urban influences into the music I created.
In 2009 and 2010, I spent the majority of my time performing in theatre. I met a tremendous amount of talented actors, singers, writers and directors. Eventually, I met up with a woman named Katie Mangett. We decided to write a children's musical together. I began writing the music in the summer of 2010 and by March of 2011, we were performing the show to one sold out show after another.
Where does this lead me now? I'm not sure. I would like to continue to write for musical theatre, but I have moved to Seattle and I must start my journey again.
Until I get it figured out, enjoy watching scenes from all of my shows right here.
