COMPOSERS & PLAYWRIGHTS

Cristian Amigo (Composer, The Upside Down Boy, José) incorporates world music, Latin American traditions, electronics and contemporary jazz in his compositions for film, dance, theatre and live performance. The Chilean-born composer has received fellowships and commissions from American Composers Forum, The Sundance Institute, U.C.L.A. Center for Intercultural Performance and The ASK Playwright/Composer Labs. Currently a doctoral student in ethnomusicology at U.C.L.A., Cristian was a 2000-2002 Latino Studies Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The multi-faceted musician has performed and recorded as a guitarist with a wide range of internationally recognized artists. Making Books Sing's Upside Down Boy is his first musical theatre composition.

Ric Averill (Playwright, Bird Woman: The Story of Sacagawea) has been the Artistic Director and principal playwright and director for the Seem to Be Players, a professional children's theatre company that he and his wife founded in 1973. In addition to Bird Woman, many of Ric's plays have been published by Dramatic Publishing including: Pixies, Kings and Magical Things, The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, The Princess and the Pea and other short plays, Alex and the Shrink World, and T-Money and Wolf (with Kevin Willmott). Ric also wrote the chapter on playwriting for Fran Tanner's high school textbook, Basic Drama Projects.

Myla Churchill (Playwright, A Band of Angels) received her MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts. Her screenplay, Hooch Haints , won Best Screenplay at the Urbanworld Film Festival. She has written for Blues Clues and Backyardigans on Nick, Jr. Her children's musical, Griot Trio: Tellers of African Folktales , has been produced at the Immigrants' Theatre Project American Dreams Series; the New York Family Festival at the Theatre of the Riverside Church ; the Aaron Davis Hall International Series; and The American Museum of Natural History Educational Series . Myla is an Associate Professor at Long Island University and New York University , and also a teacher at the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center.

Richard Erickson (Music Director and Arranger, The Orphan Singer)  Rick chose the music selections with Barbara Zinn Krieger, designated instrumental and vocal parts, and taught the cast the music. Erickson is a very experienced musician who specializes in Early Music.  Currently he produces the acclaimed Bach Vespers in NYC and serves as Cantor and Organist at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church since 1992. He has performed as organist, conductor and hymn-festival leader throughout the United States and Europe. He has a Master's from the prestigious Eastman School of Music. Mr. Erickson says, "I live my life with Baroque Music. Bach loved Vivaldi and I'm excited about working with Vivaldi's music in this way."

Charles Greenberg (Composer, Little Kit, The Butterfly) Charles Greenberg has often performed dual roles as musical director and composer for many of his original theatre works. In 1976, he made his musical directing debut Off-Broadway in the original production of A.R. Gurney's Who Killed Richard Cory? He is the composer of Little Kit, written with librettist Barbara Zinn Krieger. Little Kit was developed through Making Books Sing and the Eugene O'Neil Foundation, and subsequently produced by The Vineyard Theatre and Tribeca Performing Arts Center (1997 & 1999). He has a 20+ year association with the Hunterdon Hills Playhouse where he's arranged, musical directed, and co-conceived over 35 original music reviews as well as recording CDs of popular American music.

Sophie Jaff (Librettist, A Shelter in Our Car) received an MFA in 2004 as a Lyricist/Playwright from the Musical Theatre Writing Program at Tisch School for the Arts, New York University. She also studied at the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of composer Steven Stucky. Her creative efforts include The Adventures of Lula, the Discontented Cow, published in 2005, and Story of an African Farm, currently in workshop in New York City. Sophie resides in New York City and works as a Teaching Artist specializing in song writing and musical theatre. Sophie is very excited about writing A Shelter in Our Car. "Musical theatre is an excellent way to address some of the hard aspects of homelessness". Sophie drew upon her experiences as a teaching artist and immigrant from South Africa to help adapt the characters in the book. She volunteered for New York Cares, an organization that provides opportunities for people to help their community. Working with Jamaican instructors, Sophie is learning the Jamaican Patois dialect to authenticate the dialogue in the play. "This project has helped me meet amazing people and give back to the city I truly love."

Juan Felipe Herrera (Lyricist, The Upside Down Boy) is an award-winning poet, a prolific published writer of poetry anthologies and children's books, and chair of Latino Studies at University of California-Fresno. With Making Books Sing's commission of his autobiographical Upside Down Boy, he ventures into a new arena as a lyricist for theatre for young audiences. His bilingual story tells of a Spanish-speaking boy transplanted from a rural, migrant community to a city. The Mexican-American poet writes of the challenge, "As a poet my concerns have been to create a music that arises more from the "inner ear" than from the stage. Here, the creative concern is more auditory, more public, more collective and more visual --- a fusion and crescendo of three decades of waving art, performance, sound and words on paper, in the air and most of all, for children's hearts."

Barbara Zinn Krieger (Artistic Director and Founder) brings together her formidable achievements as an entrepreneur, arts administrator, educator and librettist as artistic director of Making Books Sing. She is the Founder and Chair Emerita of the major Off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre, where she served as Executive Director and Chairman of the Board from 1981-2002. During her tenure, the Vineyard built its reputation as an important theatre that supports emerging and established artists who create new, often risky, work. In 1996, she launched Making Books Sing as the Vineyard's children's theatre program to apply the Vineyard's vision to work for young people. Making Books Sing continues today as an independent organization. Barbara has written many librettos, including several for Making Books Sing. Prior to the Vineyard, she spent some 20 years as a drama teacher in high schools and colleges. She holds an M.A. in Speech and Drama from Columbia University's Teacher's College.

James Kurtz (Composer, Appelemando's Dreams, The Merry Muldoons) has written the music for five operas for young audiences, as well as choral, orchestra and chamber music. Most recently, he composed art songs and created arrangements of French keyboard music for recorder ensembles. He is Professor Emeritus of Music at Fordham University. He currently teachers in the graduate division of the Juilliard School.

Linda Twine (Music Arranger, A Band of Angels) Broadway credits include the Tony-nominated Caroline, or Change, Frog and Toad, Jelly's Last Jam, Big River, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, Ain't Misbehavin' and The Wiz. Ms. Twine worked on the Off-Broadway productions of Crowns and Thunder Knocking on the Door (Music Supervisor) . Ms. Twine has worked on national and regional tours including On Broadway with Ben Vereen and Leslie Uggams, Colors of Christmas, Dreamgirls with Jennifer Holliday, and Bubblin' Brown Sugar.

Robert Wilson (Composer, A Shelter in Our Car) was born in Norfolk, VA in 1979.  He began playing the piano at age 5 and continues in music to this very day.  He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelor's in Music Composition and continued on to earn his Master's from New York University's Tisch School for the Arts.  Robert currently resides in Chesapeake, Virginia where he teaches chorus and orchestra.  "When I write, I try to analyze the scene and situation in which the characters find themselves and come up with a theme or motif that best fits that situation.  I only hope that my audience believes in the motifs as much as I do." 

Jin Xiang (Composer, Beautiful Warrior) has received numerous awards and commissions, in the U.S. and China, for his extensive operatic and symphonic work. His score for Beautiful Warrior , commissioned by Making Books Sing, is his first work for young audiences. The Beijing-based artist married Peking Opera and Western musical theatre styles in his score for this production.